Nikon D810 Flash, advice needed.

Brom

Brom

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David
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I've just upgraded to the D810 and have been researching on t'interweb for a decent flash to compliment it. I'm looking for something that I can use for fill in and low light work, both on and off the camera. I'm also into macro and will be purchasing a close-up speedlight system when funds allow so it would be useful if it would work with that. I know I can buy one from Nikon that will do all I ask straight out of the box, but is there anything else out there that will do the job just as well, or better?

I really could do with some advice on this, I've been searching for almost a week and I'm just getting more and more confused and my head hurts. Any thoughts, advice or recommendations gratefully received.
 
Well, it *really* depends on how you are going to use them and what kind of "interoperability" you want with a macro light.

My absolute favorite "speedlight" is the AD360 (in any of it's various incarnations). But it would be more accurate to call it a "mini studio head"... and manual only.
So it's not a great choice for run & gun type work... for that you really want TTL. I use SB800/SB600's... of the two the SB800 has more "interoperability," primarily due to it's ability to be triggered optically.
Personally, on a budget I would get a used SB800. On a tighter budget I would get a Yongnuo 568II. For anything other than run/gun I would get the AD360.
All three have optical slave mode so they *could* be triggered by a macro flash at least in one way (it's a very iffy proposition IMO). Any other interoperability will be based upon the triggering system/compatibility and that's pretty well unknown at this point (the Nikon R1C/1 is CLS compatible). CLS is very nice, but somewhat limited.
 
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mike weeks said:
last thing you would ever want to do is use an AD360 mounted as a speedlight on a camera, something will break -
Click to expand...
Why? Because the battery is external it doesn't weigh much more than a big speedlight with batteries.
The Godox V860 does sound good...
 
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sk66 said:
Why? Because the battery is external it doesn't weigh much more than a big speedlight with batteries.
The Godox V860 does sound good...
Click to expand...
Actually it is nearly twice as heavy as an SB800 and the larger size means it gets in the way and due to leverage a push on the top of the AD360 will have a far greater force on the hotshoe than on an SB800

Mike
 
Well, I've used it on the D4/810 more than a few times... and I even use it attached to my 400/2.8's lens hood (hood modified w/ a cold shoe, AD360 w/ quantum telephoto reflector and bulb spacer).

But a manual flash for run & gun is a bit of a PITA... so there isn't much point to using it on camera unless you *need* the extra power.
 
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Thanks all for taking the time to share your thoughts, much appreciated.
I was much taken with the Yongnuo 568II and the Godox V860N, however, after some deliberation, I've decided to go with the SB800. I know where I can get my hands on a good second hand one, but that's not the main reason. As I enjoy macro photography it seems the right choice as I will be purchasing a Nikon R1 Close-up Speedlight Remote kit in the not too distant future so I shouldn't have compatibility problems.
 
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