Is there a Nikon equivalent to Canon's RT radio flash system?

Question

In 2012, Canon introduced remote radio control into its flashes with the introduction of the 600EX-RT speedlite. Canon master/slaves flashes in this system now include:

• 600EX-RT
• 600EX-RT II
• 430EX III-RT

And there's a headless transmitter (master) unit, the ST-E3-RT.

3rd-party speedlights and transmitter/receivers that can be used in conjunction with Canon's RT system include:

• Yongnuo YN-600EX-RT (speedlight master/slave)
• Yongnuo YN-E3-RT/RX (transmitter/receiver)
• Phottix Laso TTL transmitter/receiver

The only missing piece in the system seems to be built-in radio transmitters in the camera bodies.

Does Nikon have an equivalent built-in radio triggering system for its flashes? If so, is there any 3rd-party support?

Answer 1

At the time of this writing, Nikon's radio flash system is only in the preliminary stages; it's more the groundwork for a system than an actual system, and is not a practical choice for most current Nikon shooters.

• The only flash in the system is the SB-5000 (released 2016). It is RF slave only.
• The SB-5000 can only be radio controlled from two Nikon bodies: the D5 and the D500.
• Radio control from a D5/D500 also requires a WR-R10 transmitter (firmware version 3.0 or later).
• Upgrading the WR-R10 firmware to 3.0 requires sending the WR-R10 to Nikon service, and apparently most units shipped with an earlier version.
• There is no 3rd party support for the system yet.

Needless to say, there's been a lot of online complaining about this, given the expectations that have arisen from the Canon RT system.

Nikon also has a policy about not talking about future development prior to formal announcements. So whether or not it will simply require a firmware upgrade for older camera bodies that are compatible with the WR-R10 to use the new system; or newer camera bodies/speedlights will have the WR-R10 functionality built-in, is unknown at this time.

Answer 2

As of 1/2018 there is still no transmitter for the SB-5000 flashes. Even with firmware updates to include other cameras like the D810 that I own a pair of, they will not pair with the WR-R10 on the D810. Nikon said it is because the body does not have built in radio, but that is the reason why one would buy a WR-R10/A10/T10 setup in the first place.

The customer service told me to use my DSLR's pop-up flash, or a SU-800 CLS commander to trigger the flashes. As both are optical solutions, they are not adequate replacement for RF.

Answer 3

The Nikon SB-5000 flash and the D500 and D5 cameras support radio.