3rd party flash or nikon?

[evilonion]

i have a few choices of flash...
i can opt for a slightly cheaper flashgun around the £200 mark such as the sb600 or a metz58.

Or... use the card and go for the sb900...

Is there much that the sb900 does (apart from power) that 3rd party flashes cannot do?

Is there a difference in how quickly the camera will focus etc?
Or are the 3rd party flashes quite equal to the high end nikon?

I have found a sight selling new sb900's for £275 and thought this was quite a good price...?

Im assuming the sb900 will be fantastic with the d300 and that 3rd party flashes wont be as good?
The only one i think ive found is the metz58 which seems good?

 

[JasonRS]

You need sb800 or higher for CLS/TTL on the D300. Not sure about the 3rd part ones though.

Where have you found SB900's for £275?

 

[evilonion]

ah ok, i will go with the sb900 then.
im planning on building them up for wireless use eventually as i have a cheap chinese flash to use off camera.

jackofallgames has them for £274.99 with free uk delivery.
http://www.jackofallgames.co.uk/nikon-sb900-speedlight-flashgun-p-2365.html

 

[Flash In The Pan]

You need sb800 or higher for CLS/TTL on the D300. Not sure about the 3rd part ones though.

Where have you found SB900's for £275?

SB600 will work with CLS/TTL from a D300, it just can't be used as a Commander.

 

[evilonion]

so if i had 2 sb900's i could have one off camera and the other sb900 would control it? or would i still need to buy a wireless trigger setup?

Im assuming the latter but we live in hope eh.

 

[cowasaki]

so if i had 2 sb900's i could have one off camera and the other sb900 would control it? or would i still need to buy a wireless trigger setup?

Im assuming the latter but we live in hope eh.

You can use 2 SB900s with one off camera no problem

 

[Flash In The Pan]

so if i had 2 sb900's i could have one off camera and the other sb900 would control it? or would i still need to buy a wireless trigger setup?

Im assuming the latter but we live in hope eh.

You can either have one of the SB900s as a Commander on the hotshoe or both of them off-camera and use the D300 onboard flash in Commander mode to trigger them.

 

[evilonion]

Great, thanks for the information.
Will have to get busy learning soon!

 

[cowasaki]

Great, thanks for the information.
Will have to get busy learning soon!

I have an SB600 and an SB800 and I've had a play with the SB900. The SB900 is much easier to setup and use and you can do things like changing mode very quickly with the dial.

 

[SparkUK]

I have an 800 and a 900, I tend to use my 800 more, it's much better as a pocket sized flash with bags of ooomph.