Nikon SB-800 Speedlight

This is a top-notch flash that works superbly with the latest digital SLRs from Nikon. It's also compatible with a range of other cameras, but it's the dSLR integrated wireless control and metering that makes it worth the money. For sheer ability it's a 5*+ unit, but loses 1* because it could be more intuitive to use.

The flash itself is powerful, compact and very efficient on the batteries. In the box you get a little stand to hold the flash off-camera, and a very useful soft-diffusion head to reduce harshness of shadows. You also get a clip to hold an additional battery that boosts recycle times if needed. Personally, I've found the recycle time to be excellent for general use. There's also a coloured filter to colour-balance the flash with tungsten light (regular light bulbs).

The flash swivels and rotates in all directions which means it's great for indirect or bounce flash on the camera. It also has a built in zoom head which is motorised and automatically controlled by the camera. It also has a built-in (so you won't lose it) extra wide-angle diffuser, and a clever mini reflector that adds highlights to the eyes when you are using the flash in bounce mode. Clever stuff.

Another nice touch is the built-in modelling light – press a button and it acts a bit like a torch so you can see how the various lights will balance out. Less crucial with digital cameras where you get instant results, but still helpful.

Nikon's sophisticated iTTL flash system means you can use multiple flashguns simultaneously and the camera will sort out the exposure superbly. You can have an unlimited number of compatible additional flashguns (at this price?!) managed in up to 3 groups, with each group having separate power levels and other settings. It’s not the most intuitive system to setup, but reasonably straightforward if you have the manual handy.

One word of warning, I assumed that by having the SB-800 off camera, and using my D70 as the 'commander' flash (ie the one that coordinates all the others), I'd get nice bi-directional lighting. Wrong. If you use the inbuilt flash on the camera as commander, it does not contribute any light to the photo. It flashes away when you take the shot, but that's all pre-shot to sort out exposure levels and synchronisation of the flash guns. So, if you want multiple light-sources, you need multiple flashguns.

If you're a serious pro, you may want to kit yourself out with multiple SB-800s or their less powerful siblings, the SB-600. Alternatively, from Dec05 you should be able to pickup the new Nikon SB-200 which is a "clever slave" flash that is for exclusively non-hotshoe use (ie remotely mounted or macro mount to side of lens). It's still not cheap (£160ish but should come down) but worth a look, particularly in the guise of their macro-kit which will have 2 flash units + accessories.

Overall, given the choice of SB-600 or 800, it's generally worth getting the latter for the extra power and command mode (missing on 600). Bear in mind that the real benefits of the system (iTTL flash with multiple flash units) means you'll effectively need at least 1x SB-800 plus another 800,600 or 200.

That can all add up to a lot of money. The built-in flash on the Nikon dSLRs gives excellent results but the lighting is still relatively harsh and unflattering as it is a single point source aimed directly at the subject. It’s fantastic for fill-in during daylight, but means all pictures where flash is the main light source are reduced to ‘snapshot’ standard. A single SB-800 introduces more power, the ability to bounce light off ceilings or walls, and noticeably improves the lighting. However, for really superb lighting to deliver top quality images, you need a minimum of two flashguns. This permits backlighting of the subject and will deliver much improved highlights and modelling.

Is the SB-800 worth the money? Well it's state of the art and clearly part of a very well thought-out flash system - Nikon lead the world in the sophistication of this technology. A single additional flash will give some useful benefits, but for studio-grade shots you’ll need the SB-800 plus at least one other. That isn’t cheap, but them neither is going to a studio. If you’re a keen amateur, perhaps with children that you’ll want regular top-quality photos of, it’s well worth considering.

The SB-800 is easily the coolest flashgun that you can put on your camera's hotshoe. But the amazing control of the Nikon creative lighting system only becomes apparent when you add a second or even third flash. A word of caution, though -- the best features only work on Nikon's most recent cameras.

As a flash in itself, this is well-specified. The Guide Number is 38 at ISO 100 -- not far short of the GN45 of the classic (and enormous) Metz MecaBlitz flashes that were virtually compulsory on professional cameras in the 80s and 90s. It neatly compensates for digital's inability to do TTL flash metering with i-TTL, as well as providing useful features like Flash-Value lock and auto-high FP, for synchronising at any speed. Like its predecessors, it has built in zooming, and modelling flash.

The SB-800 comes with a nice set of accessories -- a stand, gel filters, a diffuser (in addition to the on-flash wide adaptor), and a neat extra battery add-on, which improves recycle time. It also comes with a smart, velcro close bag, which has nice compartments for all the accessories. Neat.

Although it will function on virtually any Nikon camera, the SB-800 is designed to solve the problems created by digital cameras. The biggest of these problems is that Through-the-Lens flash metering, where the light bounces off the film and is measured by the light meter, will not work on digital because -- to put it simply -- digital sensors are not shiny enough to reflect sufficient light. Nikon's original solution was D-TTL, which is found on the SB-80 DX. It was not a winner. The SB-800's solution is called i-TTL, and works by pre-firing the flash so that the camera can measure the light. The exposure is nigh-on perfect, although it naturally slows down the whole process. If you don't like it, you can always select Auto-Aperture, or fully manual. i-TTL works on the D2 cameras and the D200.

The SB-800 really comes into its own when you match it with one, two, or even three other SB-800s or SB-600s. In remote mode, you set the flash to one of four frequencies, and to one of three groups, A, B or C. In master mode (the one actually attached to your camera), you can then change the ratios of each group, and the master flash, from -3 to +3. When you take the picture, all the flashes pre-fire for i-TTL, if that's the mode you selected (you set mode per flash), and you get a perfectly exposed picture. Of course, getting the ratios right is the real trick -- the exposure can be 'right' and it can still look dreadful. You can keep playing with the ratios on the master flash without having to touch the remote flashes. On one of the D2 or D200 cameras, you can keep checking until you're happy.

If this sounds like studio-flash, it is. And it isn't. Once you've shot off 15 flashes at full intensity at the maximum burst rate, you have to let the unit cool down for ten minutes. Compared to mains-powered studio flash, the recycle time is slow, and even powerful NIMH batteries discharge after a couple of hundred exposures. And, powerful as it is for a flash-gun, the SB-800 is weak compared to most studio flash. Nonetheless, for something that you can stick into four big pockets and take with you up a mountain, this is something extraordinary. Add to that the tight integration with the Nikon cameras, and the result is nothing short of revolutionary.

This Nikon SB-800 Speedlight was purchased to be used with a D300 D-SLR.

Although not the most powerful flashgun available on the market it's however, powerful enough and extremely well built and it's manual is very comprehensive and I'm still digesting all of it's content.

As with all of today's camera/flashgun manufacturers, whose products work effortlessly together, Nikon products are no exception. You get various auto modes such as I-TTL, AA etc. depending on your camera type, together with full manual mode when desired. It comes with a case, stand, soft light diffuser, gel kit and the extra battery attachment so a fifth battery can be use which reduces it's recharge time but strangely, no batteries. I'm currently using five rechargeable 1300mAh Ni-MH AA batteries with no issue whatsoever, although as yet I haven't tried my 2700mAh batteries in it. Some people seem to have problems with the higher capacity Ni-MH batteries in various flashguns.

It can be attached directly to the camera's accessory/hot shoe with the light bounced off a wall or ceiling. It can be also be used remotely when set as a slave unit and triggered by the optional SU-800 commander or another SB-800 set as the master. It's so versatile that it can be triggered optically by the D300's built-in flashgun (or any other third party camera/flashgun combination including compact cameras with a built-in flash - I've tried this out with my Olympus Mju 1030 SW so I know that it works!). This can provide extra valuable direct or bounced light from an umbrella or wall etc..

There's the usual multi-channel facility to prevent interference from other Nikon camera/flashgun combo's setting off your equipment in error.

I'm finding the menu system fairly easy to use (with manual in hand to keep me right, LOL) but I've still got a lot of ground to cover and when I can afford more flashguns I'll be working on Nikon's Creative Light System thingy!

All in all an excellent addition to my photographic equipment and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.