SB800 question.

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ben
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Hi all.

I have just purchased an SB800 flash for my D300.
Could someone walk me through a very basic get up and shoot setup for this flash please.

I will be reading the manual over xmas but I am going to need to use the flash this week.

thanks for reading

Ben.:)
 
In TTL mode it's very easy and intelligent.

Attach the flash and turn on; it should default to TTL mode. If it says FP as well that means high-speed sync (auto FP on Nikon) is active so if you or the camera choose a shutter speed faster than the camera's sync speed (usually 1/250th) it will still work but with a reduced power output due to how high-speed sync works. This is across all HSS-enabled flashes in all brands and not just this flash.

Flash compensation is easy in any camera mode; you can instantly press the crosshair on the rear of the flash to increase or decrease flash poet in whatever mode the flash is set to. You don't need to press a 'set/select' button like on many other flashes.

In any of the auto camera modes (P/A/S) it's been a very good flash in terms of exposure. Not all Nikons have a flash exposure compensation button on the camera but I find with the SB800 it's easy to just make adjustments on the flash using the +/- buttons anyway. I also like this because you're doing two totally different actions - with Canon it was easy to be altering exposure compensation instead of Flash compensation.

I use my flash a lot in full manual mode with the camera set to manual also but I have shot in (camera) manual mode with the flash on TTL and it's done a great job.

This is a very good link to understand flash EC - http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/8-flash-exposure-comp/

What are you going to be shooting mainly? Might help knowing that, as there might be a few tricks you could learn :)

The SB800 is a really good flash and that fifth battery compartment is a Godsend for decreasing recycle times when you're shooting quickfire.

Remember that it has full override all the time so when it zooms with the lens you can just press the tree symbols (which control the zoom) to give the light spread you want. Same applies to output.
 
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Depends what you want to do with it and how clever you want to be with it. On camera, attached via cable, using the CLS or using triggers. :shrug:

The SB800 is one of the worst user interfaces I've ever come across, so I'd say get used to that first. It still baffles me sometimes after 3-4 years of it has to be said, very infrequent use.


For just a general flash on camera or attached via a cable, with subject in front of you, I've recently started using the camera in Manual Mode set for the exposure I want of the background, bright, dark or as is, and then set the flash to TTL. I've found a wide aperture and a slight underexposing of the background makes the subject stand out. You have to keep an eye on the exposure of the background, so Aperture Priority may be a better setting if the background is not static. Manual may give consistent backgrounds though.

Like I say though, I hardly ever use my flash, so hopefully someone will be a long with better advice. ;)
 
redhed17 said:
The SB800 is one of the worst user interfaces I've ever come across, so I'd say get used to that first. It still baffles me sometimes after 3-4 years of it has to be said, very infrequent use.
Click to expand...

Compared to something like an SB700 it's a horrible flash to, say, select remote mode, but that full-time override of flash power on the SB800 is something that's sadly lacking from the newer flashes like the SB700, where you have to press a button before you can engage the scroll wheel. For quick fire shooting that accessibility of power options is priceless and the reason why my SB700 will never take over in that respect :)
 
hi guy's, thanks for the info. I am going to a winter solstice celebration in penzance and a lot of the folks are dressed in dark clothing but with glittering masks and the like.
the backgrounds vary from dark, to firelight.

hope this helps to refine what I am trying to get at.

thanks Ben.
 
Slow sync or rear (2nd) curtain flash will be your friend if you want to burn the ambient in as well as having subject mater lit by flash.

What happens with normal flash is the flash fires when the shutter opens and that usually is the main light source so the shutter closes and you get the shot where the subject is perfectly lit but the background is pitch black.

Slow sync is basically just a regular flash at the start of the exposure but the camera decides that it wants the background to show so leaves the shutter open for longer. It avoids those really, really dark background but because the flash goes off at the start, if the exposure is too long and there's camera movement, then you get a ghosting over what's been lit by flash because the ambient is starting to take over.

In rear/2nd curtain the shutter opens but the flash doesn't fire until right before the shutter closes, freezing what's in front of the camera. What this allows you to do is have a slower shutter speed so if for example, you are sat around a fire, that slower shutter speed will allow the light from the fire to register and then before the shutter closes, the flash pops some light in to freeze things. Those shots of people in nightclubs where they're frozen but they have light trails and ghosting around them - that's rear/2nd curtain.

This link might help (although it incorrectly calls 2nd curtain 'slow sync') - http://www.digital-photography-scho...-of-2nd-curtain-sync-flash-or-slow-sync-flash

I think there may a tutorial in the TP techniques section that deals with this.... http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=10271
 
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specialman said:
That's the little button near the lens mount? Does it double up for external flashes as well as the in-built flash? You'll have to forgive me - I don't own a Nikon newer than 2006 :lol:

Amended :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I know nothing of off camera flash really, but I'd imagine the flash compensation would work for CLS remotes.
 
Sorry, I meant flashes attached to the hotshoe :)

If it's anything like my D200, CLS is controlled through the menu or a commander unit such as another SB800 on the hotshot. :)
 
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