I'm cluless

ShepsMom

I need to get myself a Flash, i have no clue about what i need. All i have is internal "pop-up" thingie which isn't all that great.
I have Nikon D80, i was reading and reading about flashes, but to be honest, i have no clue what all the jumbo-mambo means.
I might not be asking right questions here, cause i don't really know much about the subject.
I was looking at Nikon SB-600-Speedlight, SB-800 AF, SB 400AF, and i'm cluless. What do i need to look for? What do all the numbers mean? I'm looking for something decent under $300, mostly for portraits (inside-outside) and other stuff.
Please help me :help

ziggy53

You appear to have a Nikon D80, according to your profile. Like most modern Nikon dSLRs, it is capable of i-TTL. The SB-600 and SB-800 are the classic examples of Nikon's best flashes (both i-TTL flashes), and I would easily recommend either.

Which you choose depends partly on your needs and partly on your style of shooting.

I highly recommend the SB-800 now because it can act as a commander flash or a slave flash. The SB-600 is only capable of slave.

The D80 camera itself can also act as a commander, but the built-in flash has no variable directionality, so it limits the flash utility to fill function, which is not all that bad and covers many shooting scenarios.

The SB-800 has the usual tilt and swing abilities and a great amount of light output, making it a little more suitable with light modifiers.


So the first recommendation is the SB-800, with an eye on the SB-600 as a second purchase. That combination of flashes will give you tremendous capabilities, along with a few techniques and simple diffusors and modifiers.

ShepsMom

ziggy53 wrote:

You appear to have a Nikon D80, according to your profile. Like most modern Nikon dSLRs, it is capable of i-TTL. The SB-600 and SB-800 are the classic examples of Nikon's best flashes (both i-TTL flashes), and I would easily recommend either.

Which you choose depends partly on your needs and partly on your style of shooting.

I highly recommend the SB-800 now because it can act as a commander flash or a slave flash. The SB-600 is only capable of slave.

The D80 camera itself can also act as a commander, but the built-in flash has no variable directionality, so it limits the flash utility to fill function, which is not all that bad and covers many shooting scenarios.

The SB-800 has the usual tilt and swing abilities and a great amount of light output, making it a little more suitable with light modifiers.


So the first recommendation is the SB-800, with an eye on the SB-600 as a second purchase. That combination of flashes will give you tremendous capabilities, along with a few techniques and simple diffusors and modifiers.

Thank you Ziggy for the info. I'm keeping my eyes open on some deals for either one. But looks like SB-800 is the way to go.

Thank you again!! :curtsey

Jennrensel

My friend also has a D80 and he was looking for a flash. I told him the SB800 was the way to go as well. I have the SB600.

RayLarson

Both my wife and I have a SB600 with Diffuser. I have a D80 and she has a D40.

dangin

i have 3 sb-800s. i wouldn't get an sb-600 unless it's as high on the ladder as your budget allows or if you don't plan on using it to make money. why?

1. 800 is more powerful, will you ever use the extra light? depends on what you shoot. the extra 2/3 stop or so is helpful to me when shooting weddings.
2. 800 supports a 5th battery for slightly faster recycle times; yes i use it and yes it does help.
3. if you ever use it on a camera that doesn't have commander mode, your 800 has it built in and you want to use it as a remote flash but not as optical slave that may be accidentally triggered.
4. built-in bounce card - it's saved me when i didn't have my lightsphere on me and the ceilings were too high for good bouncing
5. and i don't think that the 600 supports an external battery pack, but i'm not 100% certain.