Help understanding/choosing flash unit.

[devaji108]

Hello everyone,
I am pretty new to photography and would like to get in to flash photog. I am watching a few videos like the nikon school for creative lighting, reading Joe Mcnally book hot shoe diaries along with his lighting video and loving it!

so the question i have is picking the "right" flash unit for a beginner i have the Nikon D5100 and just learned that i can't use the built in flash as a master to control for the off camera slave unit/units.

the Nikon units are out of my price range, all though I bet they are really nice. what I am looking for is great swivel/tilt angle, ability to control form the master or better yet the camera, couple channels with the ability to control each and of course wireless....


was looking at this unit on amazon:
Amazon.com: Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon. GN58.: Camera & Photo

but looks likes I need a wireless trigger and have to manually set eat flash correct?

any and all feedback would be great!
Cheers
Deva

 

[Derrel]

SINCE YOUR camera cannot act as a wireless commander, yes, either a wireless trigger, or a long PC synchronization cord (like say a 10-meter cord for $12.99-$19.99 from flashzebra.com or eBay) would both work as a way to do off-camera flash. Your D5100 does not have a PC synchronization port either....so, to connect a PC cord to that camera, one needs a Nikon AS-15, or the generic equivalent, OR a cord that has a hotshoe-type foot that goes into the camera's shoe, and then a connector that fits one's flash at the other end.,

HONESTLY--the majority of 'serious' off-camera flash users will tell you that full TTL flash control and adjustment is NOT that critical to success. Joe's videos show the amazing texchnological prowess that $589 Nikon high-end speedlights have. His videos highlight what can be done with a nice camera and $1,700 to $3,000 + in Nikon speedlights. Pretty amazing. Buuuuut, you know what? There is another side to flash photography that is not shown in those videos.

MANUAL flash power adjustment is not all that time consuming, and it gives very repeatable flash output. "TTL" is not the only flash exposure control method known to man. I would rather own FOUR, cheap YONGY's and triggers for all of them, and some low-cost light stands and a handful of umbrellas for (less than?) the cost of ONE, single Nikon SB 910 flash unit.

I say, go with the Yongy and a low-cost trigger setup!

 

[devaji108]

yes that is my thoughts too, watching more of move of the creative light school by Nikon they do get some amazing shoots but man that a lot of $$ for all the speed lights they use...
guess when your a professional making a living doing it, its can be done. but as a beginner we need a cheaper way.

is there any thing like the SU- 800 commander that will work with the yong's?
thanks

 

[Mike_E]

yes that is my thoughts too, watching more of move of the creative light school by Nikon they do get some amazing shoots but man that a lot of $$ for all the speed lights they use...
guess when your a professional making a living doing it, its can be done. but as a beginner we need a cheaper way.

is there any thing like the SU- 800 commander that will work with the yong's?
thanks

Don't bother. Derrel gave you the best answer- spend half a day learning to use manual control.

Your money would be much better spent on a flash meter than the SU-800.

 

[Aloicious]

the new yong 560III has a wireless reciever built into the flashes, so you'd just need a transmitter. I ordered a couple to give it a try since I sold alot of my lighting stuff recently and need just something small to at least get me by for a little while, if these work well enough I don't see any reason to spend so much on nikon units for what I do, I got 3 separate 560III units and a set of RF603 transmitter/remotes for less than $300 shipped (although I'm still waiting on them to arrive so I haven't used them yet)...

I never use TTL anymore, its always on M, once you get used to it, its really not that hard.

 

[djacobox372]

Personally I hate TTL, if I'm going to use a flash I want to control the light output without the camera messing with it. So, when my sb800 broke, I replaced it with an older and far cheaper SB80dx.