SB-600 or SB-800?

[rubbertree]

from the Nikon Canada website:
http://www.nikon.ca/en/GreyMarket.aspx

Important Notice - Product Purchased Outside of Canada

As stated on Nikon Canada Inc.’s web site, www.nikon.ca, Nikon Digital Cameras purchased outside of Canada by a consumer, or a reseller, do not qualify for warranty service from Nikon Canada Inc.
Further, Nikon Canada Inc. will not accept for repair any Digital Cameras purchased outside of Canada by a consumer or reseller.
If you plan to purchase a Nikon Digital Camera from a source outside of Canada or from a reseller who has purchased from a source outside of Canada, it is important that you make your own warranty and repair service arrangements.

 

[osirus]

back to the origial topic..

i have a question;

I have a nikon d50 so it does not have a commander mode.
and i am interested in playing with off camera flash.

i know the sb800 has the optical slave mode, which will work with the d50s flash. ( and anyone elses flash in the area..)
and the sb600 does not have this.

but.
would the sb600 with a set of thoe gadget infinity cactus triggers work just fine off camera with my D50?


i think that would be a better soultion than the sb800 maybe, as it is alot cheaper, i know the sb 800 has more power and a built in bounce card.
but is that really a deal breaker?
how much more power?
am i going to miss that on the 600?

any other differences in the flashes?

the 600 has a commander mode in the flash dosent it?
so i could mount that on camera, and say get some smaller wireless strobes and the 600 would ast as commander?
or is that the 800 only?

thanks

 

[JerryPH]

back to the origial topic..
I have a nikon d50 so it does not have a commander mode.
and i am interested in playing with off camera flash.

would the sb600 with a set of thoe gadget infinity cactus triggers work just fine off camera with my D50?


i think that would be a better soultion than the sb800 maybe, as it is alot cheaper, i know the sb 800 has more power and a built in bounce card.
but is that really a deal breaker?

Well, it is not really the original topic, but...

Yeah, there are a couple of KEY differences between the SB-800 and SB-600 that are important... like the fact that a SB-600 has no sync port (SB-800 does).

The solution to that is simple... slap one of these on your lightstand and wire it to your receiver:

It adds a little to the cost but it does something that is important for me... it lowers the flash and centers it closer to the middle of the umbrella and it gets the flash off that very wobbly and weak Cactus receiver bracket.

Also unless you are using CLS, the SB-600 has no built-in optical slave mode. Only way to remote trigger them is CLS or exterior receiver/trigger.

Is that a deal breaker? Depends on you. It's not for me. I plan to get a couple more SB-600s after the holidays and do a couple of twin flash mount brackets for my lightstands. Two SB-600s is about $20-$25 more than a single SB-800, together are stronger and apart are more versatile.

I do not need a bounce card built-in, if needed a rubber band and a piece of white paper do the EXACT same thing, and if I use a bigger piece of paper and curl it forward a little, does it BETTER.

The SB-600 has no built-in commander mode, but thats ok, my D200, D700 and SB-800 all have it there anyway when I want to use CLS and I do not need it when I use my cactus triggers.

Each person is different, so the final choice is yours.

 

[ANDS!]

What the hell are you talking about??

Check his post history, and don't bother further "discussing" anything with him. It's amazing that in this day and age a person hasn't heard of "price matching." Of course they aren't going to give you a price-matched price; why would they, you haven't demonstrated that you can get a cheaper.

Hopefully his behavior hasn't driven you off the forums.

As for the OP, I'd invest in a low light lens, and then tack on the flash after.

 

[Kendo]

I would have to say that you should get the best one you can afford. I always use that when I am in a pickle. If you just can't make up your mind then go for the best that you can.

 

[kundalini]

:hug:: C'mon guys..... kiss and make up.

Are we still on Nikon flashes or has this moved to warranties... US vs CAnadian warranties.

I was thinking that my next flash purchase would be another SB-800, but now am considerting 2x SB-600 for virtually the same price.



BTW, Jerry isn't a hard ass....... just an opinionated Canuck. There is worse in the world. Rubbertree seems to opinionated as well. No blood, no foul. Hell, have you read some of my posts? I certainly have an opinion.

 

[anubis404]

BTW, Jerry isn't a hard ass....... just an opinionated Canuck. There is worse in the world. Rubbertree seems to opinionated as well. No blood, no foul. Hell, have you read some of my posts? I certainly have an opinion.

I won't dispute that .

As for the OP, the SB-600 will do you fine. I don't think you're going to need what the SB-800 gives you for this shoot. Now, since they are paying, the SB-800 would be nice. But you don't need it. If you only want to get what you need, the SB-600 is the flash for you.

 

[sebarrier3]

I won't dispute that .

As for the OP, the SB-600 will do you fine. I don't think you're going to need what the SB-800 gives you for this shoot. Now, since they are paying, the SB-800 would be nice. But you don't need it. If you only want to get what you need, the SB-600 is the flash for you.

I thought I would let the smoke clear for oh a few months.. Sorry that my OP caused such a ruckus... So I still have not purchased a flash. The SB 800's are hard to find and more expensive now since they are discontinued. I am not just buying this flash for one wedding, I'm hoping to gradually get into more professional type photography so I should go ahead and get something I can grow into, right? Does anyone have the new SB 900 or have any experiences good or bad with them?

 

[JerryPH]

Your post did not cause a ruckus, it was basically someone that was trying to BS and was called out, and kept adding and changing stories every post. I need to find a good rolling eyes avatar for people like that... lol. Adding them to my ignore list made it wonderfully quiet again.

Concerning your pricing observations, I noticed that. Seems that Nikon lowered the price on the SB-900 to the point that it is about $20US less than the SB-800.

I am not going to feel bad as I already have 5 battery powered strobes and 2 110v strobes, but at worst, I will pickup a couple more SB-600s and setup a 2 umbrella setup that have 2 SB-600s in each umbrella. That will effectively give me the choice between CLS or remote wireless triggering *and* be stronger than a single SB-800 or SB-900 per umbrella for less money (two SB-600s = $350 and a single SB-900 = $430). Besides, 4 strobes can also give me greater versatility when I do not need maximum power as well.

I've played with the SB-900 and seen other fellow strobists use it. It is nice, but heavier than even the SB-800. One thing that I like is that the SB-900 has the ability to have "profiles" uploaded to them and also has the ability to generate a wider more even light, but if you are using a light modifier (softbox, umbrella, snoot, grid, etc...), this doesn't make any difference. The SB-900 is supposed to have a thermal protection circuit that shuts down the flash if overheated. That could save you *if* you are using more powerful external battery packs, but is useless if you are using even the strongest (2900mah at the time of this post that I know of), rechargeable batteries.

Another small point that makes me raise my eyebrow, is that when the SB-900 came out, for the longest time, the Nikon website had the GN rating of the SB-900 a little less than the SB-800 and then they raised it just a little more than the SB-800. This cast some negative thinking as to why people needed to pay $500 (at the time) for a strobe that was less powerful than the then discontinued Sb-800. Was this a marketing error or did the just correct a typo?

In any case, the 900 does not appear to be more powerful than the SB-800 at the same settings between settings of 1/64 to 3/4 power (where I played with it).

 

[sebarrier3]

Thanks for your help Jerry! :mrgreen: