SB Range for Strobist Work.

The23rdman

The23rdman

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I'm considering older Nikon speedlights to add to my arsenal of flashguns. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of the older SB26/28's compared to the newer SB-80DX's?
 
SB26 has an optical sensor, is super cheap and drops to 1/64th power. I have 2 and use them all the time.
 
SB-800 also has optical sensor, drops down to 1/128th power, but not super cheap. :)

You don't get CLS with the older flashes, which just means that basically you can't control their power output from a hot-shoe mounted commander (or a popup commander). Given that you're shooting Canon anyway though, that's not such a big deal.

Personally, given that the YN560 is about to hit the streets, I'd hold out to see what their prices actually are once they become available. Now that they have a zoomable head (24-105mm, same as the SB-800), and the same power output as the SB-800, goes down to 1/128th power just like the SB-800, 1/8th stop power adjustment increments (Nikon and most other flashes are 1/3rd stop increments), 8fps shooting at 1/8th power and below, faster recycle times, I'd say it's at least as good as the old Nikon speedlights now at probably a bit less money (Currently on eBay I see SB-26 flashes at around £90, SB-28s anywhere from £80-200 and SB-80s around £145-150).

Plus the YN560 has a pre-flash ignoring optical slave mode, as well as the regular optical slave mode, meaning you can mix it with eTTL/iTTL flash units.
 
Thanks guys. Yeah, I was intending on waiting for the 560, but have been offered an SB80DX for 80 quid.
 
The23rdman said:
Thanks guys. Yeah, I was intending on waiting for the 560, but have been offered an SB80DX for 80 quid.
Click to expand...
Who offered? That's a tempting price. I'm not sure how much beating the YN560 will be able to take, but the Nikon flashes - I heard - can take quite a bit of abuse.
 
Metal hotshoe is the only real advantage of the 80 over the 28/etc. Although you can get replacement feet for the 28/etc pretty easily for about a fiver each and should find those models for £50-60.
 
they're bombproof, hat £80, go for it. At £150, wouldn't go for the 80's, it's only another 50ish to get an 800 with CLS goodness. I use 2 sb800's in normal use, and have 2 sb24s that I can bust out of the bag when I need more lights but don't wanna be rocking the big guns.

CLS is SO good though...
 
Too late. He sold it. :)
 
rgrebby said:
SB26 has an optical sensor, is super cheap and drops to 1/64th power. I have 2 and use them all the time.
Click to expand...


just to add, the sb25 is great as well, exactly the same as the 26 but without the optical sensor. ive got 3 of them and all cost under £50 each from ebay over the last couple of years (2 of them pouched+boxed and mint, one unboxed and vgc). i bought the last one about 8 months ago, reckon the 25s didnt get name dropped as much by various strobist sites in recent years so had stayed a bit cheaper than the others on ebay. they're so well built as well.

i use them on manual and i find them absolutely perfect for me, to be honest the only reason id ever want to upgrade is if i got into cls
 
Yeah, I've looked at 25's as well, but the ability to use optical slave is such an advantage at times.
 
Jamieconverge said:
just to add, the sb25 is great as well, exactly the same as the 26 but without the optical sensor. ive got 3 of them and all cost under £50 each from ebay over the last couple of years (2 of them pouched+boxed and mint, one unboxed and vgc). i bought the last one about 8 months ago, reckon the 25s didnt get name dropped as much by various strobist sites in recent years so had stayed a bit cheaper than the others on ebay. they're so well built as well.

i use them on manual and i find them absolutely perfect for me, to be honest the only reason id ever want to upgrade is if i got into cls
Click to expand...


I've got a couple of 25s, bought for exactly that reason - David Hobby sang the praises of the SB24 and SB26, so naturally the prices of those went through the roof on Ebay, however as he hadn't mentioned the 25 none of the "sheep" would touch them -which was handy :naughty:

The23rdman said:
Yeah, I've looked at 25's as well, but the ability to use optical slave is such an advantage at times.
Click to expand...


A fiver sticks an optical slave onto an SB24 or SB25 ;)
 
I bought optical triggers for even less, though they do ones now which are a bit more clever and ignore pre-flashes from CLS and e-ttl which the built in sb-26 slave wont do.

So many fairly decent and fairly cheap radio triggers coming out now though that its not as big a bonus as it used to be. Radio is so much less hassle!
 
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