Nikon SB-800 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

While the $320 price seemed steep at first, I actually get plenty of value out of this flash. I have four of them now. I use them on my camera, as well as mounted on a light stand. I shoot them through translucent umbrellas, bounce their light off walls, and I am acquiring an arsenal of modifiers to manipulate the light.

They have the built-in wireless syncing, which really works pretty well in most situations. You can also use pocket wizards or some other radio signal device to trigger them as well. With pocket wizards you lose the ability to send TTL data. If you want to use radio signals but still use TTL data then you could use those Radio Poppers. But I am fine with using Pocket Wizards and leaving the SB-800 on manual mode.

The light packs a lot of power and if you use the fifth battery compartment you get a faster recycle time. I like that it has a PC sync port. The SB-600 does not.

They also come with a diffuser cap and some color correction gels. There is a built-in bounce card and a diffuser for distributing light for wide angles.

The SB-900 just came out and cost over a hundred bucks more than this light. I'm sure it is a great light but I love this SB-800 and have no plans on upgrading as long as these things are still available.

This unit is the fullest featured strobe I've had for a camera. Powerful output will supply enough light for most enthusiasts and works nicely in combination with other flash units, even if they're not Nikon CLS compatible. I sync a 400WS studio monolight from the SB-800 as my camera does not have a PC Sync connector and this works seamlessly--even if I only want the monolight to fire. In true NIkon fashion, this flash will do everything for you or allow you to manually control everything down to 1/128th power. Also works very nicely with the Nikon SC-29 off camera cable which includes focusing lamps on the hot-shoe connector so that your camera can focus effectively in low light. I use the SC-29 to keep the flash off of the camera 99% of the time and it allows me to hold the SB-800 behind a diffusion screen with one hand while I shoot with the other--amazing effect for a small flash like this. Recharges quickly and uses power judiciously so that batteries last longer than in other flash units (through a combination of iTTL metering and zoom capability). You won't be disappointed with the SB-800.

Excellent piece of equipment - for most Nikon shooters, this should be their first choice for a flash.

If you're doing anything but shooting family snaps, you'll have use for this piece of equipment and once you do you'll know why it's a required piece for Nikon shooting pros. Expensive, but worth it if you intend to grow as a photographer. Other reviewers have done an excellent job outlining the details of why you might want this flash.

3 caveats -

- This is the most sophisticated piece of photo equipment I've ever owned (and I've owned professional Norman units back in the film days). You'll need to do more than just read the manual to get the most out of this unit. Check out some of the Joe McNally tutorials at Kelby Training online or the wealth of stuff at Strobist.

- As soon as you watch those tutorials, you'll want more than one SB-800!! That's right - these things are like potato chips - you can't have just one!

- It's big, and when using all 5 batteries, is heavy, although not as big or as expensive as the new SB-900. In other words, once you own more than one of these, you'll need a new camera bag too.

I bought this flash for the express purpose of using it during weddings and I have to say that after three very different weddings, with different lighting conditions, this flash is amazing. I would definitely, and most likely will, order another for a backup very soon.

What a great piece of equipment! It's really difficult to mess up a good picture with this speed light! I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. The SB-800 seems to exceed that statement and much more! I've used it with my D70 and D2X with outstanding results! It's great as a primary light or if you have two then as a secondary light works awesome as well. If you're new to photography and you're looking for a great all around speed light that you will have for a years to come then this is it. There are so many functions you can set and get great photographs. Also the cool strobe effect (continuous mode) for certain types of shots.