Allen Essek

The very best, and wisest purchase, that you could make, is the Yongnuo Professional Flash Speedlight; the Yongnuo YN-568EX, Wireless, TTL, Flash Speedlight, for Nikon camera's. Sold on Amazon.com, for $101.00. It is a real steal. Many thousands of photographer's have selected and use this flash, and love it, in every way! You can find much information and recommendation's about it, on the Great, Professional Photographer, and Instructor, Tony Northrup's, Website, (Google Him,) And also, in his great, "Buyer's Guide," as well. This flash, would be your best bet, by far, bar no other; short of a full priced, Nikon Speedlite.
*IT IS MOST, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED OVER ALL OTHER FLASH UNITS

Allen Essek

When shopping for any ELECTRONIC ITEM, I wouldn't ever limit my selection of the product and model to that which was carried by
"THE LOCAL, CAMERA SHOP!"

Perhaps, go there, and see what product is available, and should they happen to stock, that which you "REALLY" believe that you want to buy, you can go ahead and buy it.

Yet, you don't know, all of the possibly far better products, that may have been available FOR YOU!!! At a Much Larger, and, Better Stocked Store !!!

In this age, of such a Mega-Proliferation, of so Very Many Models and Variations of Products and Items, and there are also, many very huge Photographic Companies who specialize in carrying all, of the available individual models that are offered on today's vast market!

It is, IN THE SHOPPER'S BEST INTEREST to SHOP, and to make their final purchase, from a very large Mega-Store, which SPECIALIZES in, carrying, EVERY SINGLE Brand, and Model, That Is Currently Available.

In doing this, you will have the opportunity, to consider all of your many options, and to select the product, that will best meet your own personal needs, in the best possible way.

You will also get the added benefits of purchasing at the lowest prices, the best return polices, and the receiving the best advice for the most knowledgeable sales staff: And, when you shop with B&H PHOTO, in NYC, NY, you also get, NO SALES TAX purchases, and free, overnight deliveries.

Keep all of these things in your mind, as you shop for your equipment.

Happy days...

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

I use the Yonhnu yn568ex so far it has worked great and does everything I need it to do. Including HSS to1/8000 sec.
Im very happy with it.

eesileon1

I have the Altura brand from Amazon. So far they work well. One is e-TTL and the other strictly manual. Both have S-1 &S-2 functions, and one came with a trigger set. Take a look.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Several years ago I had a D200 and a SB800. Then I got a D3 which didn't have a built-in flash to act as a commander for off-camera flash. So I wanted another speedlight.

At the time the SB900 was getting reports of overheating problems. So I looked for alternatives. The Nissin Di866 looked promising and got good reviews so I got one.

When I tested it out I found that it was almost compatible with the Nikon CLS. As a speedlight on the hotshoe it worked just fine. It worked fairly well as a commander for the SB800 off camera. The modeling light didn't work. No matter, I don't use that much. Using the SB800 as commander and the Di866 off camera worked sporadically but the other way around seemed to work just fine.

I sometimes shoot bursts with flash (on the hotshoe). I set the camera to ISO 1600 (or more) and set the frame rate as fast as possible. The high ISO reduces the energy needed for each flash so I don't dump the c harge in one shot. I use bursts for group shots so if one person blinks, they have generally recovered by the third shot. If there's a late blinker the background doesn't change significantly at the high frame rate so I can paste eyes (or heads) from one shot to another.

So using the SB800 at 1600 in a small room I could get about 10 shots before the speedlight ran out of charge. With the Di866 I could only get 4 shots.

I don't use HSS so I didn't try that.

Next time I had some flash money I got a SB910. No problems with that.

The Nissin works if all I need is a straight speedlight. If I need to use off-camera flash I have to remember which one to use for the commander and which for the slave. So the Nissin is almost compatible with the Nikon CLS.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Bought the Newwer for my wife. It is full iTTL and more powerful than my SB700. Online for about $70.

MtnMan Loc: ID

So far my wife's continues to work fine. Couple years.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That is one useless function you want to shut off right away (auto zoom), but set the zoom ratio the way you want (its like a build-in modifier)!

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

I have shot over 125 ft with my Canon 600EX-RT mounted on my camera.
It can be done, but also done more easily if the flash can be closer and remote triggered.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Thank you for that! I’ll contact him.

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

You’ve all been veery helpful. Thank you, all, for your comments and suggestions. I have one final question.

I understand what HSS is, but why would I need a higher speed flash synch? What would I be photographing that would require that? Even at a slower synch speed, wouldn’t the duration of the flash, itself, be enough to stop whatever motion you’re trying to stop?

Unless there’s some other reason, and I don’t know, what is HSS for?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

As to HSS, hummingbird wings for one!

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

I have heard of the ones you mentioned but I don't own any of them. I do own a "Vivitar DF-583" and also an "Altura Pro AP-N1001". I use them both with my Nikon D7100 and they do a great job. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either of them.

MtnMan Loc: ID

To enable a dark background.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

I have several Yongnuo for my portable studio lighting. They work well, are reliable. I don't have any with TTL as I do have an SB800 for that (Though I never use it directly on camera; usually on a bracket.