SB800 Problem - help needed

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fred974

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Frederic
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Hi,
I just bought a used SB800 on the forum and I just realised that the zoom on the LCD keep showing M (manual) and the value is 17mm.

The the built in diffuser is not down and is pushed back in the unit and my diffusion dome (translucent white plastic thing) is not attached to the unit

At the moment my work around is to set the WD to ON

Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong ?
Does it mean that I bought a faulty product? Any ideas on cost of repair?

My configuration is:
D300 + 18-108 3.5 + metering matrix + focus center and AF-S

Thank you all

Frederic
 
Just make sure that the flip-down diffuser is pushed ALL the way in to engage regular zoom mode.

Also, is the head tilted down for macro/close-up shooting?

If in doubt, do a two-button reset and see if that does anything (think it's ON/OFF + MODE buttons held at same time):)
 
Hi Pat,

Thank you for the quick reply.

The diffuser is pushed ALL the way and the head is not tilted down.
the reset hasn't changed anything:(
 
Press the little tree or group of trees button a few times. The M should clear.

If it doesn't the wide angle sensor may be faulty.
 
On the SB600 (maybe the 800 is the same?) if the zoom is in manual mode - "M" showing on the display - then you have to re-synchronise it with the lens to get auto-zooming back. To do this, use the manual zoom button to zoom out the head until it matches the lens (i.e. both are zoomed to the same focal length): the "M" will disappear and the head will zoom with the lens.

Does that make sense?
 
Last edited:
fred974 said:
Hi Pat,

Thank you for the quick reply.

The diffuser is pushed ALL the way and the head is not tilted down.
the reset hasn't changed anything:(
Click to expand...

Mmmmmm.... not sure what advice to offer....

In terms of repair costs, the repair quote I got for a new circuit board in mine was about £150 from Nikon... might just be worth getting a quote just to see, might be cheaper than you think - had a new hotshoe foot fitted by Nikon on an SB28, which came to £25 including return postage :)
 
That didn't work:(
might be faulty
 
Steve, not sure how to do that?
 
fred974 said:
Steve, not sure how to do that?
Click to expand...

Fred, sorry but I don't have an SB800 so I can't give a detailed explanation. I was basing my thoughts on the fact that with the SB600 if you use the manual zoom function on the flash (either deliberately or accidentally) then you have to re-synchronise it with the lens to get the auto-zoom function to work again.

Re-syncing is simple on the 600. This is what I do: zoom the lens to about 50mm, press the zoom button on the flash until the display shows it is at 50mm. The "M" on the display will go out and the flash will then zoom in unison with the lens.

If that doesn't work, or the SB800 works differently, then apologies for getting your hopes up :)

EDIT: Okay, I've just downloaded the SB800 manual from Nikon's web site and I can see it is way different to the SB600 so the above won't work.
 
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Bristolian said:
Fred, sorry but I don't have an SB800 so I can't give a detailed explanation. I was basing my thoughts on the fact that with the SB600 if you use the manual zoom function on the flash (either deliberately or accidentally) then you have to re-synchronise it with the lens to get the auto-zoom function to work again.

Re-syncing is simple on the 600. This is what I do: zoom the lens to about 50mm, press the zoom button on the flash until the display shows it is at 50mm. The "M" on the display will go out and the flash will then zoom in unison with the lens.

If that doesn't work, or the SB800 works differently, then apologies for getting your hopes up :)

EDIT: Okay, I've just downloaded the SB800 manual from Nikon's web site and I can see it is way different to the SB600 so the above won't work.
Click to expand...

Thank you for all your effort in trying to help me steve :) I'll keep looking. Fred
 
what lens are you using it with

Have you cleaned all the lens and flash contacts?
 
Hi richard,

I have tried several lenses.
I used the kit 18-105; nikon prime 50 mm and my sigma. same outcome on all of them.

The zoom work fine if i set the WD to ON.
Maybe that the way it sould be set.I'm not sure. i only had the flash for 1 week. what does wd do?

fred
 
I found that in the manual but don't really understand its meanin:(

Zoom-head position setting if the built-in wide-flash adapter
is broken off accidentally (p. 117)
Setting to activate or cancel the zoom-head position setting if the built-in
wide-flash adapter is broken off accidentally. When set to ON, the zoomhead
position display or AUTO indicator (if using a COOLPIX camera
compatible with i-TTL) is framed.
• OFF : Manual setting canceled
• ON : Manual setting activated
Click to expand...
 
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