Flash for Nikon

Squidgy Black

You guys must be sick of me by now :pac:
But anyways, i'm looking to get a cheap flash for my d3000 for christmas, and there's so many i'm absolutely lost. i'd like to keep it under 100 quid, and ttl is a must. has anybody got any recommendations or experience with cheaper flashes?
all advice and experience would be a great help

CabanSail

What do you require this flash to achieve?

On/off camera?
Bounce head?
Power?

Squidgy Black

Preferably on camera.
Bounce head would be good, but a diffuser could be used if it's not available.
Not to sure about the power, unless you mean whether it's powered by AA batteries etc.

Squidgy Black

It's mainly for when i'm indoors in poor lighting and i need a decent flash when i don't have a 50mm on hand or i have to use a zoom lense, the camera's built in flash is to weak or tends to leave a sort of 'blind spot' where it concentrates on one small area and is weaker around it.

tiffbunny

The only decent flash I could recommend for anywhere near that price range is Nikon's SB-400, which is about $110 USD. It has excellent i-TTL mode, and since flashes aren't really my area of expertise, you can read more about it here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/sb400.htm

If you really need to stay under 100 euro, you can look for one used. Happy shooting.

macnab

Nissin Di622 Speedlite can be got for under €100 on gray market websites, reviews suggest it is better than Nikons SB600.

Squidgy Black

hmm the sb400's seem to be around the 130 mark on amazon and ebay, not too many second hand.

has anybody got any idea if this would be okay for a low budget flash? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32980

TinyExplosions

The yongnuo's are damn fine flashes (I have one myself, and soon will have another 2!). Only reason I didn't mention them before was that I don't use TTL and wasn't sure if any model supported it.

ditpaintball

I have a few SB600's to use off camera or on camera with my D40. I find it to be a great little flash. Nikon TTL is excellent ( most of the time) i find.

Thecageyone

TinyExplosions wrote: »

The yongnuo's are damn fine flashes (I have one myself, and soon will have another 2!). Only reason I didn't mention them before was that I don't use TTL and wasn't sure if any model supported it.

Same here, I have the YN-460, cheap as on ebay, even after being hit by customs, totaled about €40 and it's a decent enough unit.

Biker.ie

I'd probably buy a used Nikon over other brands though, wont go wrong with an sb400 tbh.

Thecageyone

If I used flash more I'd probably go for a Nikon SB-800 or so, but I use flash very little. Only indoors for portraits or general indoor shooting, usually bounced off ceiling so any flash unit gives similar results.

Squidgy Black

i don't plan on using the flash too much, just for the odd portraits where there's no decent lighting, and it'd be bounced.

thecageyone, how do you find the YN-460? it seems cheap enough http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32980

Thecageyone

It does exactly what I want it to, there's no zoom for the flash, but it's great for basic bounce-flash, I get great results using it tbh. It's head will turn right around for firing flash behind you to bounce off a back wall, it tilts just like the Nikon ones for aiming at the ceiling at varying angles, it's simple to use - basically power setting, and whether you want it as direct flash or a slave unit, that's the controls in a nutshell ...

I bought a hot-shoe cord for a few euro for when I want a little more scope/reach. It also fires wirelessly off-cam, triggered by your on-board flash, in repeat flash mode [set 460 to slave 1] - essentially giving you 2 flashes, one on, one off

It's pretty solidly built, uses the usual AA batteries [which seem to last reasonably long] I bought some nimh rechargeables - cheap Tesco ones [get the most powerful, quick charge ones, got mine for €17, 4 batteries plus the charger] which has a usb connection so you can charge from your laptop without hogging the electricity

melekalikimaka

Thecageyone wrote: »

If I used flash more I'd probably go for a Nikon SB-800 or so, but I use flash very little. Only indoors for portraits or general indoor shooting, usually bounced off ceiling so any flash unit gives similar results.

i have a sb800, used the sb900 and sb600, think the sb800 blows the other two away, sb900s overheat alot and lock up. sadly sb800s second hand are nearly same price as new... farse

Thecageyone

Yeah, if they weren't so pricey i'd have one. can't justify paying so much knowing I'll not use it any more than the cheap one I got already.

melekalikimaka

Thecageyone wrote: »

Yeah, if they weren't so pricey i'd have one. can't justify paying so much knowing I'll not use it any more than the cheap one I got already.

yeah you almost make up reasons to use it tbh

macnab

I bought a YongNuo Speedlite YN 465 yesterday (€50) and I am very pleased with it. Its the only external flash I have used so I cant make any comparisons. I just want to say thanks for the heads up as I never heard of them before reading this post.

hi_im_fil

Looking into getting a flash too so may as well use this thread. The YONGNUO YN465 Speedlite Flash looks very good for the price. Can this be used off camera on a Nikon D40?

Can an SB-600 be used off camera from a Nikon D40?

hi_im_fil

Anyone?

TinyExplosions

AFAIK it can if you have triggers, The body itself can't trigger it off camera