6 17 10 : DSLR

[devder1]

wow ok, its interesting the way that theres all kinds of components to getting the shots right, what do you reccommend as far as flashes, i was reading some reviews and some people said that the sb-400 is light and small but still handles most every situation needed, im thinking about trying to save some money and just get a cheap sb400 and then start saving for a 55-200

why? a big aperture like 1.8 is nice because you get lots of light, but you also have a very shallow depth of field. meaning only the portion of the fish thats closest to the lens is in focus. with a big aperture, as soon as you get past the eyes and gills, the body starts to go out of focus.

i can see this with eds photo, while it is nicely lit by the wide aperture, the focus range is much broader in your shot btw that umbee is unbelievable, did you hold on to that guy?

 

[Diskboy12]

Nice pictures, I can't wait till I get my Rebel.

 

[jcardona1]

wow ok, its interesting the way that theres all kinds of components to getting the shots right, what do you reccommend as far as flashes, i was reading some reviews and some people said that the sb-400 is light and small but still handles most every situation needed, im thinking about trying to save some money and just get a cheap sb400 and then start saving for a 55-200

i dont know much about the sb-400s. most of my focus was spent on the 600/800/900. i currently own a 600 and a 900. any of these will be better than the on board flash. it pretty much sucks lol. one downside i know of the 400 is that it doesnt have sideways tilt, while the 600 can be pointed up and all around in any direction. this is important when you start messing with bounce flash.

what does a used 400 go for?

 

[jcardona1]

and another thing, the SB-400 doesnt have wireless capabilites as do the 600/800/900

 

[devder1]

i dont know much about the sb-400s. most of my focus was spent on the 600/800/900. i currently own a 600 and a 900. any of these will be better than the on board flash. it pretty much sucks lol. one downside i know of the 400 is that it doesnt have sideways tilt, while the 600 can be pointed up and all around in any direction. this is important when you start messing with bounce flash.

what does a used 400 go for?

[SIZE=+1]

[SIZE=+1]Bad[/SIZE]
1.) No sideways tilt, so bounce goes horizontally for vertical shots. A little ingenuity easily fixes this. If it's a problem, tape a small mirror to the SB-400 or spend one cent and build a soft box.

thats quoted directly from http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/sb400.htm

and as far as pricing,
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-SB-400-Speedlight-Flash-D60-D40-D90-D80-D300-/200479316524?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Digital_Camera_Flashes&hash=item2ead7f9a2c

v

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-SB-400-TT...pt=Digital_Camera_Flashes&hash=item3a5c2b0417
[/SIZE]​

 

[jcardona1]

wow ok, its interesting the way that theres all kinds of components to getting the shots right, what do you reccommend as far as flashes, i was reading some reviews and some people said that the sb-400 is light and small but still handles most every situation needed, im thinking about trying to save some money and just get a cheap sb400 and then start saving for a 55-200




i can see this with eds photo, while it is nicely lit by the wide aperture, the focus range is much broader in your shot btw that umbee is unbelievable, did you hold on to that guy?

no, i ended up giving him back to the previous owner since he was a "gift" lol.

here's a perfect chart to help visualize the effects of different apertures

 

[devder1]

and another thing, the SB-400 doesnt have wireless capabilites as do the 600/800/900

what exatly does that mean haha sorry

 

[jcardona1]

what exatly does that mean haha sorry

it's nikon's CLS (creative lighting system) wireless flash lighting systems. it's pretty damn cool actually

for example, having an sb-800 or 900 on my camera, i can set it to "master" mode. this will then allow me to control several other speedlights (600/800/900) wirelessly throughtout the room where i have them placed. you can run multiple speedlights all in different channels and different flash settings. you main on camera flash can be in TTL mode, and your remote lights can be in manual mode for a subtle highlight.

and if you get a camera like a d70 or higher, they have a built in commander mode. this means that the little on-board flash can send out a signal that will trigger your other speedlights.

but with a sb-400, you cant take advantage of none of this. it cant trigger other speedlights and it cant be triggered by other lights either.

here's a quick video to confuse you even more

[YT]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AVBhnJnDcnM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AVBhnJnDcnM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YT]

 

[SpeshulEd]

I was suggesting the 50mm because its cheap and super sharp. Still a good prime lens to have in the collection. I honestly bought it for low light shooting at bars when I used to do concert photography.

I haven't used my flash in about a year. Perhaps I should break it out and try some things.

I've been using my 17-40mm a lot lately for wide angle shots.

 

[devder1]

I was suggesting the 50mm because its cheap and super sharp. Still a good prime lens to have in the collection. I honestly bought it for low light shooting at bars when I used to do concert photography.

I haven't used my flash in about a year. Perhaps I should break it out and try some things.

I've been using my 17-40mm a lot lately for wide angle shots.

very true, i have times when im outside where flash is really hard to use and i need more light and a higher aperture would be nice


and also the sb-400, i think that it can be triggered off caamera right? it just cant trigger other speedlights? also for fish shots, where exactly do you place your off camera flash?