Camera Labs

Hi,
I've been reading a lot of Ken Rockwell's site and he raves about the SB400 Speedlight. It is cheap and small and you can bounce the flash off the ceiling to create great indoor portraits.

Whether I end up with the D40/x or the D80, I'm still undecided, but with the saving I would make on the D40/x, I could buy a Speedlight. I'd be really interested to hear from Speedlight owners on what they think of them, how they get on with them, are they worth the extra investment etc.

I also have a question for owners of the D80 + 18-200mm VR combo regarding the built in flash. With the size of the lens, does the built in flash ever cast a shadow on the bottom of pictures? I ask because I bought a 28mm wide angle converter lens for my Canon (totally different league I know!) when I use the built in flash there's a shadow, rendering pictures useless.

Thanks,
Mark

_________________
Mark
Nikon D300 / Sigma 10-20mm / Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 / Nikkor 18-200mm VR / Nikkor 50mm f1.8 / SB600 Speedlight
Mark Amy Photography
My Squidoo lens - Images of China

Yes, you'll have problems with shadows, esp. if you have the lenshood on. But that may not be a big problem (taking the lenshood off, that is).
But with larger ultra-wides you cannot avoid the shadow, even without lenshood, see here and here.
First photo shows the trick that you can use, when the upper part of you pic is the skies: turn the cam upside down, so the shadow is cast in the sky
With respect to flashes: I'd recommend the strongest speedlight SB800. Because if you need extra light, it's much better to have the extra power to place it at a distance (so the light fall-off is not as pronounced or when you bounce it off the ceiling or another wall.
Also the SB-800 assists you with a perfect slave mode (the SB-600 too), so you can decouple it from your cam and set it up somewhere else in the room and do some crossfire with the built in flash. That imho gives the best lighting
See also here http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=390

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi!
I'm new here and I have one question about the Nikon speedlights. I've red in Ken Rockwell's site, that there is almost no difference at SB-600 and SB-800 performance, only one thing, the SB-800 is a little bit slower at recycling time than SB-600. Is true or not, that they have no difference
P.S. Sorry for my English!

_________________
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-135mm, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, SB-600

The SB800 is only slower when the flash decided you need more light. In such a situation the SB-600 would have not been powerful enough to light the scene. And yes, the SB-800 gives less flashes, but again, only if each flash is a full discharge.
So don't get fooled be Ken's remark, I had read them too. Ken is sometimes a little oversimplifying...

In my opinion, if you don't need the additional features and power of the SB-800, the SB-600 is a much better price performance ratio at 230:350EUR street price

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses