can the sb400 be controlled manually on the D90?

lilmomma · May 27, 2009

not sure i'm ready for the 600 yet because I don't do a lot of flash photography right now. I just want a simple flash, but still want to be able to bounce off the ceiling. That's all I'm looking for in a flash at the moment. but I was wondering if I can control the output through the M option on the D90?

Qarik · May 27, 2009

lilmomma wrote:

not sure i'm ready for the 600 yet because I don't do a lot of flash photography right now. I just want a simple flash, but still want to be able to bounce off the ceiling. That's all I'm looking for in a flash at the moment. but I was wondering if I can control the output through the M option on the D90?

No. Sb400 is TTL only. I wouldn't suggest the sb400.

lilmomma · May 27, 2009

really? how come? I just want something simple, pop it on, control the output and be able to bounce...what do you suggest?

Tim Kamppinen · May 27, 2009

Well, not being able to use it in manual really limits you. It will work in TTL, but it's underpowered compared to a 600 and I don't think you can use it off camera (the way to really take your flash shots to the next level) via CLS. You will be able to fire the 600 off camera using only your popup flash as a commander and you can do this in TTL mode or manual, and control the flash compensation or manual output right from the camera. It's worlds better than anything you can do with the 400.

Even if you only intend to do TTL bounce flash for the rest of your photographic life and never take your flash off camera, you should still choose the 600 over the 400. In addition to being more powerful (really important when you're in a room with higher ceilings for bouncing) the flash head swivels and tilts in ways the 400 does not.

This alone is enough of a reason to not even consider the 400. It will bounce light straight off of the ceiling above you just fine, but to get really nice bounce light you need to angle the flash back somewhat. If you bounce the light from right above you you'll often get "raccoon eyes" on your subjects because there will be a shadow in their eyesockets caused by the angle of the light. With the 600 or better this is simple. Just turn the head backwards and point it up at an angle so it goes over your head and hits the ceiling in a spot where raccoon eyes are avoided. You can't do this with the 400.

Even worse, what happens when you turn your camera over and shoot in portrait orientation? There goes your ceiling bounce! The flash is now firing off to the side instead of up into the ceiling, and there's no way to point it up. Your only option is to stand next to a (hopefully white) wall and bounce it off of that. If all your subjects stand next to walls and never move into the center of the room, I guess this could work, but it would be much nicer to have a 600--then you could just rotate the flash head so it was pointed at the ceiling and keep shooting.

So basically, don't get the 400 unless you never shoot in portrait orientation and all your subjects are on the other side of the room (so you don't get the raccoon eye effect). As you can see, not very practical.

You'll love the 600, trust me. I got mine about a year ago and I NEVER used flash up until that point because I hated the way the popup flash looked. Now I use flash for almost all of my people photography and for lots of other stuff as well. It's great. Don't be a slave to the ambient light!

EDIT: Oh, just as an example of the cool things you could do with a 600 and your D90: say you wanted to light a room but you wanted to move around taking photos without worrying too much about rotating your flash head and pointing it at the ceiling when you switched from portrait to landscape... you could just take a 600 in remote mode and put it somewhere up high like on top of a cupboard or bookshelf, etc and point it at the ceiling. Then set your popup flash on the D90 to commander mode and use the 600 in TTL mode. Now you can take your photos just like you would have, with two exceptions: you don't have to fumble with spinning the flash head back and forth, and your flash won't have to work as hard because it's closer to the ceiling than it would be if you had it on camera. This means the batteries will drain more slowly. If you had a larger room you could put several 600's in strategic locations around the room and light the whole thing like this, never having to think about it while you're shooting... but I'm getting ahead of you now

It's a great system...

lilmomma · May 27, 2009

Thank you Tim, definately something to think about.

I guess I'm just scared of the screen on it...Is it super complicated? I'm still trying to figure out everything on my camera, let alone a flash with it's own controls combined with my camera. If you just leave it on the ttl setting and want to bounce it is it pretty spot on as far as what power it picks?

Tim Kamppinen · May 27, 2009

lilmomma wrote:

Thank you Tim, definately something to think about.

I guess I'm just scared of the screen on it...Is it super complicated? I'm still trying to figure out everything on my camera, let alone a flash with it's own controls combined with my camera. If you just leave it on the ttl setting and want to bounce it is it pretty spot on as far as what power it picks?

It usually works well. If you get into a situation where it's not you can adjust the flash compensation in 1/3 stops. It's very simple and easy to do. If you want total repeatability (for instance you're shooting many shots of someone in the same basic location) you can put it in manual mode and adjust the output in 1/3 stops as well. There's two buttons, "+" and "-" and it couldn't be simpler. Any adjustments you make to the 400 have to be done through the camera menus which takes longer and is more of a hassle.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that the 600 has a built in autofocus assist illuminator that really helps your camera find focus in low-light situations, whereas the 400 doesn't. This can be the difference between getting the shot and missing it because your lens is hunting for focus, or getting the shot but having the focus be off, which can be even more frustrating.
[FONT=arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]

ARKreations · May 28, 2009

The difference between the SB-400 and SB-600 is well worth the price, especially with the CLS off-camera support. Amazon has the SB-600 for $214.

lilmomma · May 28, 2009

alright I went for the sb600. Dgrinner's advice costs me too much money!

so far so good, but dang it's bright! had a headache after a while! It is fun to bounce it all over. I can see how it will lend the opportunities for some creative shots. Don't know what all the settings mean, but i'll get there. I don't understand the zoom though? what does that do?

Qarik · May 28, 2009

lilmomma wrote:

alright I went for the sb600. Dgrinner's advice costs me too much money! so far so good, but dang it's bright! had a headache after a while! It is fun to bounce it all over. I can see how it will lend the opportunities for some creative shots. Don't know what all the settings mean, but i'll get there. I don't understand the zoom though? what does that do?

The zoom factor on a flash determines how "focused" the beam of light from the flash is. So when you are shooting wide the flash coverage is wide..when you are shooting zoomed in the flash cover is more concentrated. It helps save battery power and insures you get more even light coverage.

ARKreations · May 28, 2009

Think of it as a virtual snoot on the light beam. (Or like the field of view while looking through your zoom lens). A higher zoom produces a smaller, more directed beam with a higher concentration of light. Whereas, a lower zoom produces a wider coverage area. Essentially, it is the flash's mechanism for attempting to illuminate only what you can see through the lens - the wider the zoom, the wider the light coverage.

However, when used in manual mode, it becomes an adjustable light modifier...

Tim Kamppinen · May 28, 2009

When bouncing, you can either leave the zoom at its widest setting (but skip the wide angle diffuser flap for this application as it eats about a stop or so of light AFAIK) in order to get as broad and even light on your subject as possible. Or, what I like to do a lot of the time, is to zoom as much as possible (85mm on the 600) and instead of bouncing straight back/up, aim the flash at a spot on the ceiling slightly behind and off to one side of me. This way the light is more restricted and you're basically turning a smaller area of the ceiling into a softbox. This will give more directional light that can be more interesting than just plain old even, flat bounce light. This does take some more fiddling with the flash to get a good angle of light though, so I don't do it all the time.

jthomas · June 14, 2009

lilmomma wrote:

not sure i'm ready for the 600 yet because I don't do a lot of flash photography right now. I just want a simple flash, but still want to be able to bounce off the ceiling. That's all I'm looking for in a flash at the moment. but I was wondering if I can control the output through the M option on the D90?

I'm late to the party here, but I've been trying my SB-400 on my recently acquired D90. I find that the flash power can be controlled through the D90 menu item e2. The flash power can be set to increments from Full down to 1/128th power.

I also have an SB-600, but I really like the small size and long battery life of the SB-400.

can the sb400 be controlled manually on the D90?

Comments