Begging for Help
Darren Troy C
Registered Users Posts: 1,927 Major grins
I could research for hours and read plenty of reviews and get techincal with Nikon's techno-squad.....but what fun would that be? D-Grinners to the rescue!! PLEASE comment!!!
I put this topic here because I want to relate it to 99.9% of what it wil be used for....humans. :thumb "It" being an external/off camera flash. Please bare with me and I will try to be brief. I shoot a D300 and my 2 go-to portrait lenses would be the 50 1.4 and the 70-200 2.8. Nothing new there, we all are familiar with those. I can't immediately jump with both-feet-first into a SB-900....there's just no way. I'm really into ambient light and using it to my advantage but let's face it.....(insert sarcastic "you natural light shooter's" comments here
)
I've read alot of comments on the 900, both positive and negative.....and the negative seem to be pretty darn negative. After Nikon 86d the 800, it seemed logical to seek the beefy 900.
Ok, finally, my question. Will the 600 perform to standards for off-camera lighting? Can the strength be manipulated? What's the furthest distance away from the mother ship that it can be placed? etc.
I'm ready to purchase the 600 tommorrow....I just need to hear it from the gang. Here's a couple of "I'll be doing this and not that" scenarios to help yall help me decide.
-Outdoor portraits only....never studio stuff. Can't stand it.....it's for some just not for me!
-Face-Fill during harsh daylight hours. Maybe side-lit....say if subject is between large columns
-Manipulative lighting during wedding receptions (backlit situations, etc.)
-Spot flash during late evening/dusk hours
So, what can the 600 do/not do.....not related to the 900 but when only considering the 600 period.
Not so brief but thanks for any and all help/comments/remarks!
(PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to include some 600 lighting examples!!!!!)
I put this topic here because I want to relate it to 99.9% of what it wil be used for....humans. :thumb "It" being an external/off camera flash. Please bare with me and I will try to be brief. I shoot a D300 and my 2 go-to portrait lenses would be the 50 1.4 and the 70-200 2.8. Nothing new there, we all are familiar with those. I can't immediately jump with both-feet-first into a SB-900....there's just no way. I'm really into ambient light and using it to my advantage but let's face it.....(insert sarcastic "you natural light shooter's" comments here
)I've read alot of comments on the 900, both positive and negative.....and the negative seem to be pretty darn negative. After Nikon 86d the 800, it seemed logical to seek the beefy 900.
Ok, finally, my question. Will the 600 perform to standards for off-camera lighting? Can the strength be manipulated? What's the furthest distance away from the mother ship that it can be placed? etc.
I'm ready to purchase the 600 tommorrow....I just need to hear it from the gang. Here's a couple of "I'll be doing this and not that" scenarios to help yall help me decide.
-Outdoor portraits only....never studio stuff. Can't stand it.....it's for some just not for me!
-Face-Fill during harsh daylight hours. Maybe side-lit....say if subject is between large columns
-Manipulative lighting during wedding receptions (backlit situations, etc.)
-Spot flash during late evening/dusk hours
So, what can the 600 do/not do.....not related to the 900 but when only considering the 600 period.
Not so brief but thanks for any and all help/comments/remarks!
(PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to include some 600 lighting examples!!!!!)
0
Comments
I always shoot in complete manual mode on my flashes so it boils down to, light is light, is light. Sb-28 or Sb-50bajillion does not matter. The only consideration for me is how much and how little light it will put out. Personally I love really shallow depth of field photos using flash, The nice Vagabond and Elinchrom systems even on its lowest setting give me TOO much light. Here are links to 3 images on my smug mug site that was lit with a very old Sunpack 120j and a convertible umbrella. So my advice is by the cheapest Nikon flash that has good power settings which means Nikon Sb28 and up.
http://adamstewart.smugmug.com/gallery/8309931_ZcSHW#545074220_89aqj
http://adamstewart.smugmug.com/gallery/8309931_ZcSHW#545906943_uHEN6
http://adamstewart.smugmug.com/gallery/8309931_ZcSHW#545073958_YLMNf
Hmmm... I have the SB900, the SB800 and SB600 and they are all great flashes, but my favorite is still the SB800.
In your situation shooting outdoors with shallow DOF you'll be using a higher shutter speed to fill flash more than anything but that requires high speed sync with on camera flash or off camera flash. What I typically do is keep an SB on a mono pod tethered by a sync cord so I can manipulate the angle of light a bit more than right on camera. The bonus with sticking with a current model is the HSS and greater manipulation. Get an SB800 if you can but the used prices seem higher than the old new price which is crazy, but would stay away from the SB600 as it just isn't powerful enough and you'll wish at times you had a little more.
EXAMPLE: SB900 with HSS and set to -3EV for fill flash
EXAMPLE: SB800 with HSS set to -3EV for fill
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I have a 900 and a 600. Don't believe all naysayers about the 900. It's an amazing flash, and much easier and more intuitive to control (as far as switching modes, changing power settings, toggling menu options, etc) than the 800 (or 600 for that matter). It has some key features that put it beyond anything Nikon has released before, such as 360 degree swiveling of the flash head (invaluable when using bounce flash in portrait mode to make sure none of the flash is going forward, without having to hold your camera backwards in an awkward fashion), 200mm flash zoom, ability to control 3 groups of manual flashes in 1/3 stop increments (the 800 could only do this in full stops), etc.
It's large, but unless you're a total weakling you can handle it. Lots of people say that it isn't as powerful as the 800, but nikon's guide numbers don't specify the zoom setting for the 900 so it's not certain. Either way it's not *significantly* more or less powerful than the 800. The whole thing about overheating and shutting down seems way overblown to me. I've never had mine do that and I've shot at full power repeatedly (something that's usually not required anyway) but in any case there's a firmware update to correct the issue and you can always turn the protection off if you want to chance it.
Anyway the 600 is a nice flash as well and I've done a lot with it. The range firing it with CLS will be the same as the 800 or 900, except that because the 900 swivels 360 degrees it's sometimes easier to position the sensor toward the camera than with either of the other flashes. You can control it remotely with your D300 popup flash, in either TTL or manual mode, just like the others. It only zooms to 85mm, swivels 270 degrees, won't command other CLS flashes, and is at least a stop less powerful. Don't think you're going to overpower daylight with it except at very short range (like a headshot with the flash just out of frame) and with no modifiers (umbrellas, softboxes, etc) to soften the light. If you shoot in the shade you'll have a lot more leeway with it (this goes for any flash). Of course it will work for fill light to bring up shadows just fine.
Showing you example shots would be pointless as light from a 600 looks just like light from any other flash. The only difference is the maximum amount that you can get out of it and how tightly you can focus the beam. However, if you must see one, look at my avatar on the left. That was lit with an SB600 (although it's one of those horrible "studio shots" that you apparently despise... well, if my kitchen counts as a "studio"
If you haven't yet, read the "Lighting 101" and "Lighting 102" series on http://www.strobist.com
Good luck, and enjoy learning to light!
http://blog.timkphotography.com
BTW, Codiac.....love your stuff dude!
I think the point is ANY off camera light will work. The photo above uses a 580exII by Canon on a stand off-camera , but could easily have been shot with a different strobe.
One of my favorite off-camera strobe techniques is to use the sun as my rim light and the strobe as fill. You can often get away with a single, bare strobe (no modifier) such as the shot above.
But really-- if you're going this route, the best thing you can do is learn about light (not individual strobes) at places like strobist Yeah, there's a bit of a learning curve, but that's because there's so much info there!
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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I have a stroboframe from a previous camera purchase so I don't think the head-swivel capabilities....or lack there of....will be a factor @ all.
I should also say that while "light is light" and when using off camera manual flash you could just as easily go with an older strobe like the SB28 for half the price, you will want to stick with the CLS capable flashes (600 and up) for what you're planning on doing, specifically wedding receptions (subjects, background, and lighting constantly changing... what a nightmare for manual flash... ttl is your friend in this situation for sure) and for HSS fill flash to achieve large apertures outdoors in bright ambient (which can also only be done with CLS flashes, on or off camera).
Good luck!
http://blog.timkphotography.com