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Tips for Using Nikon SB24 with Godox X1N Reciever and X2T Trigger


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#1
Orge

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Hi,

I recently purchased a godox trigger/receiver to use with this flash and some future Godox speedlights. Having connected them up as per the manual, I couldn’t find a good configuration of settings that allowed me to fire the flash with manual power control. This flash has the older version of TTL which Is different to the iTTL used in digital cameras so I never expected that to work.

After a bit of trial and error, I found a workaround so I’m posting this here in case it helps other users of this flash and possibly other old Nikon flashes.

If you set this flash to TTL then it will trigger consistently when shooting and via all of the test buttons. However, it is always full power and tweaking the power settings on the Godox transmitter (in the X2T’s M mode) or on the camera doesn't change the power output.

Conversely, if you set the flash to manual then the Flash does not fire when shooting or pressing the test button on the transmitter. It does fire when you press the test button on the receiver.

I figured this meant that the transmitter is able to trigger the flash using the center pin but the older electronics on the other pins hamper operation. Since I was only interested in operating this as a “dumb” slaved flash I decided to try tricking the receiver into thinking it had a non-Nikon flash connected.

Nikon flashes have three additional pins to support TTL and other brand specific functionality. It looks like this pin configuration hasn't changed for a very long time and the functionality should deprecate based on the camera/flash pairing etc. I've attached an image I found that describes the overall purpose of the pins.

It appears that the speedlight pin (top right) tells the camera that a Nikon flash is present, whilst the other two pins communicate nikon-specific functionality. The SB-24 probably has problems because it indicates to the camera that a speedlight is present but then everything else is sufficiently different that comms fails during firing. I suspect that masking the speedlight pin would solve this but I found a neater workaround before trying this.

Nudging the flash a very small amount backwards in the hotshoe appears to break the nikon contacts whilst leaving the center pin in contact. You can then lock the flash in place very firmly to ensure that it won't move easily. Then you can just pop the flash in M mode and set the manually power on the flash. Firing seems consistent from initial tests but there is alway the masking tape option if it proves to be unreliable.

Hope this helps, as I was unable to find this information online despite a pretty thorugh trawl on Google.


Thanks,


James

#2
Orge

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As a follow up, I found that the knob didn’t fix the receiver in place firmly enough to ensure that it stayed in the right position indefinitely (although it does work at a pinch). Consequently, I put some electrical tape across the two lower contacts on the receiver and this seems to have done the trick. I chose the lower contacts (ready and TTL, on the diagram) rather than the “Speedlight” contact due to access considerations - I.e. less likely to come off when remounting the SB-24. It’s probably best to keep the Godox permanently on the speedlight with this approach.

Thanks,

James

#3
alexbb

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Hi!

I'm trying to use a Nikon speedlight sb-24 with godox x1tn trigger. I want to put the trigger on the camera and the speedlight on a tripod. Is it possible I can see the photo you've attached? It doesn't appear any more. Do you think it can work? Thank you. 



#4
Merco_61

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Orge hasn't been logged in since mid-June 2020.

 

A better solution than faffing around with vinyl tape is to get a Hama 6950 hotshoe adapter to turn the SB-24 into a dumb flash.

 

Available here. You can probably source one locally or from one of the German mail-order places to avoid the hassle of buying from outside the EU.