SB-700 issues

mario21

Senior Member
Hi guys,

I just bought my first speedlight Nikon SB-700 for my Nikon D5100 (kit lens 18-105 mm VR). And I have inconsistent feelings... On one side I really like that flash but I'm little disappointed about the build quality. When I mount and lock the speedlight onto the camera, I can still little bit move with it. I mean, the lock is not too tight. Similar situation is with head of the flash. I can slightly move the head to left and right side against the body of flash. Is that normal?

And second thing. When I set my lens to 18 mm and speedlight (in manual mode) to 85 mm, I get exactly the same picture as here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fduche/6827846023/in/photostream/ Could anybody who owns this flash confirm it please?

I don't now whether those issues are normal or whether I have a bad piece. But because some people already also noticed that, I'm affraid that it could be maybe a bad series?

Thank you!
 

FastGlass

Senior Member
I have the SB-800 and yes there is a little play between the head and body of the speedlight. Pretty tight mounted to camera. Although when I mount it to my flash bracket it seems real loose. Not much I can do about it so I live with it. Not sure what to tell you about the light quality. Speedlights are extremely problematic if you don't know the ins and outs while using them. Some features only work if using certain meter settings, depending on how the camera is set up to name a few. You are aware that the zoom feature is disabled on the speedlight as soon as you change the angle of the head other than straight on or if you mount the fancy tupperware to the front of it. It took a while for me to learn all features and still I need to brush up on them when I don't use it for a while.
 

mario21

Senior Member
Thank you for your reply FastGlass! I'm totally newbie in photography and as I mentioned, this is my first flash. So I just don't know what is "normal" or common and what is a bug. I know, I have to learn how to use the speedlight. In any case is somebody who owns SB-700 can confirm what I wrote, I would appreciate it.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
So I just don't know what is "normal" or common and what is a bug.

Well, that does not seem to be a normal try. :) An unreal search for a problem. I mean, so what?

There is something wrong with the picture, it is about 1.67 wider than high, instead of 1.5x. So there is some unknown manipulation not stated.

But the flash head normally zooms with the lens, and if the 16mm lens were zoomed to 85mm to match the flash, then it would see a tiny area something like this:

sb700.jpg


And frankly, you want to learn bounce anyway. :)
 

mario21

Senior Member
WayneF, we maybe don't understand each other. But maybe I just didn't explained it well (it can be because of my English :)). The picture is not mine but I can see on my pictures in manual mode (when I manually change zoom of flash) the same thing. Of course, normally flash zooms together with lens and in that case everything is OK. I just played with my camera and flash, I did following: I set my lens to 18 mm and manually change zoom on flash to 85 mm (actually I made it by mistake :eek:). And the picture surprised me, I would not expect so hard shapes (shadows). But you are right, it is probably an unreal search for a problem... :) Also I can't see the picture you attached. :)
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Your English is great, seemed natural, and I thought I understood. I'm sure we would prefer if this picture showed a beautiful smooth flash coverage (my preference too), but if any irregularity is far outside the view of the lens, how can it matter? The effective power level might be higher if the beam were concentrated more to be only inside the lens coverage, but the flash does spec its Guide Numbers that it does do. Just saying, seems any concern would only be if it did not perform as claimed. This picture is of interest, but it seems to want the flash to cover 16mm when set to 85mm ? It would seem more important about what it does when the flash and lens zoom properly track?

I don't know why you cannot see the picture. It shows normally here, on the forum page, regardless if logged in or not. It won't show if the image URL is addressed directly. The picture only makes the point about how tiny the 85 mm lens coverage would be.
 

mario21

Senior Member
I'm sure we would prefer if this picture showed a beautiful smooth flash coverage (my preference too)
This is exactly what I supposed (or wish).

When the flash and lens zoom are properly track the picture is OK.

Thank you for
the ​explanation.
 
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