Flash decisions?

Where are you finding an Nikon official refurbished Nikon SB-700 for $80 ?

 

How about this. Green technology, plus you can save a lot on batteries.
Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Disc - 40.5" (1 m) 301 B&H Photo

 

For shooting portraits outdoors and dealing with harsh lighting, I would consider either of these.

Interfit S1 - 500ws flash with on board rechargeable battery.

Flash point XPLOR 600 - 600ws flash with on board rechargeable battery.

I have other lights in the Flashpoint series and I really like them. I have been around and used the Interfit S1 and I like it well enough that I have been considering selling my studio strobes and going to this system.

Another alternative in the Flashpoint series is the Streaklight 360 - It is only 360ws of power but it is my go to and travel lighting. I have bought the mount for a stand where I can use bowens mount light modifiers with it.

Just a not to @Derrel's comment about high speed sync. All three of these options will support it on my Canon system so they should on the Nikon as well.

IMHO for harsh sunlight situations, HSS is the way to go. (But I will try to find open shade if at all possible.)

 

I notice the Interfit shoots 350 flashes and the Xplor600 can do 450, at full power, and that the Xplor has almost twice the battery storage as the Interfit has, at, basically around the same price point.

I'm NOT really "sold" on the idea of TTL studio flash, but I DO like the idea of High Speed Sync flash for outdoors work.

My issue though is the cost per Watt-second, and per flash unit...$729 to $749 PER flash unit is a lot of money. But then...the capabilities and features are very much cutting edge!

 

@Derrel those aren't cheap for sure but when you are going up against the Profoto B1 and are less than half the price of it.....

I see your point about TTL, but remember that you've been doing this a long time. For someone that isn't so knowledgeable with flash, I think it can help them get in the ball park a lot faster than trial and error.

I knew that I'd convert you to HSS...

 

NIKON-branded flashes....short life? Not sure about that. I have units from them that are 35-plus years old, and still work. I have an SB-800 that is pretty old now too, my newest Nikon-branded flash, it's from 2005 as I recall, still works great. Cheapie, oiff-brand flashes DO tend to have shoirter lifes, and have a reputation for dying, or slowly malfunctioning, or of suddently ceasing to function, but NIKON-branded flash units are not of the same, disposable type, and are NOT know for "short life" issues.

The SB 700 has a pretty good reputation, and it will work perfectly with a Nikon d-slr of modern vintage.

 

YES, the Xplor600 is right at about one-third of the price of a comparable Profoto B1 Air monolight: I saw the video you linked me to some months ago, and the Xplor600 actually out-performed the B1 Air in many of the test criteria! Not too surprising, since the Profoto B1 Air was, as I recall, the very FIRST TTL-capable battery-operated monolight when it hit the market, and the designers of the Xplor600 had a complete list of what they needed to match or to exceed in order to make a very viable competing product in that category.

My cost concerns are not so much versus the B1 Air, but against low-tech monolights that are $99 to $159 each; while not giving High Speed Sync capability, low-tech 150 Watt-second monolights, or even low-cost Made in China HSS-capable speedlights ganged into 3-unit or 4-unit groups could give a close approximation of the power of a single, $729 monolight, for a price of something like $190-$300, not $729.

Still: I want to say that I think that TTL flash control is wayyyyy LESS-valuable than is HSS, and there are monolights that can do HSS, but which are NOT TTL-compatible, at considerable cost savings. A lot of outdoor family/senior/wedding stuff is going to be shot at the same, exact f/stop at fairly common distance ranges, and manual control of the flash power will work quite well, but the ability to go to High Speed Synchronization mode, and the capability shoot at high shutter speeds and wide f/stops--now that is valuable--much, much, muuuuuch more-valuable than TTL flash squelching.

 

Derrell has hit the nail on the head. I want to underline two of his comments. The first is that a portable flash unit like the SB-800 (I used one for many years) is perfectly adequate for the typical amateur outdoor fill flash application. You don't need one of the big boys for that, assuming your subject is people and not something larger or farther away..

The second is the importance of TTL flash control. To me this the innovation that helped me personally more than any other one in my photographic history. I can make proper images with the simplest manual camera but often had problems dealing with manual flash exposures. The process for determining manual flash exposure is inaccurate because it can't consider the reflectivity of the subject. It is simply a power and distance measurement. TTL changed all that and made flash photography very easy and consistence. Be sure the unit you buy has TTL compatibility with your camera body.

 

Another thing to consider instead of just adding fill in light, is using a scrim or similar to soften the harsh sunlight. I suspect the ideal solution would involve a little of each flash being a much more controllable approach, but with the scrim the power needed from the flash would drop dramatically.

 

I understand what you are saying about the price. It all depends on what you personally want. For someone that is doing a lot of sessions and will be setting up and tearing down, the cost may be worth it to them. Which is the case for me. I already have a set up with the Streaklight 360, that is battery powered and portable and the set up and tear down isn't that bad. But I have seriously considered adding the 600 or the S1 to my kit.

I agree that the TTL isn't the sales point for me either, as I have been doing it manually since I started to save me money on my lights.

Guess I was just throwing out the options that I find cost justifiable for my personal wants/needs.

We totally agree on that the HSS is much more valuable for a flash unit.

 

Sorry my mistake I meant to say $80 less than msrp... lol... should of phrased it better

 

Thanks everyone for all your informative input... I'm goin to settle with the Sb-700 for now because I'm also buying the Tamron 70-200 2.8 ... if this is something that becomes more serious and I'm in demand I can than justify investing on better equipment... by than the extra money from the shoot will make it easier to buy things little by little