Help buying speedlights

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Archive 2009 · Help buying speedlights

Dax68
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p.1 #1 · Help buying speedlights

I am a photojournalism student and work for the student paper at my university. Money is pretty short so I don't want to spend $400 each on a 580exII or SB-900, I just can't afford it. Right now I have one vivitar 285HV which does the job but it is really crappy... cheap plastic, bad recycle times, missing power levels etc. (you get what you pay for I guess).

I generally end up doing most of the sportraits (we do a lot of athlete features) and portraits for the paper and I like to use lights. Whenever I have to do something I would generally borrow the paper's one SB-80DX, a friends Sunpak 383 and use my Vivitar 285 as a three light setup (I've never used more than three, all I can trigger with one set of PWs, a 15ft sync cable and the SB-80s optical slave mode). It is a little sketchy but does the job.

Anyway, I am tired of borrowing stuff and have some money saved up to get my own flashes. I shoot Canon but use all my flashes on the manual settings so the brand doesn't really matter, though I really do prefer the Nikon speedlights (I've used most of both brands here and there from the top of the line down). Right now I am looking to get two more flashes and have been looking at getting SB-80DXs on ebay, they're around $150 each. Then I started thinking "Is this the best option for the money?" I researched a bit and found nothing conclusive, so I thought I'd post here and get some other opinions.

Should I go with the SB-80DXs? Do you know of any other options that are better for the money?

I appreciate all the input I can get. Thanks.

Jul 05, 2009 at 06:35 PM

alanwarp
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p.1 #2 · Help buying speedlights

I have a Nikon SB-24 and SB-26 I picked up used and cheap ($70 to $80 range for each I think), both work great and are pretty solid, built in sync port..sometimes they can be trickier to find at a good price though...

SB-24 only goes down to 1/16th, SB-26 goes down to 1/64 and has built-in optical trigger, although I've never used it...

Alan

Jul 06, 2009 at 01:34 AM

Scott Clark
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p.1 #3 · Help buying speedlights

I've got several SB-28s, and I paid under a hundred bucks for all of them...great little lights. No optical trigger, but you can easily add one if it's an issue.

Jul 06, 2009 at 04:25 AM

Hacker
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p.1 #4 · Help buying speedlights

Would you consider Metz?

Jul 06, 2009 at 12:15 PM

Dax68
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p.1 #5 · Help buying speedlights

Hacker wrote:
Would you consider Metz?

Yeah, if they work well. Do they?

I'll look into the SB 26s and 28s.

Jul 06, 2009 at 03:10 PM

PhotoMaximum
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p.1 #6 · Help buying speedlights

Keep your eye open for used SB-80DX's. They can be found for good prices. I am Canon shooter but am always looking for good SB-80DXs and SB-800s as they work great, have built in optical slaves, and will even work with the Canon ST-E transmitter.

Strobist.com is a good resource for gear ideas and inspiration.

For more power I would look at the Alien Bee/White Lightning option. I have three Ultra 1200s and two Ultra 1800's and year after year they never fail me.

Building a kit for a studio is one thing. Building a kit for location work or travel is another. I find having several carrying bag options is very useful: I can pack for the job at hand while mixing up the bags, lighting gear and other paraphernalia.

Jul 06, 2009 at 03:44 PM

bacilonur
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p.1 #7 · Help buying speedlights

PhotoMaximum wrote:
...and will even work with the Canon ST-E transmitter.

Really? Under SU-4 mode while the ST-E2 is acting as an ETTL master?

Jul 06, 2009 at 03:59 PM

Dax68
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p.1 #8 · Help buying speedlights

PhotoMaximum wrote:
Keep your eye open for used SB-80DX's. They can be found for good prices. I am Canon shooter but am always looking for good SB-80DXs and SB-800s as they work great, have built in optical slaves, and will even work with the Canon ST-E transmitter.

Strobist.com is a good resource for gear ideas and inspiration.

For more power I would look at the Alien Bee/White Lightning option. I have three Ultra 1200s and two Ultra 1800's and year after year they never fail me.

Building a kit for a studio is one thing. Building a kit for location work or travel is another. I find having several carrying bag options is very useful: I can pack for the job at hand while mixing up the bags, lighting gear and other paraphernalia.

I will move up to monoblocks and other studio lights eventually, which is one of the reasons why I have a problem spending $400 on an SB-900 or 580exII. Why spend the money on a small flash when you spend the same on bigger, more powerful lights. Another reason is that, being a big sports shooter, I want to wait until I can afford lights that I can use for both lighting an arena and in the studio... I could be dead wrong there though.

I found this http://www.bythom.com/flashcompare.htm which has been really useful. So I think now I might just stick with trying to find a deal on an SB-80 and grab a BGN SB-28 or two off of KEH or ebay.

Jul 06, 2009 at 05:17 PM

PhotoMaximum
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p.1 #9 · Help buying speedlights

bacilonur wrote:
PhotoMaximum wrote:
...and will even work with the Canon ST-E transmitter.

Really? Under SU-4 mode while the ST-E2 is acting as an ETTL master?

I used to use a bunch of the Canon strobes with the ST-E. Works great in ETTL. But there are many instances I want to trigger the strobes in full manual mode: not possible with the Canons. I now have five SB-80's and SB-800's. I use the SU-4 setting and set the flash power on each strobe on a manual setting of MY choosing. I then use the ST-E2 as the trigger. Works great. I also find the Nikon strobes have a "longer reach" when triggered with the ST-E2. I am a dedicated Canon user but from now all the strobes I buy will be Nikons as I like the manual control this combo gives me. I also have about six or so Pocket Wizards and the Nikons have built-in PC connectors which the Canon's(except the latest 580EX II) do not have. Only certain Nikon strobes will work like this...

Jul 06, 2009 at 10:04 PM


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