Vivitar 485HV vs Niko SB600

[giulio1993]

I'm going to get a flash... so which one would you advice?
I know that Vivitar has no TTL but please consider the price.
Vivitar is about 100$ while Nikon is 300$.
I'm interested in a fast flash considering that i'm going to buy it to photograph smoke, water or other moving things that need to be frozen.

thanks

P.S. A little doubt: If my minimal sincro time (nikon d3100) is 1/200 and I use a flash with a 1/1000 time in a dark room... 1/1000 is the actual time, isn't it?

 

[Destin]

You can get sb600's for less than 200. I personally would go with the 600 just because I have one and love it.

And in a dark room, if your flash is the only light source then it will freeze motion because it only exposes the scene for roughly 1/10,000th of a second. As long as the room is dark enough, you can use a super slow shutter speed (even up to 30 seconds) and the flash will still freeze motion, as long as it is the only light source.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Not meant to hi-jack this thread... it is related....

Can I use the SB600 as an off camera flash with a Canon camera? It makes sense that I could... But I know very little about Nikon... Does the SB600 have a built in trigger?

to the OP... Do you mean the Vivitar 285? I'm not familiar with the 485... off to google I go.

 

[Destin]

Not meant to hi-jack this thread... it is related....

Can I use the SB600 as an off camera flash with a Canon camera? It makes sense that I could... But I know very little about Nikon... Does the SB600 have a built in trigger?

to the OP... Do you mean the Vivitar 285? I'm not familiar with the 485... off to google I go.

Haha I just read 285, didn't catch the 4. lol.

Anyway.. you can use the sb-600 off camera with a canon, but you would have to be using radio triggers, or optical triggers. It does not have a built in optical trigger. It had a receiver for nikon's own triggering system (CLS) but it isn't canon compatible.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

... you can use the sb-600 off camera with a canon, but you would have to be using radio triggers, or optical triggers. It does not have a built in optical trigger. It had a receiver for nikon's own triggering system (CLS) but it isn't canon compatible.

Cool... Thanks.

 

[giulio1993]

You can get sb600's for less than 200

could You tell me where please?

 

[KmH]

I'm going to get a flash... so which one would you advice?
I know that Vivitar has no TTL but please consider the price.
Vivitar is about 100$ while Nikon is 300$.
I'm interested in a fast flash considering that i'm going to buy it to photograph smoke, water or other moving things that need to be frozen.

thanks

P.S. A little doubt: If my minimal sincro time (nikon d3100) is 1/200 and I use a flash with a 1/1000 time in a dark room... 1/1000 is the actual time, isn't it?

The duration of the flash of light is what stops the motion, not the shutter speed.

A Nikon SB-600 at full power had a flash duration of approx 1/900 sec.

At 1/2 power the SB-600's flash duration is 1/1600
1/4 power - 1/3400
1/8 power - 1/6600
and at 1/64 power a very fast 1/25,000.

The Vivtar 285HV has fewer power setting levels but in auto mode has durations of 1/1000 to 1/30,000.

 

[Destin]

You can get sb600's for less than 200

could You tell me where please?

Well they would be used. Check your local craigslist, or ebay. Or the buy/selll section here. I see them go for $150-175 all the time.

 

[giulio1993]

I'm going to get a flash... so which one would you advice?
I know that Vivitar has no TTL but please consider the price.
Vivitar is about 100$ while Nikon is 300$.
I'm interested in a fast flash considering that i'm going to buy it to photograph smoke, water or other moving things that need to be frozen.

thanks

P.S. A little doubt: If my minimal sincro time (nikon d3100) is 1/200 and I use a flash with a 1/1000 time in a dark room... 1/1000 is the actual time, isn't it?

The duration of the flash of light is what stops the motion, not the shutter speed.

A Nikon SB-600 at full power had a flash duration of approx 1/900 sec.

At 1/2 power the SB-600's flash duration is 1/1600
1/4 power - 1/3400
1/8 power - 1/6600
and at 1/64 power a very fast 1/25,000.

The Vivtar 285HV has fewer power setting levels but in auto mode has durations of 1/1000 to 1/30,000.

So Vivitar seems to be better...

 

[Ron Evers]

I suggest you consider the Vivitar 383 for Nikon, it will TTL & work as a slave as well. I use one for Panasonic & like it.

 

[D-B-J]

I'm going to get a flash... so which one would you advice?
I know that Vivitar has no TTL but please consider the price.
Vivitar is about 100$ while Nikon is 300$.
I'm interested in a fast flash considering that i'm going to buy it to photograph smoke, water or other moving things that need to be frozen.

thanks

P.S. A little doubt: If my minimal sincro time (nikon d3100) is 1/200 and I use a flash with a 1/1000 time in a dark room... 1/1000 is the actual time, isn't it?

The duration of the flash of light is what stops the motion, not the shutter speed.

A Nikon SB-600 at full power had a flash duration of approx 1/900 sec.

At 1/2 power the SB-600's flash duration is 1/1600
1/4 power - 1/3400
1/8 power - 1/6600
and at 1/64 power a very fast 1/25,000.

The Vivtar 285HV has fewer power setting levels but in auto mode has durations of 1/1000 to 1/30,000.

So Vivitar seems to be better...

But if the Nikon has more power levels, that can make it more useful when adding to ambient light etc. Being able to vary the power on my sb600 is a great feature, especially when i am ADDING to the ambient light.

Regards,
Jake

 

[PhillyPhoton]

You can get sb600's for less than 200

could You tell me where please?

Well they would be used. Check your local craigslist, or ebay. Or the buy/selll section here. I see them go for $150-175 all the time.

I just ordered one at best buy and I asked if they would price match, they had it for 220 in the case got it for 199 as that what it was listed on amazon

 

[D-B-J]

could You tell me where please?

Well they would be used. Check your local craigslist, or ebay. Or the buy/selll section here. I see them go for $150-175 all the time.

I just ordered one at best buy and I asked if they would price match, they had it for 220 in the case got it for 199 as that what it was listed on amazon

Where do you see a sb600 on amazon for 199..? I cannot find it below 279..

Regards,
Jake

 

[robb01]

Awesome, didnt realize BB had them for 220, I usually order from Amazon and 279 was too high for me. I'll be stopping by BB after work

 

[FemFugler]

When talking about the price take in account where people are from. The people who are getting it for $200 are probably in the US, while the people who are getting it for almost $300 are most likely in Canada. Not sure where the OP is from but i just got a SB600 for $250 + tax(new) and that was a good deal they usually go for $279 - 300 + tax(new) in Canada. With that being said, you no doubt could get one for cheaper if it was used or from someone such as Ebay. I had looked at CL in the past for them and found none and i was told(by i think people from here) that people don't sell them much because they so good to have and they compatible with so many levels of Cameras.. the only upgrade is to the SB900 which i was told is only necessary for studio and pro stuff. I just bit the bullet and bought it new.

Anyway back on topic, i just got the SB600 and LOVE it. I don't know much about the vivitar stuff but i guess if your tight on money then go for the vivitar but if you can afford the SB600 i'd say go for it. From what i understand the Nikon has more manual settings which is a huge bonus. Also like i said before, a flash isn't something you're going to be upgrading much... i'd spring for the 'better' one because it's going to be with you for a long a time.