SB ? 800 or 600

[birddog114]

Raydar,
Congrat. with the new toy!!!! is it your Father's day present? What's next? Xmas is just around the corner!!!
You'll enjoy it!!!!

[Raydar]

Unfortunately I won’t have it by Fathers day

& this will be it for a while, I will be content with my setup for now, about the only other things that will be added in the future will be PecPads & fluid & a good Manfrotto try pod.

Big lenses will have to wait for now but I am thinking of a 1.4 converter.

Cheers
Ray

[Raydar]

Picked up my SB – 800 today.
I love the thing already

Cheers
Ray

[birddog114]

Raydar,
You worked so hard for it and now you deserved it, can I pose for you to take me a portrait shot with the SB800! Skilled!!!!

[gstark]

can I pose for you to take me a portrait shot with the SB800! Skilled!!!!

Especially if Ray stays up on the north coast, and you stay down here, Birddog.

[Raydar]

I am reading the manual as I type this & I can’t find the 700 KLM zoom head adjustment Birddog sorry, so I will have to wait until I come down mate

Cheers
Ray

[birddog114]

I'm waiting for you to get a good hand on it! hope will meet one day soon.
Perhaps at that time my 200-400VR land here.

[Raydar]

This I am hoping to birddog
It will happen one day.

Cheers
Ray

[Luke Smith]

The optional 5th cell with the SB800 is an anomaly. I have a charger (Maha C204F) that charges batteries in pairs. I don't know of a charger that charges independently 5 cells. From an electronics point of view, it's highly desireable for the 5 cells in the flash (if using 5 cells), to be discharged/recharged at the same time. Also, I know of no place that sells AA batteries singularly!

Onyx

I have a 6 battery quick charger that I bought a couple of years ago from Jaycar electronics. It has a switch that allows you to select to charge either 4,5 or 6 batteries at once. There is also a button for discharging the batteries

They also sell batteries individually.

Louie

http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.a ... BCATID=295

Is a 10 battery charger from Jaycar that I bought to complement my SB800. It charges and discharges the batteries individually and I also got 10 x 2500mAh batteries from Jaycar. They take about 20 hours to charge but one set of 5 lasted over 500 shots at a wedding I did the other weekend. I didn't bother running them flat so they might go for 700... I just used the charger to discharge them and charge them again.

The recharge performance compared to 4 x alkaline is brilliant, taking about 2.5 seconds to recharge after a 1/1M flash.

I use a LowePro D-Res 6 case to carry the spare set of 5 batteries, cleaning cloth, flash gels, ML-L3 remote and spare CF card.

The charger cost $50 and the batteries about $4.50ea on special.

Cheers,

Luke

[robboh]

Just something else that I didnt see it anywhere in a quick scan of the thread.

The SB800 is the only one that can act as an on-camera master in a flashgroup, so if you want front (on camera) and side flashes, then the SB800 is the only one that will do this

[Luke Smith]

..aaaand the D70's on-camera flash can be used as a CLS master... the D50s can only be used as an old school SU-4 master.

[Hlop]

..aaaand the D70's on-camera flash can be used as a CLS master...

Correct but .... it can only trigger group of flashes not providing light itself while SB800 acting as master firing flash with the group

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[Alex]

Ok, Birddog, I really want to buy sb800, but I still have two bids that haven't been outbid, 80-200 f2.8 and 85 f 1.4. Somone please outbid me so I can buy the speedlight from Birdie

Alex

[birddog114]

Ok, Birddog, I really want to buy sb800, but I still have two bids that haven't been outbid, 80-200 f2.8 and 85 f 1.4. Somone please outbid me so I can buy the speedlight from Birdie

Alex

Bid higher for these lenses, you won't need the SB800, go for the lenses even overpriced, you won't regret.

[Alex]

Ok, Birddog, I really want to buy sb800, but I still have two bids that haven't been outbid, 80-200 f2.8 and 85 f 1.4. Somone please outbid me so I can buy the speedlight from Birdie

Alex

Bid higher for these lenses, you won't need the SB800, go for the lenses even overpriced, you won't regret.

Birddog, your generoisty has no limits!

Alex

[elffinarts]

I've just bought a SB600 and have been using it slaved off the D70. While the D70 cannot use the SB600 as a master for a group while on the camera body, cant the D70 have another SB600 placed strategically close to the shooter (and really well diffused) to function in this capacity anyway? I guess it depends on what you are shooting and if you have the spare tripods to place the flash group about where you need them.

For the nightclub photography I do each friday night, the SB600 is all I need and I can always upgrade to a SB800 later and keep the 600 as a slave.

How many flashes could you slave off the D70 as a group? Is there a limit or is it just that they all have to be near enough and in view of the sensor?

[Onyx]

Mark, I don't think there's a maximum the D70 can trigger - if it's in close proximity to be able to detect the wireless pre-flash communications. However they will all fire synchronyously and you cannot individually adjust their outputs, which is presumably desireable in multi-flash situations.

The D70's inbuilt flash is only setup to control 1 channel in 1 group (channel 3 group A IIRC), where as the other groups & channels are only accessible/controllable by having an SB800 as master on the camera.

[elffinarts]

Thanks for the info.

I'm definitely going to eventually get another flash after somehow convincing my wife the SB800 is an absolute necessity.

cheers
Mark