Replacement flashguns for my SB800s

smudgie49

smudgie49

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Graham
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I currently use 3 x Nikon SB800s with D3s and D3x triggered by PW FlexTTs. I shot a wedding over the weekend and one of the SB800s (on camera) refused to fire. It's the first time its happened - batteries were fine, it hadn't overheated etc. Fortunately I had a second SB800 to hand and swapped it out quickly. It got me thinking though that maybe its time to replace the SB800s - they were discontinued in 2008 and although they suit me fine my set are getting a bit old and I want 100% reliability.

My question is this: Do I replace with the SB910 (at £300 a pop) or go for an equivalent 3rd party flashgun? There seem to be a few out there that (on paper) work well on camera and with manual wireless triggering but does anyone have any experience using the PW FlexTT with a 3rd party speedlight and shooting TTL?

Actually, that's two questions.
 
smudgie49 said:
Actually, that's two questions.
Click to expand...
•
I got three answers to your two questions:
• the SB800 is a very reliable gun so get to the bottom of the troubleshooting
• if you have to replace it, then no third party, go for any SB as it is working
fine with the PW stuff or
• my solution for this kind of work was to move to the B2 and I kept my 3 SB900
for lighter duties,
 
Update. I found the problem with the Speedlight. It was dirt on one of the contacts in the battery compartment. Drop of alcohol on a cotton bud soon sorted that. However, I took the decision to update my flash set-up and (after much research) have acquired three Shanny SN910 RF speed lights. Similar GN and recycle times to the SB910 and are equipped with internal wireless TTL so no need for the Pocket Wizards. Set one to master and the others to slaves ( in groups if you want) and you're good to go. You can adjust the slaves from the master in terms of flash output and zoom. Really intuitive and quick. In fact way easier than the SB800s with PWs. Still testing but looking good so far and the quality of the item looks pretty damned good.
 
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