Nikon SB-800

Nikon SB-800

When we all started moving to digital equipment, one of the area’s that was left behind was flash photography. The flashes that were available at the time, just didn’t give an accurate exposure no matter as the main or fill. Step forward to iTTL (and thankfully past dTTL) and the release of the SB-800 & SB-600, and Nikon has once again stepped up to the plate and clearly demonstrate why their flash technology is further ahead. If you are lucky enough to have, or if you need the D2X(s), D2H(s) then the SB-800 will act as a master on the camera and control any number of remote SB-800, SB-600’s or SB-R200’s. If you have any other Nikon dSLR after the D70s was introduced, then you already have the commander function built into the camera. I still use a SB-800 sometimes as the on-camera commander however, as it does give you some extra flexibility as far as groups and is easier to control quickly for me personally.

I just love the NIkon CLS, or Creative Lighting System. It works so well, and just as importantly it works effortlessly. I now have two SB-800’s (plus a SB-600’s) and often use them all, in conjunction with some SB-R200’s occasionally, in large portrait settings. The results are worth it, and being wireless it is very quick to set-up and alter to your needs.

If you have a Nikon camera other than a D2 series (not including the D200), then you may be fine with the SB-600. It is also an excellent flash, but depending on where you live in the world the price difference isn’t all that great. At least not here in the UK, and for the relatively small amount extra, I believe the SB-800 is a better buy as it comes with a dome which saves you about £15 gives you some useful extra power and has a larger automatic zoom range. Either flash is going to give results that are head and shoulders above what any camera’s built-in flash will deliver. I also like the switch method Nikon uses to lock the flash to the camera, its much better than the twist on lock that some other makers use. The SB-800 also comes with a fifth battery holder, and depending on what you are doing, it does indeed help with recycling time so I use mine fairly often and certainly at weddings. The biggest boost for recycling time and the number of flashes will come from using rechargeable AA NiMH batteries though. Get some rated at a minimum of 2000mAh as they will last a lot longer. I would of liked to try the high power SD-8a battery pack as it apparently helps even more, but they are almost impossible to find and using the above batteries always gets me through an entire wedding with power to spare so its not needed in reality.

Some things I’d like to see added to a future SB-800 calibre flash from Nikon. I would like to see an additional wireless sensor or two, so that the photographer does not have to pay as much attention to pointing the camera at the commander as precisely. Apart from that main improvement, there isn’t much as it is so useful the way it is. More power is always nice, but in reality I don’t have much of a call for it now. Including some more (they do give you two for white balance compensation) gels, they sell them optionally but they can be expensive considering how cheap they are to make surely. No matter if you get the SB-800 or SB-600, you will never not have one again for your photography once you start shooting with a real speedlight. Built-in flash is OK in a pinch, but to me it is no more than a built-in commander now as it mostly likely will be to anybody once they have a proper flash.