Comments on: review: Nikon SB-900 speedlight gets everything right

By: Peter Z

Peter Z — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:58:04 +0000

i performed this mod on my canon 430ex II and i stopped at 135 degrees
but i’m happy that it works =D

By: planet neil - tangents » Nikon SB-900 thermal cut-out

planet neil - tangents » Nikon SB-900 thermal cut-out — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:27:51 +0000

[...] of the features of the new Nikon SB-900 speedlight is the thermal cut-out. This feature allows the speedlight to stop firing (ie, stop working), [...]

By: Brian Daly

Brian Daly — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:08:25 +0000

Agree entirely on the 580EXII user interface.
Needing to hold a button for a few seconds to access a menu is a crazy design.
Another quirk is that when the PC Sync port is used, master/slave mode is disabled.
Thus, to trigger the master remotely (using a Pocket Wizard/Skyport), a hot-shoe with a PC Sync port needs to be used on the master rather than using the built-in PC Sync port directly.

By: Doug Pitts

Doug Pitts — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:26:08 +0000

….Neil…while I was excited about this new 900, (I have 4 SB800’s and several Metz flashes) I am hearing about a couple of items that should be of concern to those who will use this on jobs. On mine..I had the “mode switching” situation. I have a D700, MBD10 grip. At times I will take the battery out of the grip and just use the camera battery, to lighten the load. With the SB900 in any of the “standby modes” with grip sans battery…as you turn the camera off for a short time while the flash remains on, and is in TTL…when you cut the camera back on the flash flips to “A” mode. If you put the battery in the grip it will not “switch” like this (NONE of my other 800’s nor Metz flashes do this) I have contacted Nikon, and they have forwarded this info to Nikon Japan. On another note (which has not happened to me yet) is the “thermal cut out” function. A friend of mine had his 900 cut out twice while attempting to shoot some pre-wedding incidental shots…he broke out the SB800 backup and continued with the wedding. He intends to return the 900 to the dealer. I am now reluctant to use the 900 “on a job” as I have started to read about others having the same situation (and I will stress here…this is NOT from shooting continuously or in rapid succession). The reason I want to relay this info here is I want to hear from others whether this is a problem for them. My friend even “disabled” the cut out function, and it still locked up. I have used several of your curves in my D200 and respect what you offer in the way of “working pro information” about your gear, and how it is used in the field. If you would be so kind as to let me hear from you if you start hearing more of this I would appreciate it!

…my regards, Doug Pitts (Doug Pitts’ Photography)

By: Marcin

Marcin — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:31:21 +0000

I also have a flash that doesn’t rotate 180 degrees both ways (Olympus FL-50). My work-around is to shoot holding the camera upside down to reverse the backward rotation. However, in such postion I can only put a slight upward tilt on the flash head (unless I tilt the whole camera downwards).

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:21:38 +0000

I traded in an SB-600 for this on my D300. It is bigger and heavier than my SB-800 (I had two flashes). I’m not familiar with all the controls yet, but the 180-degree swivel either side has already helped greatly.

By: Peter Gregg

Peter Gregg — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:35:48 +0000

One more point that is overlooked by a lot of people, on the SB800 I constantly CONSTANTLY have to check to see it is locked in place as there is no “click” when you move the latch to lock position. The SB900 now has a very secure feeling and it “clicks” into the locked position and will not easily move out of it. Very confidence building. The SB800 would slowly “walk” out of the locked position and I would often find the latch lever in the middle going over to the unlock position in a sneaky way. By habit I trained myself to always have to push it to the right to make sure it is secure. Doing this a few hundred times during a wedding is pretty annoying. Annoyance all gone – happy now :)

Peter

By: Josh M

Josh M — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:12:39 +0000

As an entrenched Canon user, I totally agree with your assessment of the 580EX II. Press-and-hold for a few seconds just doesn’t work, and so I can never switch into the remote flash control modes when under pressure.

The only aspect of the flash that makes it bearable to use is the ability to change many of the flash settings via the camera, in my case on a 40D. Changing the custom functions in this way is a given, as you actually get all the explanation text. It’s also quicker to switch wireless control off and on via the flash control menu (~4 levels deep in the menus!) than it is to do the press-and-hold shuffle.

I’m not sure if this feature is well known or not, so hopefully this will be helpful to others who battle with their 580EX IIs.

By: Joseph Yarrow

Joseph Yarrow — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:15:16 +0000

Nice and simple review there.
and how many are you buying?
I’m quite happy with my sb26 and sb800 at the moment, but I am considering making mine into an sb850, perhaps when I have a bad day!!