Upgrade from SB-600

[wildhorserunphotography]

I'm going to upgrade from my Nikon SB-600. I am either going to get the sb 800 or the 900. I read some really bad reviews over one of the two a while back and can't remember whih one was the one not to buy haha.


I need a flash that has more distance than the sb 600. I always have my gary fong collapsable on it.

[DougC]

SB 800 is still highly sought after and costs almost as much used as they did new. SB900 is larger but I have heard nothing negative about it that I can remember.

[stephenpinn]

I have 2 SB900's and have not had any issues with them; however, I do not use them heavily in any one shoot, perhaps 50-60 flashes then none for a while. I believe the issue was with battery overheating when being used for long periods of time, to the point of meltdown. I woiuld hope that Nikon would have fixed that by now but you may want to call their customer service groups to have them give you the official Nikon line.

[brewercm]

That was all the reading that I had heard about also on the SB 900. I have an 800, 600, and Sigma DG ST Super that I like all of them as they all work with the Nikon Creative Lighting System. I also have an older SB 24 that's a great lens for using off camera.

[TXAvi8tor]

Look into the Metz 58AF-2. I think of the 58-series as SB-800's on steroids, & one of the improvements of the AF-2 over the AF-1 is a more durable flash tube (just looked & can't find the cite, but I think it's somewhere on the Metz web pages). Another is a metal foot, like the Nikon brand flashes. I own two 58AF-1's (and a 48) as well as an SB-600. I'm very pleased with the power output of all the Metz units, as well as their features/benefits and (so far) durability. Adorama & B&H both inventory the -2 @ $400 - $60 less than the SB-900. And IIRC, the SB-900 is slightly _less_ powerful than the SB-800.

btw, I've rec'd Metz units in a couple of different posts, so let me state for the record that I'm merely a satisfied customer with no connection to Metz or their US importer.

[KenJulio]

Why not add another sb600 and use them for an off camera flash setup? You can use your D200 as the commander.

[Abel]

moving to lighting section...

[LinuxRacr]

I've noticed that no one has mentioned the SB-700 Speedlight. Is there something about this speedlight that makes it less appealing than the others mentioned? (this is the flash I have)

[TXAvi8tor]

Yeah, street price is $330. The Metz 50 AF-1 is $100 less.

According to my LunaPro F (Flash) meter, the 50 is at least as powerful (more like half a stop brighter at the same head / zoom position). For me, the feature set of the 700:

FX/DX Format Recognition
24-120mm Coverage (FX)
On-Camera & Wireless Operation
2.5 Second Recycling Time (NiMH)
3 Second Recycling Time (Alkaline)
i-TTL Operation
Thermal Cut-Out Detection
Filter Detection
AF-Assist Illuminator
Standard, Center-Weighted, & Even Illumination

isn't worth the $100 difference. YMMV.

hth,
Larry

[LinuxRacr]

Very nice. I had never heard of that model/brand.

[PEC]

the only issue i've had withthe sb800 is when using a 5th battery and shooting fast. Overheating can happen and cause bad things like meltling to happen. Thankfully, I didn't get to the meltdown point.

[KenJulio]

There's nothing wrong with the sb700, it's just that an sb800 can be had for around the same price if not a tad cheaper used if one can be found. Also, every now and then, people are selling their sb900's for the same price range, used.

If youre going to start using off camera flash, any of them work as well as the 3rd party brands such as Lumapro using the optical sensor for it to be triggered. For instance the lumapro lp160 is half the cost of a SB700, but youre not able to utilize Nikon's CLS system

[TXAvi8tor]

Originally Posted by LinuxRacr

Very nice. I had never heard of that model/brand.

Metz introduced their first stobe unit in 1952. From their web site:

1952: Another division is established: manufacture of flash units commissioned by Agfa and Carl-Braun begins
Amateur flash photography is revolutionised
Gold medal for sound, design and performance at an international exhibition in Luxembourg, certificate of honour and gold medal at an international exhibition in Thessaloniki
Manufacture of Metz “mecablitz” flash units begins

The 45- and 60-series 'potato mashers' have been a standard for wedding / event shooters since the 1970's. Also, firmware upgrade via USB on the 48-50-58 units is a great idea. Metz has used it to refine the user interface, add functions and fix bugs. To me, this is one of those "Why isn't every mfr. doing that?" ideas.

And to return to your original question, the Metz 58 AF-2 is 'an SB-800 on steroids." Since they're going brand new for slightly more than used SB-800's, and less than new SB-900's, and they include a provision for a HV battery pack (which tells me they're built to stand up to heavy use), it's a no-brainer. The Metz HV pack is crazy expensive, but Al Jacobs mfrs a low-voltage, 1000-shot per charge pack.

[LinuxRacr]

After working with my SB-700 for a little while now, I can say it has worked great! One of the biggest drawbacks to this speedlight is that it doesn't have the ability to utilize external battery packs.

[ggeen]

From what I recall, the SB-900 has a menu option to protect against over heating. It is on by default. Many of the first reviewers ran into the overheating protection issue and reported it a problem. The then undocumented feature was released by Nikon.

I have an SB-900 and have not run into the overheating protection issue but I do not use it heavily.