How do you choose a flash?

kevinpw

I have no clue which flash is good enough for me. All I know is I want one with a built-in diffuser. Tips?

Pupator

kevinpw wrote:

I have no clue which flash is good enough for me. All I know is I want one with a built-in diffuser. Tips?

What camera are you shooting? What kinds of pictures will you need the flash for?

kevinpw

i have a Nikon D5000. mainly for indoor low lighting.

Art Scott

can you afford the SB900?? If so that is the one you want and you will grow into it.
I firmly believe that one should purchase the best flash they can afford (just like tripods....do it once so you don't have to keep re-buying) .... learn it and grow with it.

kevinpw

that's what my friend said. but honestly, im reluctant to spend that much money. what makes it worth so much anyway? what can i do with it that i cant with an SB 600 or 400?

Cygnus Studios

kevinpw wrote:

that's what my friend said. but honestly, im reluctant to spend that much money. what makes it worth so much anyway? what can i do with it that i cant with an SB 600 or 400?

The SB900 is simply the best. You can use it as a master or slave. You can control the light in far more ways, and as Art mentioned, you can grow into it. You will outgrow the SB400 and SB600 as your photography interests expand.

AlbertZeroK

As a strobist fan, I'd really suggest getting a copy of the Strobist DVD's. If you ever plan on using off camera flashes, getting an SB800 or SB900 is a good idea, but you could also get something like an SB28 used for like $100 - $150. The SB28 also has an optical slave which means later on, when you get the SB900, you can use the SB28 as a slave flash without additional wiring.

I have an SB900 for my nikon and 580ex II for my canon stuff. I do agree that these are the best, but it also depends on your needs and use, for example, I just purchased a pair of 480ex II flashes for use with Pocket Wizard's FlexTT5. So sometimes, the best is not always the flash you want.

time2smile

How much do you want to spend?

SB-400 is nice, but it lacks the IR focus assist lamp, which makes the AF that much faster in dim light.

Since you have a D5000 I would go with the SB-600 for now, later if you wanted to get a SB-800 or SB-900 you could start using the CLS system. You may find that you'll want 2 SB-600 to go with either of its larger brothers.

ziggy53

Once again, I will say good things about the Sigma EF 530 DG Super flash. While I use the Canon E-TTL II version, I read tales from many satisfied Nikon users of the i-TTL version as well.

The Nikon version is:

http://www.photo4less.com/pd-productid-2290-k-sigma_169306_sigma_ef_530_dg_super_na_i_ttl_shoe_mount_flash_for_nikon_af_with_i_ttl_operation.htm