Outdoor flash

[Malcolm1938]

If you are going to use manual settings why go to the expense of a dedicated flashgun. A high power gun of any make used with a cheap remote firing system will do the same job for less than half the money. I have been away for a few days and have not had time to research a complete solution but you could make your money go a lot further without dedication...

[Hinfrance]

If you are going to use manual settings why go to the expense of a dedicated flashgun. A high power gun of any make used with a cheap remote firing system will do the same job for less than half the money. I have been away for a few days and have not had time to research a complete solution but you could make your money go a lot further without dedication...

My point exactly 

[Graham]

  That's a very good point Malcolm and Howard make, the key thing being If you are only going to use manual settings.
 I don't think there's a way of counting the number of flashes a unit has had. The only thing would to treat like a used car and look for physical wear and tear.
 The fact that the new one is the same price that I paid 5 years ago, and has been discontinued for nearly 2 tells you something, (Not sure what! )
 Is there a guarantee? If not I'd save anoter £50.00 and get the new one.
                Oh the agony of choice!  Graham.

[Jonathan]

If the flash looks like the one on the left then it's probably best avoided



Actually the SB900 pretty much looks like that now.....

[Rick Wilks]

If you are going to use manual settings why go to the expense of a dedicated flashgun. A high power gun of any make used with a cheap remote firing system will do the same job for less than half the money. I have been away for a few days and have not had time to research a complete solution but you could make your money go a lot further without dedication...

The reason I was going for the dedicated flash guns was due to me being very new to photography and I'm learning more and more every week, I don't want to be stuck down the line needing a setting on my flash that I haven't got. I'd rather have it and not need it, Than need it and not have it. 

[Hinfrance]

Fair enough, but that wasn't what you said at the outset and it doesn't mean you have to be a label mabel . . .

[Rick Wilks]

Fair enough, but that wasn't what you said at the outset and it doesn't mean you have to be a label mabel . . .

In the outset I'd asked about the sb-6 8 and 900, I've been told by a friend that Nikon is the best flash system and I happy that the price difference between the Nikon and cheaper flash guns is not a massive amount. I'm just asking for some advice but it feels like I'm being persecuted because i like Nikon gear.

[Verb]

I've not sure if you've seen this website before Rick, but it's got some good avise http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

[picsfor]

it feels like I'm being persecuted because i like Nikon gear.

You are not being persecuted - you just need to understand that some work in different ways.
Brand loyalty is probably the most contentious issue in photography.

You are a Nikon user and you have asked about Nikon gear. This thread has clearly expanded beyond the initial question because you got answers to questions you did not need to ask - which in turn has lead to more questions.
You are dealing with people from different cultures, working methods and priorities which affects the language used.

Some times the language can appear 'sharp' - that was one of the complaints on DCM in its latter days. On here, you will find that no offense is is intended and any possible misunderstandings normally bring forth apologies.
I have had to issue apologies on a few occasions. It is the clearest sign of the weakness of text only forum like this.

Do not take it personally, because be assured it was not meant to come across as 'persecution'.

[jinky]

Don`t take it too hard Rick - lots of different views on flash come out. I missed your post but I too followed the Nikon route and get grief from local Flickr Leeds people telling me to use the various 3rd party triggers / flashes. Thing is Nikons CLS system is so good for firing I think it`s worth getting the Nikon flashes unless you plan on shooting in a field 30 metres away  
I`ve got 2x SB600s and an SB800. My mistake was getting carried away with good prices and figuring 2 was better than 1 dearer one. It was for work on stands with umbrellas etc no doubt but when using just one on camera or held off camera the SB600 just lacks a bit of oomph and the SB800 is so good. I got my SB800 off a contact who had little used it for £180 a few months back so knew its history and came as new so a no brainer really. Despite the warnings about 2nd hand flash guns just see what the Nikons sell for if you don`t end up using them so much. If you go third party the Yongnou that Tringle recommends gets the thumbs up from most of the Leeds Flickr people I know for ultra - reliability - they are still occasionally jealous of my TTL  control etc through CLS and the Nikon flashes though ( rarely admitted   )

[Rick Wilks]

So sorry guys. Your rite!! I'm finding brand loyalty is a big issue in photography. I can understand it though, In the past when I've bought 3rd party kit (in other hobbies) finding parts and accessories has been a nightmare.

Sorry again to come across like I did, I really have learned allot in the short time on this site and hope to learn allot more.

Thanks again for the help and I do listen to all of it.

Take care all!!

[Hinfrance]

Sorry Rick, I pretty much latched on to the "I'm about to buy a flash I can use outdoors for location shoots" and sort of ignored the rest.

Sure if you're minted like jinky  then you can buy the branded stuff and not break a sweat.

My Pentaxes have wireless TTL too, works just fine with the Metz, but I've only ever used it once and then immediately went back to manually adjusting stuff because TTL just flattens everything (although I've only got the one TTL flash gun, so jinky will be back in mo to explain that if I invest another £400 in extra strobes I'll soon see why it's sooo good  ).

I'm sure whatever you settle upon you'll be having hours of fun. And then spending loads more on extras that somehow got overlooked at the time of initial purchase.

As an aside, and I don't know if this it true of the Nikon system, but wireless on my system doesn't mean radio, it means 'optical', the commands being sent by either the camera's pop up flash or a master flash mounted either on the hotshoe or connected to it by a TTL cable.

I find the radio triggers are 100% reliable (so far).

[chris@seary.com]

If you're going to use flash off camera, and want to be creative, then two or more flashes would be better than the one, wouldn't it?

How about 2 x SB600?

What about three or four Vivitar 285s and cheap chinese triggers?

I have both SB600 and SB800, and love them both - SB900 is really advanced and can do lots more, SB600 is small enough to carry around. I can use both off camera with my D90, and can use SB900 on camera to trigger the SB600 with my D60.

It would be good to know which camera you have, then we'd be able to tell you what you would need in order to trigger the flash off camera.

[Rick Wilks]

Hey Chris, I'm using a Nikon D300. I'm happy to use one at the min, I'm a big fan of Zack Arias and his Onelight DVD's. He gets some amazing effects just using one off camera flash. I had a cheap vivitar but it didn't fire on my D300.

[irv_b]

As an aside to this I realise that the op is talking about outdoor flash but if he or anyone wants some free (well nearly you have to pay for post and packing) flash filters (all they have to do is register) at either of these site and they will send you the swatch pack
http://www.lxstore.com/product_catalog.php?c=64
http://www.lxstore.com/product_catalog.php?c=44
http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/Category.aspx?id=21108 (scroll down for the free ones)
I ordered some the other day, so you can wait and I'll give the lowdown when I try them on my sb600 for size
Irv