Nikon SB-400 Flash

SteveA

SteveA

Suspended / Banned
Messages
370
Name
Steve
Edit My Images
No
I'm thinking of investing in one of these little beasties, rather than use the built-in flash on my D80.

Any views or experiences with these? Worth the money, or will I just wish I went for one of its big brothers instead?

Cheers!
 
Hi
I have one of these and I think they're great! I use it quite a lot, mainly 'cos its so light and easy to carry its never a concern.
The advice I was given was that if just want a bit of fill in flash etc. but you're not doing anything serious then give it a whirl. If you find you get into flash in a big way then you may want something better longer term.
The head tilts into 3 positions, it cycles quickly, is pretty powerful, nice and light - what more do you want?
Cheers
 
They've been discontinued, so shop around and you might get a bargain - my local Comet had a display one that I'd doubt had ever been turned on, for £80...
 
bambam said:
Hi
I have one of these and I think they're great! I use it quite a lot, mainly 'cos its so light and easy to carry its never a concern.
The advice I was given was that if just want a bit of fill in flash etc. but you're not doing anything serious then give it a whirl. If you find you get into flash in a big way then you may want something better longer term.
The head tilts into 3 positions, it cycles quickly, is pretty powerful, nice and light - what more do you want?
Cheers
Click to expand...

exactly how i found it apart from when i use it with a lens i bought from here a few months back there is a little overcast from the lens hood but if using it with a kit lens of shorter one it works fine.
 
sb600 is much better, bigger yes, but great for portraits
 
Thanks guys... I'm getting an itchy trigger finger!
 
I have an sb-600, and I left it behind when I went on holiday recently, didn't want much of my gear with me.
If I had a 400 then I think I'd have taken it, and guess what, I needed bounce flash while I was away :lol:
Thing is that I knew I wanted something bigger than the 400 when I got my flash.
Long winded way of saying that it depends what you intend to use it for.
 
Great little flash

very light and dont get in the way like a Sb600 or 800 etc you can fit it and forget it. Its also built like a brick out house.

I use it for fill in flash on macro subjects, in fact I dont leave home without it :)
 
I have one and have loved it, however now I've got into flash a bit more I found it quite limiting. One of the biggest problems I found is the fact you cannot rotate the head of the flash when shooting portrait. It is light and handy as mentioned above and will fit in the bottom of your kit bag.

Bear in mind though that you will not have the ability to use it off camera, which is a shame, particularly as the D80 has a commander mode for off camera flash.

I did love mine, but given the chance to go back and start again, I'd have gone straight for the SB600.


JJ
 
I'd go for an SB600/800/900 first as you can do so much more with them. I have an SB400 and a few 600/800s and I do use the SB400 quite often but it is more of a built-in flash upgrade rather than giving you the real versatility of a separate flash unit.

You'll be amazed what you can do with a single off-camera flash, a reflective surface or two, home made softbox and some imagination. The SB400 doesn't give you any of that fun!
 
Thanks all for your comments. Sounds like the SB-400 is ideal for a "travel light" person like myself. I guess you could buy a cord to rotate the head (kind of).
 
SteveA said:
Thanks all for your comments. Sounds like the SB-400 is ideal for a "travel light" person like myself. I guess you could buy a cord to rotate the head (kind of).
Click to expand...

I must admit, that was why I went for an SB400 for my D40 :|. I didn't really know how much I was going to get into using a flash gun, but I was sure that if I had bought a bigger one, it would have got left at home a lot more :thumbsdown:. The SB400 comes with a really neat little carry case, which would fit easily into a jacket pocket, or a pair of cargo pants, meaning that you don't even need a bigger camera bag (assuming that your current bag only holds your current equipment :shrug:!?).

That said, the SB400 looks big enough on a D40 - anything more would be overkill ;) ...

D40SB400Sigma50.jpg


I agree with what the others have said about performance - it can't match the larger units for versatility, but if you just want it for basic fill-in and bouncing off low ceilings then it's a big improvement over the camera's built-in flash.
 
Just picked one of these up at comet for £67 as it has been discontinued.
 
i had one for the d40 and loved it for it';s compactness and being able to angle the flash

local comet in bristol had it in stock for run off @ £60 i think
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top