my wife and son gave me an early birthday present today since my son won't be w/ me on my birthday next week...



damn they're good...

i never imagined how much of a difference this flash would be compared to the built-in one on my D80...woah! can light up an area up to 66 feet and tilting and rotating the flash really does make a difference in lighting!

i can't put the damn thing down, but was finally able to in order to save my battery life...

even in the dimmest areas around the house, this thing brought the scene to life and surprisingly everything was in focus (no motion blur from pressing the shutter)...

 

Very nice gift, indeed!

 

Hot shoe Flash FTMFW

I wish a had the patience to get gifts like this.

 

i probably won't have the same patience towards the SB-800...i can't wait to try out a wireless Nikon CLS...

...now to continue reading on mastering these controls...

 

I got a SB900 last week, time to get this...http://www.nikonmall.com/detail/NIK+11484

 

SB-900...

nice find on the DVD...i found this last night while googling 'nikon cls'...

http://www.nikonmall.com/detail/NIK+5661

will definitely have to get one of those and/or some reading material when i get into more lighting equipment...

 

SB-900


OP, the SB-600 is a great flash, I had one with my D70S before I sold my Nikon equipment :[

 

test shots now, or ban.

 

other than being able to aim the flash upwards, what big advantages does the SB600 have over the SB400? i have a D60 and i'm trying to decide between a flash, tripod or 50mm. i think they're all around the same price range.

caution...noob alert

edit: forgot to congratulate the OP

 

Benny, i would take the 50mm lens first...it costs a lil more than an SB-600, but i have used that lens so much since i got it....fast and oh so sharp...

and test shots are coming...

 

nikon has a 50mm 1.4f and a 50mm 1.8f. the 1.8 is about half the price of the 1.4. why is this?

 

there's a 1.4f? ...i know there's a 1.4D, 1.8D and 1.4G (the 1.4G is the newest)

one difference is the 1.4D has 7 elements in 6 groups whereas the 1.8D has 6 elements in 5 groups...and as far as i know, the more elements/groups the sharper the picture...

also, it's 1.4....which is bokeh heaven.. ...yeah 1.8 is also a very large aperture, but it's not 1.4

now the 1.4G has 8 elements in 7 groups AND has Nikon's Silent Wave Motor(SWM) which has been defined on one site as:

so basically you don't hear it focusing (making a noise like most lenses) and it might focus somewhat faster than other lenses...

but from experience, my 1.4D is badass!

 

The 1.8 also may only be an AF lens, not an AF-S, which you would need to autofocus on your camera. I have the D60 also and want to get a 50mm. I had an AF 50mm on my N80 (film), but I sold it because it doesn't autofocus on my D60.

 

Congrats on the flash! Nice gift for sure. A hot shoe flash is an essential piece of kit.

 

unless i'm reading this wrong, you're saying an AF-S is an autofocus lens and AF isn't...AF means autofocus, so the 1.8 would autofocus just like the AF-S would...

the AF-S provides a silent wave motor so you can't (barely) tell the lens is focusing...

 

@rimz, i did some research and found out neither the 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 will autofocus on a D60 but thats not really a problem for me. I was using a nikon fm10 (film) with a 35-70mm manual focus before i got my D60 so im used to it. Nikon did just release a 50mm AF-S but its around the same price as a Sigma 10-20 that i'm looking to eventually get so id probably go with the 1.4 or 1.8 and just man up with the manual focus.

am i getting this right? the 1.4 is a sharper lens than the 1.8?

 

Nikon AF lenses do not have a built in motor, only AF-S lenses will work on the D40/D60

Edit: To clarify, the D40/D60 does not have an autofocus motor built in to the body, so non AF-S lenses need to be manually focused

 

ah damnit....without doing my homework i'd figure you'd say the D60 didn't have an AF motor....now i get it...

 

wait till someone else replies to this as well, but yes, the 1.4 should be just barely sharper...but not by much...i know someone on here as a 1.8 AF, can't remember who...hopefully they'll reply and let you know from experience how it is...

 

Damn, I wish I knew what the hell it does (I mean I know it flashes) in order to be of value to me.

Still learning.
But looks like good gift from the loved ones

 

From my limited knowledge, it is more powerful, can be angled in different positions, doesn't use your battery's power since it takes its own batteries, and is intelligent enough to know how much flash to use depending on the distance of your subjet, i.e. it will see how far you are zooming and adjust itself.

I'm sure alot more.

 

that part is awesome...i never really understood why a flash had a zoom button on it, but now i do...

you can set it to automatically adjust to your lens based on it's focal lengths or just pick your own power zoom...the flash can adjust to different zoom levels starting at 24mm, then 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 85mm...i might have missed a focal length or two in there...if you have a focal length below 24mm, like 18mm on my wide-angle, it will pick the closest zoom to it...so 24mm...

but yeah, it's a pretty smart flash...

 

*** test shots ***

so i took some test shots for everyone to see...

here's one thing i found very cool about the flash...and before even turning it on...

it comes with a diffuser cover that slides out of its slot and flips over the flash...or you can just have it stick out and not cover the flash to keep the light bouncing forward instead of up into the air...





with diffuser


without diffuser




and then i thought i'd take some shots showing the different lighting results you get with just a few changes on the flash...

keep in mind, all of the rest of my shots are taken in a very dark kitchen and dining area...i'm talking only two lights on in the house, one at each end of the house with me in the middle...

flash at 45 degree angle, no diffuser


flash at 90 degree angle, no diffuser


flash at 45 degree angle, diffuser overhead to bounce light


flash at 90 degree angle, diffuser overhead to bounce light


flash at 45 degree angle, with diffuser


flash at 90 degree angle, with diffuser

 

and now for some quick test shots around the kitchen showing the different powers of the light...again all in a very dark kitchen...and straight flash, no diffuser over the flash or to bounce light...

flash at 1/4 power


flash at 1/16 power


flash at 1/4 power


flash at 1/16 power


flash at 1/16 power

flash at 1/16 power


flash at 1/16 power


flash at 1/16 power

 

so i just entered a totally new (and fawkin' awesome) world with my new gift tonight...

for some reason i've been thinking you need to have the SB-800 in order to use your flashes wirelessly....nope!

stupid me, i never looked into my built-in flash modes, and ta da...there was 'commander'...turned that on, set my flash to remote mode and voila! my SB-600 is being fired wirelessly! and let me tell you, remote flashes are BADASS! i'm going crazy, running around placing my flash anywhere i can think of just to set it off 10 feet away with my D80...

on another note, while looking through my flash modes, i also found out that i have a built-in repeater mode (strobe effect)...you set the output of the flash, the number of times it flashes and the frequency of the flash (times it flashes per second), and your flash will shoot a set amount of times while the shutter is open...who knew?!?

so as an idea for our next contest...how bout a strobe effect theme...

 

if that pull out thing is anything like the 430 and 580ex from canon, then its not a diffuser but a panel that allows the flash to cover a wider angle for wide angle lenses.

 

^ If you pull that thing out, it will cover up to 14mm FF coverage. That's not a diffuser.

 

i figured i was calling it by the wrong name...been so damn excited lately, just thought i'd call it the first thing that came to mind...diffuser...so it's actually covering more area than the flash will go down to (24mm)? ..sweet...

and thanks both of you for clarifying that for me...cameras i'm getting a grip on, but flashes are like starting all over for me...