I wouldn't say crazy. But impatient, certainly !
Thierry
TOF Guy
Thierry
--W Yeung
TOF Guy
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SB800
- Thread starter john thompson121186
- Start date
John,
I've bought a Sb800 at the same time as my D70. My reasoning was that I wanted the unit which can deliver as much light as possible. The only concern I had was that the SB800 may be too heavy or that the D70 would not be balanced with that flash (because somebody in the Nikon dslr forum made the comment that the Sb600 was designed for the D70, and only the two of them combined will be balanced and easy to hold. Total nonsense, as it turned out).
The sb800 is truly high rate performance. It does not feel heavy and works and feel great with the D70.
The beauty of its power is that in many scenes I'm way below the maximun light that the flash can offer. In these situations the flash recharges extremely quickly. Has to be seen to be believed. The bottom line is that a powerful flash such as the SB800 pays off, even when the SB600 would have been enough light wise.
Go for it !
Thierry
I've bought a Sb800 at the same time as my D70. My reasoning was that I wanted the unit which can deliver as much light as possible. The only concern I had was that the SB800 may be too heavy or that the D70 would not be balanced with that flash (because somebody in the Nikon dslr forum made the comment that the Sb600 was designed for the D70, and only the two of them combined will be balanced and easy to hold. Total nonsense, as it turned out).
The sb800 is truly high rate performance. It does not feel heavy and works and feel great with the D70.
The beauty of its power is that in many scenes I'm way below the maximun light that the flash can offer. In these situations the flash recharges extremely quickly. Has to be seen to be believed. The bottom line is that a powerful flash such as the SB800 pays off, even when the SB600 would have been enough light wise.
Go for it !
Thierry
Jeff Folkins
Leading Member
Freddy
I agree that Nikon's CLS is a great idea and being able to control the various proportions (if that is what you can do) from one location would be great. I found myself scurrying between various flashes to set and reset the flash exposures. However... the type of shoot where I personally would be using multiple flashes would normall involves unconventional lighting (e.g. a face against a black background) where one would never totally trust a light meter (or maybe I just don't have enough experience with spot metering). Hence I find the digital workflow of "shoot the picture, inspect it and change the manual settings" to be normal, and hence utilizing the SU4 manual arrangement isn't any more trouble. Of course if I had multiple SB800/600's I would prefer that. I must admit that 90% of my photography is walking around casual informals of people where the ability to have the i-TTL with my one SB800 to do the thinking for you is crucial because time is everything. I am quite happy with the entire system... and also that I don't have to throw away my 80DX & 50DX.
Jeff
I agree that Nikon's CLS is a great idea and being able to control the various proportions (if that is what you can do) from one location would be great. I found myself scurrying between various flashes to set and reset the flash exposures. However... the type of shoot where I personally would be using multiple flashes would normall involves unconventional lighting (e.g. a face against a black background) where one would never totally trust a light meter (or maybe I just don't have enough experience with spot metering). Hence I find the digital workflow of "shoot the picture, inspect it and change the manual settings" to be normal, and hence utilizing the SU4 manual arrangement isn't any more trouble. Of course if I had multiple SB800/600's I would prefer that. I must admit that 90% of my photography is walking around casual informals of people where the ability to have the i-TTL with my one SB800 to do the thinking for you is crucial because time is everything. I am quite happy with the entire system... and also that I don't have to throw away my 80DX & 50DX.
Jeff
Tom K.182709
Senior Member
We've actually taken a step BACKWARDS in flash technology. i-TTL is the first protocol that many have posted comes close to film TTL. My OM-2 in 1976 had off the film flash metering - it was a BIG deal then.
But the A mode on a good third-party flash has many drawbacks as well - it don't take into consideration lens angle, crop, etc - just a general survey of the situation.
We take this step back in flash performance in stride with a huge leap forward in exhisting light photography. low noise high ISO shots and color balance on the fly. You can't have everything.
But the A mode on a good third-party flash has many drawbacks as well - it don't take into consideration lens angle, crop, etc - just a general survey of the situation.
We take this step back in flash performance in stride with a huge leap forward in exhisting light photography. low noise high ISO shots and color balance on the fly. You can't have everything.
If I bought one SB-800 can it be used remotely with the internal flash sending the signal. In other words if I only have one SB-800 could I place it somewhere else in the room (not attached to the camera) and have it fire when I take pics???
Thanks!
-Steve
Thanks!
-Steve
Jeff Folkins
Leading Member
slightly longer answer:
Yes, the flash from the D70 will trigger the SB800. The interesting thing is that the D70 onboard flash will not contribute to the exposure. Which can be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.
Yes, the flash from the D70 will trigger the SB800. The interesting thing is that the D70 onboard flash will not contribute to the exposure. Which can be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.
Bill Rogers
Forum Enthusiast
I ran a test to see how much the light is diminished when light modifiers are used on the SB-800 flash. Test details:
1. Done outdoors after dark – so that bounced reflections are not present
2. Flash & camera (D70) set on Manual. Flash set to ½ output
3. Shutter speed 1/60
4. Sekonic L-358 flashmeter
5. Distance from flash to meter, about 12 ft.
6. Baseline, flash at zero degrees, no modifiers, f7.1. All the negative EVs shown below use this baseline.
7. One-third EV increments. .3 is one-third. .7 is two-thirds.
No modifier
0º, Baseline
45º, – 3.3 EV
90º, too low to measure
Wide-flash adapter
0º, – 1.3 EV
45º, – 1.7 EV
90º, too low to measure
Diffusion dome
0º, – 1.7 EV
45º, – 2.0 EV
90º, too low to measure
Wide-flash adapter & Diffusion dome
0º, – 2.7 EV
45º, – 2.3 EV
90º, – 4.3 EV
Bounce card
45º, – 2.7 EV
90º, – 4.3 EV
Wide-flash adapter & Bounce card
45º, – 1.3 EV
90º, – 4.0 EV
Diffusion dome & 8” x 8” white foamcore bounce card (held w/ rubber band)
90º, – 3.0 EV
Wide-flash adapter & 8” x 8” white foamcore bounce card (held w/ rubber band)
90º, – 3.0 EV
Note that this test did not measure the quality of light, just the quantity. Any light bounced from walls or ceiling will increase the lighting on the subject, but as Thom points out, also may impart an undesirable color cast.
1. Done outdoors after dark – so that bounced reflections are not present
2. Flash & camera (D70) set on Manual. Flash set to ½ output
3. Shutter speed 1/60
4. Sekonic L-358 flashmeter
5. Distance from flash to meter, about 12 ft.
6. Baseline, flash at zero degrees, no modifiers, f7.1. All the negative EVs shown below use this baseline.
7. One-third EV increments. .3 is one-third. .7 is two-thirds.
No modifier
0º, Baseline
45º, – 3.3 EV
90º, too low to measure
Wide-flash adapter
0º, – 1.3 EV
45º, – 1.7 EV
90º, too low to measure
Diffusion dome
0º, – 1.7 EV
45º, – 2.0 EV
90º, too low to measure
Wide-flash adapter & Diffusion dome
0º, – 2.7 EV
45º, – 2.3 EV
90º, – 4.3 EV
Bounce card
45º, – 2.7 EV
90º, – 4.3 EV
Wide-flash adapter & Bounce card
45º, – 1.3 EV
90º, – 4.0 EV
Diffusion dome & 8” x 8” white foamcore bounce card (held w/ rubber band)
90º, – 3.0 EV
Wide-flash adapter & 8” x 8” white foamcore bounce card (held w/ rubber band)
90º, – 3.0 EV
Note that this test did not measure the quality of light, just the quantity. Any light bounced from walls or ceiling will increase the lighting on the subject, but as Thom points out, also may impart an undesirable color cast.
W Yeung
Active member
1) if I have another SB800 on D70, will it activate the external SB800 wirelessly and also contribute to the exposure ?
2) if yes, can this set up activate an external SB600 (this saves me some money in getting another DS800)
W Yeung
Yes, if you want it to.
According to current literature and previews the answer is 'Yes'.
The SB-600 has most of the 800's features except that it's a little weaker, has no repeating mode, no modeling light, no sync socket and it does not come with filters nor a defusing dome. The problem is that the quotes some people have been getting seem to indicate that the savings are negligible.
Matt
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http://www.pbase.com/deadpixel
Dave Beaman
Senior Member
Do we know what the price will be on the sb600.? I am going to get another sb800 maybe two more. I want all the power I can get. If i could get one more powerfull I would.
As for the feature set. It's my opinion that they just may have too many features on the sb800 already. They have tried to make it the flash for all cameras. Too much information overload.
I find it rather amusing that they have used this expression so many times in the sb800s manual.
"..Cameras compatable with CLS , digital SLRs not compatible with CLS, and cameras in Group I with a CPU lens...."
I know they have to distinguish the types of cameras, lens etc. but they have so many of them.
dave
As for the feature set. It's my opinion that they just may have too many features on the sb800 already. They have tried to make it the flash for all cameras. Too much information overload.
I find it rather amusing that they have used this expression so many times in the sb800s manual.
"..Cameras compatable with CLS , digital SLRs not compatible with CLS, and cameras in Group I with a CPU lens...."
I know they have to distinguish the types of cameras, lens etc. but they have so many of them.
dave
Thom Hogan
Forum Pro
In Standard TTL, yes, in Balanced Fill-Flash, sort of. Nikon used the during flash exposure calculation to second guess the preflash calculation.
Not likely, actually. I've tried coming up with situations that fool preflash but not during-exposure calculations, and it's not easy. Moreover, note that the prime advantage during-exposure has is if MORE light is needed, not less. If the situation changed during the exposure to something that needed less light, you can't shut down the light already produced.
The lag isn't that long of a lag, though the I-TTL lag is longer than D-TTL. But the problem with Automatic flash modes is that the sensor on the flash doesn't see what the camera sees. Two classic situations mess up the flash doing the exposure work: (1) too close to a background (white walls are notorious); and (2) something nearer the camera that's in the flash sensor's view but not the camera's (shooting through doorways is the typical worst case).
--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com
Dave Beaman
Senior Member
Thom when will your newest ebooks be ready? I enjoyed your one on the D100. Will you be having one each on the new flashes and the D70?
it looks like I am going to need some guidence using the sb800s and my D70 together on Wireless. I will get my second sb800 this next week and I think a third one most likely.
I certainly don't have it worked out on the settings of each now using the builtin as commander and the sb800 as remote. Hoping it will be more intuitive with a sb800 as Master.
dave
it looks like I am going to need some guidence using the sb800s and my D70 together on Wireless. I will get my second sb800 this next week and I think a third one most likely.
I certainly don't have it worked out on the settings of each now using the builtin as commander and the sb800 as remote. Hoping it will be more intuitive with a sb800 as Master.
dave
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