What flash or lighting for indoor shoots?

cambsno

cambsno

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Did my 1st paid for photoshoot today (started doing this part time to build experience and pocket money). Went well and used my SB600 on my D300. Generally went well, although sometimes I had to stop for a 5 seconds for flash to recharge after a quick burst. Found I missed some shots because flash didnt go off.

Would an SB900 be any better? I guess that studio lights would be better but not keen on this due to cost, as well as the fact I do this round peoples homes so more to transport and space is an issue (would have struggled to with stands today).

Any ideas?
 
The SB-900 is a fantastic flash gun, well worth the extra in my opinion. The menu is a lot easier to navigate
 
the SB900 is a great flash cant wait to get my next one.
 
you maybe need an external batery pack - SB-900 would not really make any difference in his situation.
 
awp said:
you maybe need an external batery pack - SB-900 would not really make any difference in his situation.
Click to expand...

But the SB600 doesnt have a battery pack, so guess the SB900 would help. Does anyone use the battery pack... comments...
 
If recycle time is the problem, can you not shoot at a higher ISO and/or lower f/number? Every stop of movement there will allow you to halve the flash power, which roughly speaking will halve the recycle time. Makes a world of difference. This is by far your best option IMHO.

Another way of doing it is to add a second gun and use them in tandem, such as the cheap Yongnuo 460 from Flash In The Pan £35. Again the theory is that if you have double the light available, you can turn them both down to half and get quicker recycling. Only manual exposure control though.

Edit: getting a more powerful flash sometimes doesn't help with recycling as the thing that is slowing them down is that they only have four batteries to draw power from. In other words, a bigger gun might have twice the power output, but it will take twice as long to recycle. If you turn it down to half power, you are back where you started with the SB600 in terms of both recycle times and power. You need a big battery pack to reduce recycle times.
 
Phiggys said:
Check these out I own both of theses battery pack systems and they are both capable of powering your flash and even camera together all day.
They also help with recycling the flash quicker.

http://www.digitalcamerabattery.com/

http://www.quantumbattery.com/?page=3101&qmode=c

http://www.quantumbattery.com/?page=1000&qmode=c
Click to expand...

V nice :) But check those prices :eek:

You can get external battery packs, which give more flashes and quicker recycling for about £40, but the OP's SB600 doesn't have an input socket :(
 
For sure you should be able to bump the iso to 400 on your D300 and still get perfectly acceptable quality.

Rechargeables with a high mAH rating can help lower recycle time in a flash, rather than lithiums. Carry spare lithiums ***, as when the rechargeables start dying, they go quickly IME

Bear in mind (if you're using Nikon's CLS to control the SB-600) sometimes it'll be the recycle rate of the on-board flash that slows you down.
 
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