The whole reason I switched to Nikon was for its supposedly fantastic flash system. Well, I have to say that the system just absolutely sucks. The AF assist beam performance is totally abysmal, and I think that the fix floating around the forums of turning on the assist beam off on my new $550 flash is totally absurd. I can\'t believe Nikon actually let something like this out in the world. The whole point of an AF assist beam is to outperform the on camera AF assist lamp. The Canon 580EX II flashes kick serious ass in this department, and the 600EX RT flashes, for $25 more than this crappy SB910, are the best deal out there.
Check this series of images. They are shot with the d700 + 85 1.8G, f1.8, iso 1600, 1/200th, 85mm 1.8 G. The only thing I did was turn the AF assist beam on and off on the flash. I used the top left, top center, and top right AF points. In all cases, the AF assist beam caused the flash to back focus about an inch. This makes the flash gun simply unusable for its intended performance.
NIKON: GET IT TOGETHER. THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.
The whole reason I switched to Nikon was for its supposedly fantastic flash system. Well, I have to say that the system just absolutely sucks. The AF assist beam performance is totally abysmal, and I think that the fix floating around the forums of turning on the assist beam off on my new $550 flash is totally absurd. I can\'t believe Nikon actually let something like this out in the world. The whole point of an AF assist beam is to outperform the on camera AF assist lamp. The Canon 580EX II flashes kick serious ass in this department, and the 600EX RT flashes, for $25 more than this crappy SB910, are the best deal out there.
Check this series of images. They are shot with the 85mm 1.8 G, with the exact same settings. The only thing I did was turn the AF assist beam on and off on the flash. I used the top left, top center, and top right AF points. In all cases, the AF assist beam caused the flash to back focus about an inch. This makes the flash gun simply unusable for its intended performance.
NIKON: GET IT TOGETHER. THIS IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE.
Jun 17, 2012 at 11:26 AM
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