keith k

any recommendations on speedlights for Nikon 5100 camera?

Keith K

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Go to Amazon and have a look at Gordox for Nikon.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

That's spelled GODOX
and I would only buy from Adorama or B&H.
Adorama's FlashPoint Zoom TTL R2 and B&H Godox TT685 are the same unit.
If you want something that's compact, consider the Godox TT350.
Not as much power, but pretty handy. I have one for my Fuji.

These flashes have a built-in radio transciever for remote use as well if you want to grow you lighting capabilities.
Godox has the most extensive line of flashes and accessories on the market.

If you want Nikon, the SB-600, 700, 800, 910 are great units.

There is an SB-800 for sale in the classified section HERE but the ad says sale pending..been that way for a while, so you might check with the seller.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

SB 700

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

SB-800

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

What are you going to use it for? What's your budget?

You can find some fairly reliable Chinese-made units that are quite capable and priced under $75. There are Nikon branded units that can push the $1,000 barrier.

Family shooting? Multiple light portraits? Just messing about to learn the process?

You'll get lots of advice and most of it will be wrong unless you define the question a little more.

Andy

keith k

Thanks for your insight Andy I would say family and grandchildren photos plus learning the technology so budget is important

What do you recommend? I see Godox TT685 for ~ $138 with shoe

Keith

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Adorama and B&H has them for $99. Check my post above.

“With a shoe”
What does that mean?
All the speedlights mentioned so far have a hot shoe.

CO

How much do you want to able to do with the flash? I have an SB-700. It's a medium sized flash and has a lot of functionality. If you shoot video with your camera, the LED video assist lights on the SB-500 might be useful. I've never tried that flash so I don't know how good it is.

Current Nikon speedlights:
SB-300 $146.95 basic, weak, and slow to recycle
SB-500 $246.95 excellent basic flash, has LED video assist lights
SB-700 $326.95 excellent flash loaded with features and has zoom head
SB-5000 $596.95 Nikon's flagship flash, has zoom head, and wireless radio control

IDguy Loc: Idaho

There are also SB 800 and SB 900 available used. Generally the higher the number the higher the power.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

A used Nikon SB26. Has all the features but a little less power and reasonably priced.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

The Godox is a good choice. I have a couple of Yongnuo units that have full Nikon compatible TTL as well as zoom and angle adjustment. I've been able to use them on multi-flash setups with an inexpensive trigger set. Their only drawback is the abysmal "Chingrish" manual. The Godox is a step up in power and build quality, and at $138 is a good value. This type of unit is not always a lifetime investment, but will meet most of your needs for family photography very well. Once you've developed your skills, you can upgrade with more information on which qualities are most important in your particular work. That's just my suggestion, I'm sure others will have different ideas as well.

I'd advise using the TTL setup until you're thoroughly comfortable on it, then progressing to using these flashes on manual with manual power settings - full power, half power, etc. all the way down to 1/28th or 1/32. Practice using as fill flash at low power settings, both manually and using your flash compensation control. Finally, try some multi-flash setups, which will really boost the quality of your portraits and group shots.

It's a fun new area to explore, and the technology of today is hundreds of times better than that available to us back in film days. Pixels are cheap, so play around with your new gear and experiment as much as you can.

Andy

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Not all the features.

According to Nikon:

“Auto, Manual, Rear Curtain, Repeating Flash”
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/ni/NI_article?articleno=000001407&configured=1&lang=en_US&sfdcIFrameOrigin=null

No TTL with the OP’s D5100, no Auto FP (high speed sync), no red-eye reduction
You really want TTL, it works very well.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I am still very happy with the two SB-800s that I bought 13 years ago and that are still ticking today. They have automatic zoom and a range of automatic exposure functions, but their user interface is pretty clunky. No wireless control, but they are part of the Nikon Creative Lighting System. I also bought an SB-400 to carry as an emergency flash since there is no pop up flash on my D850. It has no controls, but can be set for bounce flash. All other functions are automatic. It's not super powerful, and it can sometimes take a couple of seconds to recycle, but it has good coverage in a pinch. Nice ones available used for usually around $125 or so.

CO

The D910 was just recently discontinued. It should also be available used. I've read that the SB-900 had some overheating issues that were fixed in the SB-910.