Another lens or a speedlight?

[IronMaskDuval]

I'm no pro, but I'm not so green that I hurt your eyes. Any who, I just added a 60mm macro to my kit today, and I have a 35mm and a 55-300 on a d7100. I've been debating between the 50mm or 85mm prime or a speedlight. I've never shot with a flash before, and I'm starting to get more involved with photography. If your answer is flash, should I go Nikon, or is the chinese Yongnuo competitive? I see reviews about the Chinese, but doesn't seem to appear on any mainstream sites.

 

[Gavjenks]

Hands down speedlight. You're in a hobby that's called "light writing" and currently you don't have a pen. I would have told you to get a flash even if you only had one lens.

Yongnuo is just fine. Actually more powerful even than the lower level major company flashes, and robust enough.. The difference is that it doesn't do as much fancy stuff like high speed sync or ETTL (or at least I don't think it does. Haven't kept up with the models). But if you're learning how to use flash properly, you should be diving in head first and fiddling with everything manually to learn anyway, so you shouldn't be using ETTL. HSS you do want to use sometimes if you have it, but it's pretty advanced and don't need to worry about that yet. Not $350 difference important.

 

[IgsEMT]

I'm no pro, but I'm not so green that I hurt your eyes. Any who, I just added a 60mm macro to my kit today, and I have a 35mm and a 55-300 on a d7100. I've been debating between the 50mm or 85mm prime or a speedlight. I've never shot with a flash before, and I'm starting to get more involved with photography. If your answer is flash, should I go Nikon, or is the chinese Yongnuo competitive? I see reviews about the Chinese, but doesn't seem to appear on any mainstream sites.

Ditto on flash.

 

[coastalconn]

There are many newer units that have HSS now and iTTL as we call it in Nikon world Yongnuo now has the 568EX and the 500EX that have HSS (Auto-FP) they are supposed to do everything the big names do except empty your wallet. I just ordered a Meike MK-910 that is a clone of the Nikon SB-910 except it is $145 instead of $550. It may be a piece of crap, but only one way to find out...

 

[Derrel]

Get one of these to use the flash for macro shooting, with the flash off-camera, and held in your left hand (or by an assistant OR on a small bracket) and connected to the camera by this TTL remote connecting cord. FlashZebra.com: Off Camera iTTL Cord for Nikon — 3 Foot Coiled Cord (Item #0244)

 

[IronMaskDuval]

Thanks everyone. A flash it is. With the cord, Derrel, I saw some wireless triggers on amazon for $25 that have received some really good reviews. Is their a noticeable lag using wireless instead of being corded?

 

[LittleLovesPhotos]

There are many newer units that have HSS now and iTTL as we call it in Nikon world Yongnuo now has the 568EX and the 500EX that have HSS (Auto-FP) they are supposed to do everything the big names do except empty your wallet. I just ordered a Meike MK-910 that is a clone of the Nikon SB-910 except it is $145 instead of $550. It may be a piece of crap, but only one way to find out...

Do you like the Meike? I'm trying to figure out what flash to buy. Thanks for your help!

 

[Scatterbrained]

Thanks everyone. A flash it is. With the cord, Derrel, I saw some wireless triggers on amazon for $25 that have received some really good reviews. Is their a noticeable lag using wireless instead of being corded?

No, just that the wireless systems that are capable of iTTL are usually more than $25. The cable is iTTL compatible as it is literally just an extension cord for the hotshoe.

 

[jgreg]

Don't go cheap on wireless triggers get Pocketwizards or Radiopoppers. I have used the cheap stuff and when I wanted it to fire it doesn't. My pocket wizards fire all the time. So does my Quantum Freewire. I also reed that the new Paul Buff ones are good. You get what you pay for in this stuff.