What Nikon Flash for a D800?

TacticDesigns said:

rumple said:

Mark_A said:

What Nikon Flash for a D800?

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Here is a pretty good summary of the nikon flashes:

https://photographylife.com/nikon-flash-comparison

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+1

Pretty good.

One thing I noticed is that it did not mention that the Nikon SB-800 has an optical trigger mode, where as the Nikon SB-600 does not.

That is one thing I use on my SB-800 every now and then that makes me grab it instead of my SB-600.

Take care & Happy Shooting!

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Good point. Sometimes the SU-4 mode (simple optical trigger) is helpful, and the SB-600 does only CLS.

rumple said:

"This is a long-standing internet exaggeration. My SB-900s, used in events, bouncing from ceilings and walls often at or near full power, never overheat.

When they do, they shutdown for a few minutes to cool. The SB-910's overheat at exactly the same point, then they slow down shooting to avoid burning up, and will eventually shutdown.
"

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The SB900 has shot down several times on me.
IIRC, thermal shutdown can be disabled. At your own risk, that is.

SB800 or SB900.

The SB600 ran pretty quickly out of power when I tried to bounce it. I imagine the SB700 won't be very different.

straitouttahell said:

rumple said:

"This is a long-standing internet exaggeration. My SB-900s, used in events, bouncing from ceilings and walls often at or near full power, never overheat.

When they do, they shutdown for a few minutes to cool. The SB-910's overheat at exactly the same point, then they slow down shooting to avoid burning up, and will eventually shutdown.
"

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Er Chitara said:

The SB900 has shot down several times on me.

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Never for me Perhaps one difference is that I always use an external battery pack, which takes a fair bit of heat out of the flash. Also, I shoot deliberately, so don't hammer the flash in the first place.

I have 4 SB-800 that have performed flawlessly for since purchased new. I dropped one onto a concrete floor and decided to replace it rather then send it to Nikon for repair. I looked at the SB-910 and SB-5000 and decided to buy a used SB-800 instead. Avoid the SB-900 which has heating problems and will shut down - no such worries with the SB-800.

No real difference in performance between the SB-800 which can be bought for $135 used from someone on fredmiranda or the $600 SB-5000. I know that the SB-5000 has RF capabilities but the design is a kludge and for RF I use my Quantum Qflash with my SB-800's and the Quantum FreeXwire RF transmitters and receivers.

Metz and others produce iTTL compatible flash units and some have a dual flash which is great for simultaneous fill and bounced flash, and other units add a second LED light that can be used for video shooting.

calson said:

[...]Avoid the SB-900 which has heating problems and will shut down

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Thank you for another opportunity to cut-and-paste my modified boilerplate text on this:

This is a long-standing internet exaggeration. My SB-900s, used in events, bouncing from ceilings and walls often at or near full power, never overheated. I used them with external battery packs, which takes some heat out of the flash.

When they do overheat, they shutdown for a few minutes to cool. The SB-910's overheat at exactly the same point, then they slow down shooting to avoid burning up, and will eventually shutdown.

rumple said:

straitouttahell said:

rumple said:

"This is a long-standing internet exaggeration. My SB-900s, used in events, bouncing from ceilings and walls often at or near full power, never overheat.

When they do, they shutdown for a few minutes to cool. The SB-910's overheat at exactly the same point, then they slow down shooting to avoid burning up, and will eventually shutdown.
"

Click to expand...

The SB900 has shot down several times on me.

Click to expand...

Never for me Perhaps one difference is that I always use an external battery pack, which takes a fair bit of heat out of the flash.

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How does it do that?

rumple said:

Also, I shoot deliberately, so don't hammer the flash in the first place.

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That is why. External battery pack only relieves so me heat from the battery compartment but if you shoot at 10fps for several seconds your flash will overheat.

I even once bought Nissin MG8000 because it has cooling vents but I could not use it because it could not go lower in 1/32 power even though it has the setting to go to 1/256.

I have a Nikon D910 and D700. I recently bought a Godox TT685N that has built in radio and optical triggering. I like it better than either of my Nikon flashes..

Thanks to everyone for your assistance .. At the moment it is between a used Nikon SB-800 or a Godox. I know I can't go very wrong with the SB-800 but the Godox does offer some additional features (radio and battery)which are interesting and their new prices are very interesting.

There is so much information to read and think about that I am delaying my purchase for a little while while I cogitate some more.

Mark_A

nigelbb said:

Like most everything else electronic they are made in China.

Lencarta are the UK distributer & give a 3 year warranty. They cost a fraction of the price of Nikon speed lights. https://www.lencarta.com/godox-ving...sh-speedlight-kit-fla029?search=godox+speedli

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Just book marking this post because I want to look at this link more.

It is a persuasive option certainly and thanks for the UK link.

Mark_A

For non-optical remote shooting, any Nikon Speedlight from SB-80DX onward is perfectly serviceable. Older Speedlights may work, as well, but I settled upon SB-80DX as the oldest I would actually purchase, when I did my comparison of specs several years ago. These can sometimes be found at very friendly prices. I bought five or six of them, only to experience a flood claim all but one of them, before I added radio triggers.

For ease of use the Metz 64 AF-1 is a new favorite. I realize it is beyond the OP’s stated budget, but forum topics are useful to all, not just the OP, and, some lesser Metz flashguns have similar features. The wonderful, highly-visible touch-screen menu is so very user-friendly, and, at least when on-camera, the menu rotates when the camera is rotated to vertical orientation.

I do not hate the other third-party brands. Metz and Nissin are what I have experience using, and I like Metz better.

--
Nothing I have typed should be understood as an indication that I am claiming to be an expert. I was blessed to have learned from experts, and would classify myself as an advanced beginner, overall, with an asymmetric balance of skills.
I wore a police badge, and made evidentiary images at night, incorporating elements of portrait, macro, still life, landscape, architecture, and PJ. (Retired January 2018.) I enjoy using Canon and Nikon gear.

Rexgig0 said:

For non-optical remote shooting, any Nikon Speedlight from SB-80DX onward is perfectly serviceable. Older Speedlights may work, as well, but I settled upon SB-80DX as the oldest I would actually purchase, when I did my comparison of specs several years ago. These can sometimes be found at very friendly prices. I bought five or six of them, only to experience a flood claim all but one of them, before I added radio triggers.

For ease of use the Metz 64 AF-1 is a new favorite. I realize it is beyond the OP’s stated budget, but forum topics are useful to all, not just the OP, and, some lesser Metz flashguns have similar features. The wonderful, highly-visible touch-screen menu is so very user-friendly, and, at least when on-camera, the menu rotates when the camera is rotated to vertical orientation.

I do not hate the other third-party brands. Metz and Nissin are what I have experience using, and I like Metz better.

Click to expand...

+1

NOTE: Nikon SB-80DX does not use the newer iTTL mode that most of the Nikon dSLR cameras use.

This note is for anyone else reading this thread and considering a flash unit for their Nikon dSLR camera.

The Nikon SB-80DX does not have the newer iTTL that is used in most of the Nikon dSLR cameras.

It uses the older TTL from the film days.

So, if you use it with a Nikon dSLR that only supports (iTTL), you won't be able to use it in TTL mode.

Instead you'd either have to set it manually or on the non-TTL auto mode (Thyristor auto mode.)

Take care & Happy Shooting!


--
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TacticDesigns said:

Rexgig0 said:

For non-optical remote shooting, any Nikon Speedlight from SB-80DX onward is perfectly serviceable. Older Speedlights may work, as well, but I settled upon SB-80DX as the oldest I would actually purchase, when I did my comparison of specs several years ago. These can sometimes be found at very friendly prices. I bought five or six of them, only to experience a flood claim all but one of them, before I added radio triggers.

For ease of use the Metz 64 AF-1 is a new favorite. I realize it is beyond the OP’s stated budget, but forum topics are useful to all, not just the OP, and, some lesser Metz flashguns have similar features. The wonderful, highly-visible touch-screen menu is so very user-friendly, and, at least when on-camera, the menu rotates when the camera is rotated to vertical orientation.

I do not hate the other third-party brands. Metz and Nissin are what I have experience using, and I like Metz better.

Click to expand...

+1

NOTE: Nikon SB-80DX does not use the newer iTTL mode that most of the Nikon dSLR cameras use.

This note is for anyone else reading this thread and considering a flash unit for their Nikon dSLR camera.

The Nikon SB-80DX does not have the newer iTTL that is used in most of the Nikon dSLR cameras.

It uses the older TTL from the film days.

So, if you use it with a Nikon dSLR that only supports (iTTL), you won't be able to use it in TTL mode.

Instead you'd either have to set it manually or on the non-TTL auto mode (Thyristor auto mode.)

Take care & Happy Shooting!

Click to expand...

That is why I said “for non-optical remote shooting.” The OP specified this, and stated he was already using one non-CLS/I-TTL flash.

Actually, the SB-80DX does work with a digital-era TTL mode, known as D-TTL, which was in the D1-series and D100, and cameras as recent as the D2-series may be able to use the SB-80DX for TTL shooting.

It is quite true, however, that the SB-80DX is not capable of CLS/I-TTL shooting.

Mark_A said:

Thanks to everyone for your assistance .. At the moment it is between a used Nikon SB-800 or a Godox. I know I can't go very wrong with the SB-800 but the Godox does offer some additional features (radio and battery)which are interesting and their new prices are very interesting.

There is so much information to read and think about that I am delaying my purchase for a little while while I cogitate some more.

Mark_A

Click to expand...

You can buy Godox on Amazon, try it and if you don't like it you have 30 days to return it for a full refund.

Rexgig0 said:

TacticDesigns said:

Rexgig0 said:

For non-optical remote shooting, any Nikon Speedlight from SB-80DX onward is perfectly serviceable. Older Speedlights may work, as well, but I settled upon SB-80DX as the oldest I would actually purchase, when I did my comparison of specs several years ago. These can sometimes be found at very friendly prices. I bought five or six of them, only to experience a flood claim all but one of them, before I added radio triggers.

For ease of use the Metz 64 AF-1 is a new favorite. I realize it is beyond the OP’s stated budget, but forum topics are useful to all, not just the OP, and, some lesser Metz flashguns have similar features. The wonderful, highly-visible touch-screen menu is so very user-friendly, and, at least when on-camera, the menu rotates when the camera is rotated to vertical orientation.

I do not hate the other third-party brands. Metz and Nissin are what I have experience using, and I like Metz better.

Click to expand...

+1

NOTE: Nikon SB-80DX does not use the newer iTTL mode that most of the Nikon dSLR cameras use.

This note is for anyone else reading this thread and considering a flash unit for their Nikon dSLR camera.

The Nikon SB-80DX does not have the newer iTTL that is used in most of the Nikon dSLR cameras.

It uses the older TTL from the film days.

So, if you use it with a Nikon dSLR that only supports (iTTL), you won't be able to use it in TTL mode.

Instead you'd either have to set it manually or on the non-TTL auto mode (Thyristor auto mode.)

Take care & Happy Shooting!

Click to expand...

That is why I said “for non-optical remote shooting.” The OP specified this, and stated he was already using one non-CLS/I-TTL flash.

Click to expand...

+1

Absolutely.

I'm just thinking if anyone else reads through the thread and adds the Nikon SB-80DX to their short list not realizing it doesn't support iTTL.

IMHO . . . if someone is only going to get one flash unit, or this is their first in the series . . . then having one that does TTL with your camera is nice to have.

Rexgig0 said:

Actually, the SB-80DX does work with a digital-era TTL mode, known as D-TTL, which was in the D1-series and D100, and cameras as recent as the D2-series may be able to use the SB-80DX for TTL shooting.

Click to expand...

+1

I had the Nikon D100 and Nikon D70s. D100 was the D-TTL and the D70s was the iTTL.

That's why I knew of the switch.

None of my flashes back then had either D-TTL or iTTL! LOL.

Vivitar 285HV flash units were auto-thyistor AUTO mode or manual mode, that's it.

I had a Pentax AF540fgz which had P-TTL with the Pentax dSLR bodies, but when I wanted to use it on my Nikon cameras, I had to put it into auto-thyrister AUTO mode! LOL.

But when I started getting Nikon flashes, I aimed to concentrate on iTTL flashes.

I guess, now that I have a Nikon SB-800, if I want to use that flash on my Pentax dSLR, I can toss the Nikon SB-800 into auto-thyrister AUTO mode and I can get rid of my Pentax AF540fgz flash.

Rexgig0 said:

It is quite true, however, that the SB-80DX is not capable of CLS/I-TTL shooting.

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I'm just wondering . . . I was planning to add Yongnuo YN622N-II wireless iTTL triggers to my Nikon SB-800 flash units. It's supposed to give me full CLS control to the SB-800 flash units.

Thinking about it, getting a Nikon SB-80DX, would mean not being able to do that radio wiressless trigger then.

So, if planning to add wireless radio triggers and wanting to control the flash units remotely, then it might be easier to stick with iTTL?

Take care & Happy Shooting!

I have two SB800 flashes and an SB900 that I use with my D850 and D800. If forced to choose, I’d pick the SB800s. They are true workhorses.

The Yongnuo YN-622n works prefectly with D800 off-camera with an SB800 Speedlight in TTL mode and Manual and Auto modes. It also can be controlled off-camera remotely using the YN-622n-TX.

The Yongnuo does however have a problem if you set it in the hotshoe of the D800 body and then slip an SB800 on top of the Yongnuo. It will then force both the in-built Focus-assist light of the Nikon D800 and Yongnuo infrared assist to not work, therefore locking up the autofocus if shooting at night.

If you want to use the Yongnuo on top of the Nikon D800, then simply use a non-Nikon flash and it will then work flawlessly in Manual and Auto modes and enable focus assist, plus also allow another SB800 to work in TTL off-camera at the same time.