Speedlite for a Nikon beginner

[eltawater]

Hello,
I'm still a relative newbie to the world of DSLRs and I have owned a Nikon D3100 for around six months.

Having progressed through the usual cycle of first prime lens, first tripod etc I have now reached the stage where I yearn for my first hotshoe flash unit.

Now, despite being a mainly landscape and nature enthusiast, it's proving to be a bit of an irrational itch which I can't help but want to scratch. On the very rare occasion where I have needed to use it indoors, the fixed flash of the D3100 has performed poorly with results coming out either overexposed or just plain flat.

As I'm still learning the basics here, would I see any real benefit in splashing out £200+ on an SB700/SB800 or would I be better off just buying a cheap Jessops 360AFD and learning the ropes with that? I'm keen to understand directional lighting, fill flashing and bouncing flash off surfaces to give compositions more depth.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

 

[j07cmt]

You might be better off looking at a youngnou flashes if you don't want to spend sb-700 money, or a nissin would be somewhere in between.

 

[HopefulM]

or try a 2nd hand jessops 360AFDN... has infrared capability, so you can use it off camera (if your camera has commander mode) I got one on here for about £40

edited to say, your subject doesn't know how expensive or cheap your flash is... it's the direction and quality of light that counts!

 

[gad-westy]

I've voted cheap option. The Nissin Di622 is also well worth a look by the way and no point splashing out on the MK2 version as the D3100 doesn't do CLS.

The way I see it is that the best thing about the more expensive Nikon flashes is their ability to work seamlessly with Nikon's CLS and flash commander. The D3100 doesn't have that and so the main advantage is immediately nullified. You can mimic the effect of CLS by using any old flash off camera in manual mode and using the D3100's built in flash to fire it. You just need to turn the camera's flash power down and the cover it with your hand (but make sure the flash can see it) so it's light is not ruining your shots. You can set the external flash power manually.

When mounted on the hotshoe, the Jessops one and the Nissin I mentioned will use TTL so work like any Nikon flash. No fancy menu and LCD on the back but one might see that as a positive advantage as it means simple operation.

 

[TCR4x4]

I've voted cheap option. The Nissin Di622 is also well worth a look by the way and no point splashing out on the MK2 version as the D3100 doesn't do CLS.

The way I see it is that the best thing about the more expensive Nikon flashes is their ability to work seamlessly with Nikon's CLS and flash commander. The D3100 doesn't have that and so that advantage is immediately nullified. You can mimic the effect of CLS by using any old flash off camera in manual mode and using the D3100's built in flash to fire it. You just need to turn the camera's flash power down and the cover it with your hand (but make sure the flash can see it) so it's light is not ruining your shots. You can set the external flash power manually.

When mounted on the hotshoe, the Jessops one and the Nissin I mentioned will use TTL so work like any Nikon flash. No fancy menu and LCD on the back but one might see that as a positive advantage as it means simple operation.

Agree completely. The Nissan is a great flash, really easy to use and a keen price.
I used 3 for some light box stuff, all set up manually and it was a breeze.

 

[Rosiebud]

Being a relative newbie to photography in all aspects I went for the Jessops 360AFD which was enough for me - until a friend offered me his Nikon Speedlight SB-900 for £100 Couldn't turn that down now could I!

BUT the Jessops flash does it's job and it's great for learning the ropes on and I'd still be using mine as it was more than enough for my needs

 

[j07cmt]

£100?? Can I have their number? I'd love a friend like that!

 

[modchild]

Have a look at the Nissin range of flashes, they are all very good but not too expensive. You can get the top of the range Di866 for around £200 and that's about level with the Canon 580EX II in features. The Di622 is similar to the Canon 430EX II but can be bought new for under £100. They are both TTL which makes things easier to start with, as it can be confusing at the start, and they are economic with the batteries too.

 

[HopefulM]

I use the SB900 and the 360AFDN together

Have a look at Adam Duckworth's book "one light flash" he has a lot of interesting and effective techniques, and he started off with the cheapest flash possible

 

[boliston]

SB-600 could be worth considering

 

[Steelmagnet]

...or an SB400

I love mine,it just works.

 

[eltawater]

Thanks for all the comments so far, they've been really useful

SB-600's are fetching between 130-150 on ebay at the moment, which is scarily close to the SB-700/SB-800's at 185, hence the leaning more towards those.

In a similar vein, a new Di622 isn't far off a second hand SB-600 at 109, and second hand examples seem to be fairly rare on ebay.

It's helpful to know that the Jessops model isn't just a cheap bit of own brand tat. I'm being dissuaded from the Yuongno models due to all the build quality stories, and I don't fancy playing Returns ping-pong with suppliers. Might as well just buy a Jessops and be done with it

Despite not being equipped with commander mode though, will these flashes work off-body if I use a wireless trigger instead?

 

[gad-westy]

Despite not being equipped with commander mode though, will these flashes work off-body if I use a wireless trigger instead?

Yes, you have a few options. You could use wireless triggers (radio etc), you could use a sync cord which is probably easiest but can be clumsy or you could use the built in flash to fire the off camera flash in 'optical slave mode'. The downside of the latter option is that even if you turn the built in flash right down it will affect your image. You can cover it but the slave flash needs to be able to see it which isn't always possible depending on geometry.

 

[nooobie]

Hello,
I'm still a relative newbie to the world of DSLRs and I have owned a Nikon D3100 for around six months.

Having progressed through the usual cycle of first prime lens, first tripod etc I have now reached the stage where I yearn for my first hotshoe flash unit.

Now, despite being a mainly landscape and nature enthusiast, it's proving to be a bit of an irrational itch which I can't help but want to scratch. On the very rare occasion where I have needed to use it indoors, the fixed flash of the D3100 has performed poorly with results coming out either overexposed o

 

[Mank]

Thanks for all the comments so far, they've been really useful

SB-600's are fetching between 130-150 on ebay at the moment, which is scarily close to the SB-700/SB-800's at 185, hence the leaning more towards those.

In a similar vein, a new Di622 isn't far off a second hand SB-600 at 109, and second hand examples seem to be fairly rare on ebay.

It's helpful to know that the Jessops model isn't just a cheap bit of own brand tat. I'm being dissuaded from the Yuongno models due to all the build quality stories, and I don't fancy playing Returns ping-pong with suppliers. Might as well just buy a Jessops and be done with it

Despite not being equipped with commander mode though, will these flashes work off-body if I use a wireless trigger instead?

Both my yongnuo 560's are better built than my Jessops 360 flash. I dont even use the Jessops flash any more, don't know why I still have it tbh!

 

[nooobie]

I found the jessops gun on fleabag for £20.00 which a good enough for now, I may upgrade it if I need to..

 

[eltawater]

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Just to close this one off, I managed to pick up a Jessops 360AFD on ebay for a reasonable amount. It seems to work pretty well and I feel like there's a lot to learn before the urge to upgrade tugs again