Speedlight experts, I need your help!

kousPhoto · Dec 28, 2011

Greetings! I have been looking into lighting options. I am seeing alot of photo shoots being done with speedlights. I am looking for compact and portable lighting that can be used indoors and out.

Question #1- what do you think of speedlights VS. the others?

Question #2- I have an older Nikon Speedlight 20. Is there an adaptor (slave?) that I can get that will let me use it like the newer Speedlight models?

Question#3- Which speedlight model would you suggest?

Thanks for any advice! :mrgreen:

Village Idiot · Dec 29, 2011

kousPhoto said:
Greetings! I have been looking into lighting options. I am seeing alot of photo shoots being done with speedlights. I am looking for compact and portable lighting that can be used indoors and out.

Question #1- what do you think of speedlights VS. the others?

You have to really weigh what you're planning on shooting. Speedlights offer you great portability at the price of power, a modeling light when available electricity is present, and lots of batteries to keep track of.

1 single speedlight will offer you not much more than a fill light when outdoors in bright conditions once you stick a modifier on it and don't have it very close to the subject. This can make it tough to shoot outdoors if you're not already planning for the conditions. I have 2 sets of rechargable batteries for my 3 speedlights; that's 24 batteries that I have to keep track of as far as charging. They do offer greater portability. I have one Canon speedlight that stays in my main camera bag with two Pocket Wizard PII remotes and a separate small bag with two more Canon speedlights, two more remotes, and some small modifiers. It weighs practically nothing. My Pelican 1654 case with 5 lighting heads, two packs, and all the cables weighs in at over 100lbs. With my camera bag and battery to power the strobes, that's over 150lbs of gear. I can kill the ambient in 12 o'clock sun though.

kousPhoto said:
Question#3- Which speedlight model would you suggest?

As to what Nikon strobe I would recommend, well I can't. I don't use Nikon so I don't have an opinion on that. However, myself and others would recommend at least 1 TTL (automatic basically) enabled strobe so that you can have something to stick on camera and shoot with if the need arises and possibly 1 or 2 other manual strobes as they can be found for about $100-$150 depending on the brand. If you absolutely must use wireless TTL, you'll be purchasing 2 Nikon speedlights and that'll be a lot more expensive.

The optimal setup is a set of speedlights for your light work and a set of more powerful lights for everything else. A typical speedlight puts out around maybe 60w/s. My packs are 1200w/s and 400w/s of light separately. That's 3-4 stops more power than a typical speed light and can mean the difference between having to plan around weather conditions or not.

Kerbouchard · Dec 29, 2011

Question 1. I think a speedlight should be a part of everybody's kit. Even if they do have studio gear. A speedlight is a lot more portable and a lot more versatile. Being able to mount it to the hot shoe, bounce your flash, and get great results on the go is a huge advantage.

Question 2. I'm not aware of any adapter, but afaik the flash can still be used in auto mode or manual mode on any Nikon DSLR. Aside from not having TTL, the only major issue I would have with the SB-20 is that it cannot swivel. This makes it difficult to get the light coming from the direction you want it to. I often use my speedlight on my hot shoe pointed behind me and to the left so that I get a large, diffused, directional light coming back at my subject after the light has bounced off a wall/ceiling. The SB-20 cannot do this.

Question 3. I recommend the SB600, 700, 800, or 900. All work well. It just depends on your budget and whether or not you are willing to buy used. Personally, I pick up used SB-800's when I see them come up for sale.

Spend some time reading over at http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/ He has a ton of articles and, IMO, it's one of the best resources on the Net for learning how to effectively use a speedlight.