Nikon D80 auxillary flash unit

Nforce

I'm thinking of picking up a flash for my D80 as the on camera flash is very poor. Would an SB-600 suffice, or would I be better of getting an SB-800.
I'll be hoping to change camera bodies soon too and am considering either a new D90 or a second hand D300.......will these flash units work okay on those bodies?

TIA

conair01

i have the sb600 on my d80 and it seems to work well. however the on the sb 800 there is The SB-800 the opinion of an external single AA holder which lets you use 5-AA cells for faster recycling compared to just using the 4 internal cells. all depends on your intended usage!!

quilmore

sb400 will cost you €100 and will do 95% of what the SB600 or Sb800 do under normal circumstances

Nforce

Thanks for the replies, guys. Cheap and cheerful will do tbh as I rarely ever need flash. I've been asked by relatives to cover a Communion and Confirmation soon and the on camera flash is pants for indoor photography.

coylemj

I can highly recommend the SB-600, I have a D90 and recently was asked to be the photographer at a First Communion party. The Balanced Fill option did the trick and every one of the indoor shots came out superb with the correct level of lighting even if I say so myself.

There's an SB-600 for sale on adverts.ie right now which might help bring the price down closer to that of a new SB-400, the SB-600 can be fired as a remote flash by the D90 onboard flash though I can't say for certain if this applies to the D80.

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=108844&cat=51

On the matter of batteries, I took 342 shots, almost all of them with the SB-600 flash and my Lenmar 4 x AA 2700 mAh rechargables lasted the pace no bother with plenty of spare juice remaining. Just carry either a spare set of Duracells or rechargables and you'll have nothing to worry about.

coylemj

Just checked the D80 brochure and found this so you can fire the SB-600 as a remote from the D80.

Full support for the Advanced Wireless Lighting System lets the built-in flash function as a remote commander that provides direct control wireless SB-600 or SB-800 Speedlights.

Stephen

I use an SB400 with mine and it is massively better than the onboard flash. Wasn't willing to spend the cash for an SB600 or 800!

Nforce

Appreciate the replies, folks. I saw that one on Adverts, but I think that it's sold.


Edit: just chanced my arm at an offer.

coylemj

If you're thinking of upgrading the camera to a D90 or similar then I'd strongly urge you to go for the SB-600 instead of the SB-400 cause the 600 takes 4 instead of 2 x AA batteries, it has focus assist lamps for focusing in poor light and it's taller than the SB-400 which means a greater angular separation between the flash bulb and the camera lens which means less chance of red eye.

To test the focus assist of my SB-600, I pointed the D90 at the wall of a darkened room in my house with the SB-600 switched on and applied first pressure on the shutter button, the wall was instantly filled with a grid of red lines from the SB-600 focus assist lamps and the camera focused straight away, you won't get this assist with the SB-400.

Ostrom

Stephen wrote: »

I use an SB400 with mine and it is massively better than the onboard flash. Wasn't willing to spend the cash for an SB600 or 800!

Same here, have used both and by far prefer the SB-400. Portable and simple, very effective.

Nforce

Cheers,guys....though I think that I'll go with an SB-600. I missed out on that one on Adverts so I guess I'll check out ebay.:cool:

Cosmo K

+1 for the SB 400. Have one and absolutely love it.