If you want to use and control an external flash unit like SB-600, SB-800 or SB-900 through wireless media using your Nikon DSLR camera built-in flash, you have to setup a commander mode in your camera. If you have already setup commander mode, you can follow the steps below to setup your flash unit.
How to setup SB-600 as a Wireless Remote Unit?
1. On the SB-600, press the ZOOM and "-" buttons simultaneously for 2 seconds to display the Custom Settings mode. You will see OFF displayed by default.
2. Press the ZOOM or MODE button to select wireless mode ON. Now you have activated wireless remote mode.
Next step is to set the Channel and Group as per your camera settings.
3. To set the group and channel, press the ZOOM and "-" buttons simultaneously for 2 seconds. You can also alternatively press power (ON/OFF) button for one second. Default settings for Channel and Group are CH 3, Group A.
4. Press the MODE button to highlight the Channel (1, 2, 3 or 4 ) and it will display the blinking channel number.
5. Then press the "+" or "-" button to set the Channel number and press the MODE button to lock the selection and move to the Group display.
6. When you see blinking Group displaying on the screen, press the "+" or "-" button to set the Group and then press the MODE button to lock the selection.
Note - Please note that the Channel number and the Group settings should match with your camera's commander mode group and channel settings. Now you are all set to use SB-600 flash unit remotely to be controlled by your camera's built-in flash unit. But please remember to pop up the camera's built-in flash so that it can send the signal and the exposure information to the external unit, SB-600. Otherwise the setup won't work. If you want to turn remote wireless mode off after getting the job done, simply follow the last two steps.
7. Press the ZOOM and "-" buttons simultaneously for 2 seconds. Then the screen will display ON (Which we did on step 2).
8. Press the MODE button and the screen will display OFF. Which means wireless remote control is off.
If you are looking for how to configure a Nikon SB-800 and a Nikon SB-900 flash units in a wireless mode, here are the links for How to configure a SB-800 flash unit as a Master flash unit and How to setup a SB-900 flash as a Master flash unit.
Almost all consumer level DSLRs and some of the pro level DSLRs come with the built-in flash. Professional photographers who shoot wedding, fashion, commercial portrait, or other special events do not rely on built-in flash to illuminate their subject. But, you don't have to use flash only when there is not sufficient natural light. It can also be used as a fill light to remove shadows or to add a catch light to the subject's eye. One of the best thing about the built-in flash is, you don't have to carry around an extra equipment and is always available on your camera, as long as the camera has sufficient battery power to charge and fire the flash. It can be put to use instantly whenever you want and doesn’t require any sophisticated setup. However, you need to understand few basics settings of your camera and should be comfortable navigating through the menu settings and the buttons on the camera.
Use of camera's built-in flash and its effect on the picture is determined by various settings on the camera, but most importantly, which metering mode you are currently using and what exposure mode you are on play a bigger role. Let's recap these camera metering modes briefly and then we can discuss about the steps we would be following in order to use on-camera flash. Since I wrote the blog about camera metering (in more detail) almost 9 years ago, Nikon has added a new metering mode; Highlight-Weighted Metering, which we will be discussing in the section below.