SB700 = Wow!

Mark G

Mark G

Messages
840
Name
Mark
Edit My Images
Yes
I had a wedding to shoot this weekend, that's nothing new for me as I've done a few and always been happy(ish) with my sigma speedlight. Apart from a sluggish reload time It does the job pretty well, off camera flash is available via a sync cable and it works with TTL.

Unfortunately I went to use my sigma speed light a couple of weeks ago and the batteries had done an injustice in the battery compartment and I don't want to risk any chance of it not working so I decided to bite the bullet and invest in a Nikon unit.

I picked up a Nikon SB-700 for £145 off eBay, It arrived and I had one day to play with it before the wedding. When I ordered it I didn't even know about Nikon's Creative Lighting System. When I found this out I was a bit excited to see what the speed light could really do.

Having done some research into the best batteries I decided to get 8 Sanyo Eneloops. Using it for the whole day I fired over 800 photos with flash and I didn't have to change the batteries once. I'd like to bet that over 500 of those were remotely triggered using the CLS built into my D7000's. The light reloads so fast it didn't cause me a single misfire.

As I mainly shoot either with studio lights or natural light I was just going to sell this flash on again after the wedding but seeing the benefits of remote speedlights for fill light this will be a part of my kit for a long while.

The moral to this story is simply this. Of all the bits of kit I've bought over the years (which is many), this little SB-700 has impressed me most and I'd recommend it to anyone with a Nikon DSLR with CLS remote capabilities.
 
I love the CLS and commander mode on my D7000, it's great. Get yourself a set of Yongnuo 622's and a TX controller for the camera and it saves you having to go through the menu to alter settings aswell. :)
 
minnnt said:
I love the CLS and commander mode on my D7000, it's great. Get yourself a set of Yongnuo 622's and a TX controller for the camera and it saves you having to go through the menu to alter settings aswell. :)
Click to expand...
interesting suggestion, kinda expensive for a two button click on the camera init? also CLS has controls for individual channels not sure how the 622N does it.

I used YN602N the manual ones, but then bought Nikon branded flashes and just use the CLS instead...the advantage of Yongnou triggers are you can use much cheaper Yongnou flashes or other flashes and enjoy similar CLS benefits.
 
I have Meike MK910 (sb910 copies) and they have built in recievers so i can use them with the commander mode. Down side is that they can't always see the pop up flash so won't fire. With the 622 triggers they will 99% of the time fire. This especially becomes beneficial when outside or working at distance with them.

The 622 has 3 channels where as the D7000 only has 2. They're all TTL too so if you wanted to use them on auto then you can. And also the pop up leaves an annoying 'pre fire' catch light in the eyes of the subject, which although it's a 2 second fix in PP, i'd rather not have it. :LOL:
 
Last edited:
That's very true, yongnuo works on radio and doesnt have to have line of sight where the command off the camera does need it. Tho the little flash off the pop up can be blocked by a cheap £10 accessory :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top