Nikon SB 600 not waiting for the ready light?

[blythe]

hi,

I have a Nikon SB600 and I normal shoot a lot of pictures at one time. I usually take the pictures with about 10 seconds apart from each other. The ready light takes forever to turn red so I shoot anyway. Is that bad for the flash?

 

[Defy]

I don't think that's bad for the flash. It just mess with the exposure because the flash's power level would be inconsistent. What i like to do with my SB-600 is have 2 sets of batteries and if i need to take fast shots just put the fresh batteries in i normally can get 20-30 fast shots with fresh batteries before i notice the recycle rate slow down to more than 10 secs.

Also different types of batteries give different amount of power.

 

[kundalini]

........is have 2 sets of batteries and if i need to...........

:crazy: What? Only 2 sets? That's just crazy.....


To the OP: always have an extra set fully charged. Depending how much you're asking of the flash, recycle times can differ. Get something like 2900mAh NiMH batteries for your next set.

 

[RyanLilly]

Also it's nice to have a set of energizer e2 lithiums as a backup. They drasticly shorten recycle times, and have an extremely long shelf life, but they are pricy.

 

[Joves]

Also it's nice to have a set of energizer e2 lithiums as a backup. They drasticly shorten recycle times, and have an extremely long shelf life, but they are pricy.

I agree! It really depends on what batteries you are using as well. Also how much power you are using at the time. I set my flash manually and, as a genral rule run in the negative range for what Im shooting so, the recycle times are faster that way.

 

[KmH]

hi,

I have a Nikon SB600 and I normal shoot a lot of pictures at one time. I usually take the pictures with about 10 seconds apart from each other. The ready light takes forever to turn red so I shoot anyway. Is that bad for the flash?

It can be. The one thing that will certainly shorten the life of electronic things is heat. When you use a speedlight at it's max for an uninterrupted period of time the internal temperature keeps climbing.

You'll notice too when you go to replace those freshly used batteries how hot they get (be careful). Another source of life robbing heat in your speedlight.

 

[bdavis]

You contradicted yourself. You said, "I normally take a lot of pictures at one time." Then you said, "I usually take the pictures with about 10 seconds apart from each other."

Your red light is probably taking a long time to recharge cause your taking pictures too fast, your flash power setting is set really high, or your batteries are low. Taking pictures before the red light comes on isnt necessarily a bad thing, but you will get inconsistent exposures. Ideally you should pick a lower power setting and have lots of spare batteries on hand.

 

[JerryPH]

A lot depends on how the flash is being used. Are you shooting TTL in a well lit area and just doing fill flash? that means you get pre-flash with each shot and power levels are quite high. You will not get short recycle times nor many shots from a set of good batteries.

Last night I shot a wedding and did well over 600 shots using my SB-600 on a single set of NiMH Energizer 2650mah rechargeable batteries, and I changed them before recycle times even started to drop just becuase there was a lull in the action and it was a good time to swap them out. This was at a reception, and I was taking bursts of 6-8 shots in about 10 seconds and wait till the next batch. The flash was in manual mode and at 1/8th or 1/16th power, so I could do that all night. No preflashes and low power lets you do that.

That said, I have 4 Nikon speedlights that I carry with me to weddings and 3 sets of batteries for each flash. I do not believe in recharging batteries on location. Just grap a freshly charged set after one starts to drop and thats it. Lithium batteries may give good performance, but they are not as good as a good set of rechargeables. They are also expensive as heck and not rechargeable. Finally, they are bad for the environment.

If you do not want to ever run out, nothing beats a studio strobe set 13 feet high (near *any* will do)... I love my Photogenic 1000 W/s head set to 31 W/s, diffused and CTO gelled to 1 full stop. The effects are fantastic and recycle times are 1/10th of a second and since it is plugged into a wall socket, there are no batteries to replace or wear out!

 

[Garbz]

The flash will nail the exposure unless it has insufficient power. So if the light isn't ready and you fire of a shot that uses 1/128th power you probably won't notice a difference, however if the light isn't ready and you send off a full power burst you'll end up with a dark image. This isn't bad for the camera.

Remember dumping an amount of power most people can't comprehend at a voltage much higher than that in your mains power into a tiny bulb in less than 100microseconds is what these things are built for.

It can be. The one thing that will certainly shorten the life of electronic things is heat. When you use a speedlight at it's max for an uninterrupted period of time the internal temperature keeps climbing.

This is a non issue. All Nikon speed lights have and auto turn-off feature when they overheat. Basically after your last exposure if your ready light doesn't stop blinking then it's overheated and it won't let you take a photo for a good 30+ seconds. Again dumping incredible amounts of power in a small time repeatedly is what these things are made for.