Nikon SB400 or SB700 on top of the D7000

I agree - given the choice of the SB400 or the SB700, I choose both! I only have the SB400 right now, and I wouldn't give it up for the convenience that it's size provides. I can bring my D7000 with my 35mm f/1.8 and my SB-400 with me to casual events and it's perfect. The SB-700 would be too big for this. However, I find myself wanting to experiment with off-camera flash and all the stuff that goes with that. The SB-700 is perfect for that, whereas the SB-400 is almost useless for that (aside from using certain expensive radio triggers). I have also encountered rooms that were too big for the SB-400 to bounce (20+ foot ceilings) and times when I wished I could aim the flash sideways.

I agonized over the same decision when I bought my SB-400, but i think that the right answer is both. I could settle for either one, but they serve slightly different purposes.

Once you learn how soft bounced flash can be, especially pointed behind you, the SB700 becomes a no brainer. You can look at reflective surfaces as being giant soft-boxes and get nice diffused light

Read more here http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/4-bouncing-flash/

Who knows you might even use the Black Foamie Thing... http://neilvn.com/tangents/2011/03/08/video-using-the-black-foamie-thing/

As you can see from this photo taken in near darkness, the D7000 has a reasonably powerful built-in flash (note only 400 ISO used @f8), so the SB400 won't buy you much there. Get the SB700, as it is far more capable in too many ways to describe here and has the design and enough power for bounce flash in landscape and portrait orientation, as well as off camera flash control capabilities.





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"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken!"

• Jon

The sb400 does quite a good job, especially with a nikon sc28 or sc29 which makes up for some of the sb400 limitations mentioned here. I have some photos with that on a d40 at my flickr page (just snapshots, nothing great)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24450988@N05/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24450988@N05/6914074145/in/set-72157627566214834/

Love it for macros shots as its so lightweight. By taking the flash off camera the results are so much better and the light weight of the sb400 makes that so much easier, especially when handholding.