Question about speedlights

Moodyville-ain · Dec 29, 2009

I went home for Christmas this holiday. I was talking cameras with my brother and he was showing me his speedlight 600 for his Nikon, and I noticed the contacts matched mine, so I thought why not see if it works, so I did. It does actually work. But I don't know enough about them to know if had full functionality or not. Will I be able to use the "speedlight" with a remote trigger? on my Canon? Not sure how the sensors work on them, I know nothing about them.

The reason I ask is that my brother is an RCMP officer and gets good discounts on Nikon products, as Nikon sponsors Police in Canada. So he can get me a speedlight for quite a bit off retail. I don't know a whole lot about speedlights or speedlite's but I have seen someone use the slave flash and I thought that it was awesome, and would definitely help me in my photography. I woud like to use it as a fill fash. I suppose I could go to a camera store and check it out, but I feel a bit awkward trying out flashes with no intention of buying them. "hey can I see if this works, so I can get my brother to get me a discount, somewhere else?" :blushing:

If I had known he could get me discounts on Nikon products I probably would have went Nikon instead of Canon :er: too late now.

IgsEMT · Dec 29, 2009

I have seen few people using Nikon flash units on Canon bodies. This topic has come up few months ago, search for it.
You won't be able to use TTL but in manual it should work. If you get sb800 or sb900, then you can use those in auto (non-ttl) and it might make your life a bit easier, BUT there's always Manual.

Big Mike · Dec 29, 2009

If you just want to use the flash off-camera, then it would work just fine...but you would need a generic triggering method, like a radio flash trigger. You would have to set the flash power and exposure manually and separately.

You probably could use the flash on the camera, but it would not communicate with the camera like a dedicated Canon flash would...so it would probably just fire in manual mode, meaning that you would still have to figure out the flash power and exposure manually.

If you want something more versatile, I'd suggest getting a Canon flash like the 430EX. If you want something to use off-camera, there are several options that are cheaper than the SP600, probably even after the discount.

Phranquey · Dec 29, 2009

Moodyville-ain said:
I noticed the contacts matched mine, so I thought why not see if it works, so I did.

:scratch: The contacts may be the same, but the circuitry is going to be different.... I'm surprised that you even tried this on your camera, and that he let you. While the potential is small, you could have damaged your camera and/or his flash.

Big Mike is correct...if you want to shoot off camera with a radio trigger, you can use any brand flash you desire. But, if it's going to come into contact with your hot shoe, make sure it's compatible.

Mike_E · Dec 29, 2009

Go to e-bay and get a wireless trigger and a Metz 45 CL4 and a stand to put it on. The 45 is the guide number -45 meters- and it has a secondary light on the front so that you get a catch light when bouncing the main.

If you get one that still has the bracket then you can put the camera on it and kick it old school. Extra AA battery packs are available for around $10.

P.S. the auto function is so good that you Seldom need TTL (which you wouldn't have anyway off camera). really.

Moodyville-ain · Dec 29, 2009

Thanks for all the great info. I will have to check out some canon flashes before I make any decisions. I could probably find better deals on ebay anyways.