frankie c Loc: Lake Havasu CIty, AZ

Recently I posted for information about the SB500 looking for anyone who was using one. I received a couple of reply’s which pretty much said the specs looked good but I don’t think they had any hands on.
So, being a bit adventurous, I bought one. If you are not familiar with the SB500, It is kind of an undated replacement for the SB400/300…. With bells and whistles. It has a tilt swivel head like the bigger flashes. It has a 3 tiered led light built in for video or close photography. It works with Nikon’s CLS as a remote and it can be used as a Master. It is small only requires 2 AA batteries (like the 400 and 300). It’s kinda and SB junior. I used the SB400 for some of my more casual shooting with my smaller camera (my D5100). I really like keeping my walking about camera light but versatile. Anyways, I really wanted more versatility (like on my bigger speed lights) but with a smaller foot print. So it looks like Nikon finally listened to me …. Walla! SB500.
I just got it so have not had time to put it through all of the paces, which I will prolly do tomorrow on a street walk. I did try as many functions as I could.
First rude awaking was that Master Mode only works on cameras with the commander function available with the popup flash on camera (the manual says specific to the D750 or D810. I tested this on my D600 and My D300s. Looks like the manual is correct. It does not work. So I guess it just kinda replaces the pop up flash and fulfills that function on camera (I think that has some valued but only if you are going to use the SB500 as part of the CLS exposure else if your gonna blank the Master flash you might just as well use the pop-up). However, it does work nicely as a remote flash. You can set it for group A or B but only will work on Channel 3 but at least that is useable prolly.
I TTL/TTL and Manual work well and produced good results in low light to 20ft (that’s all I tested for) Also, short distance fill flash (with bells and whistles) was really good which is my primary reason for wanting this little thing. So smiles on that one.
The 3 little LED lights are pretty cool and you can use them to light a subject for a close up photo or use it in movie mode to add some light. There pretty bright and with 3 on it’s like party time. Turn up the DISCO music. It does seem to go a little to the Blue in color. Have to play with it more but useful.
If you have the ability on you camera to Auto FP, that works too. I love Auto FP use it a lot for day time high shutter speeds to get fill light. Also like it for at night concerts in the park. I can shoot at higher shutter speeds and stop the actions and still catch the stage and light ambiance.
So should everyone go out and buy one of these… Prolly not. It is definitely a better choice than the sb400 or sb300. For me and my casual shooting style this will work just fine. When I am doing a project I can just pull out the big guns. If you are buying your first speedlight or you can only afford to have one. I would recommend the D700 for a few dollars more. If you have delusions of grandeur like me  and want to make your little camera act like a big camera. You may just love the SB500.

my set up with the sb500


size comparison sb600 sb500 sb700

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

Very nice review. Thanks for posting.

frankie c Loc: Lake Havasu CIty, AZ

Your welcome and thanks for the thumbs up :)

The Villages Loc: The Villages, Florida

"First rude awaking was that Master Mode only works on cameras with the commander function available with the popup flash on camera (the manual says specific to the D750 or D810. I tested this on my D600 and My D300s. Looks like the manual is correct. It does not work. ""

I don't make use of the Master Mode function (maybe some day), but don't both the D600 and D300s have pop up flashes and therefore would work with them?

frankie c Loc: Lake Havasu CIty, AZ

I thought that too but with the SB500 on camera and according to the manual you need to set the flash default to command mode and it is not available with the sb500 in place. The pop up flash by itself works fine in command mode. Now if I mount my SB700 and put the flash in Master mode which is a physical setting on the flash. The SB700 communicates fine with the camera and the remote flashes. There is no physical setting or adjustment on the SB500 only a led that Shows you the flash mode. If you set your camera to TTL the TTL light comes on and if you set your camera to manual flash the Manual light comes on but the third light is Command there does not seem to be anyway to make that work. The camera does not allow it. So I am thinking there is a difference in the way Nikon set up the communication to the flash on the D750 and 810 that makes that work. I would like to understand that better but like you say it is not a show stopper for me either and the SB500 has a place in my tool kit. Oh... and thank you for your input I appreciate your support. If you get the answer please let me know. Happy Shooting :)