Advice on buying a set of speed lights to work with my Nikon 900

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newtonikon

Senior Member
Hi all i have got a Nikon 900 which i am just learning to use. I did a wedding at the weekend and borrowed two speed lights to use as slaves with it. I really enjoyed the experience of using off camera flash and would like to invest in two of my own additional speed lights. Can anyone recommend any good speed lights for me to buy please?
Thank you

PS camera is 810
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
If you're doing radio triggers, I really love my Nissin 866 - Nissin's equivalent to the Nikon 900.

If you are doing optical triggering off another flash then I would stick with the Nikon's. Their optical triggering is really sensitive.
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
I cannot recommend a nikon flash in todays world of 3rd party offering. thyre just overpriced for what they give. I have 7 flashes. 4 nikon, 3 3rd party. I ordered another 2- 3rd party flash- shanny sn600n
ttl accuracy is excellent. recycle is faster than any nikon flash and power is 1/3 stop less than the SB910 which isnt relevant. $90 shipped.
yn 568/565 are also great offers.
 
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skene

Senior Member
I have a few flashes myself... Sb900, Sb800, Sb700, Sb600.... Personally I love the build of the Nikons above a lot of the other offerings out there. However you do pay a premium for that. If you are budget conscious though I would recommend looking into the Yongnuo flashes as an inexpensive alternative. They are good flashes, however not as rugged and you would want to avoid smashing them into something or dropping them. I cannot say much for any other brands, but go with whichever would fit into your finances.
 
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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
I have a couple SB910s, but also really like the Yongnuo YN568EX as well. If the HSS functionality isn't needed, you could go with the YN565 or YN560 models and save even a little more. Great units!
 
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Osantacruz

Senior Member
RocketCowboy said:
I have a couple SB910s, but also really like the Yongnuo YN568EX as well. If the HSS functionality isn't needed, you could go with the YN565 or YN560 models and save even a little more. Great units!
Click to expand...
I agree the Yongnuo flashes are great. I'd also recommend Phottix mitros for a system with radios built in. You can get one of those and an Odin for around the same price as an SB-910. Adding another mitros would get you 2 remotely controlled top notch quality flashes for a lot less than 2 SB-910s.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
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singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
I agree with those recommending third party. I have SB-800s that I've used for years and if I added to the bunch, it would either be another used 800 (at no more than $200) or a $100 Yongnuo, etc.
 
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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Osantacruz said:
I agree the Yongnuo flashes are great. I'd also recommend Phottix mitros for a system with radios built in. You can get one of those and an Odin for around the same price as an SB-910. Adding another mitros would get you 2 remotely controlled top notch quality flashes for a lot less than 2 SB-910s.
Click to expand...

I've been happy with the Phottix stuff too, and it's a great replacement for some of the ProFoto stuff I've seen and been tempted by. For the cost of a single SB-910 though, you can easily get a couple YN568s along with Yn622 transceivers and call it good.
 
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newtonikon

Senior Member
Hi thanks for the info i have been reading up on the Yongnuo YN568EX and think i will go with a couple of them. Can i ask a question.... The Hss in this unit means that i can use a wireless trigger, for instance a pocket wizard to trigger the 900 and the two Yongnuo YN568EXs?
Also been reading about the commander unit in the Nikons that can trigger these without a wireless trigger...have i picked that up right?
Sorry for the basic questions OCF is totally new to me
Many thanks
 
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Osantacruz

Senior Member
HSS means you can use it above your sync speed limit. The trigger has to support it too. I've never used a pocketwizard so I don't know if it does. I've used a Phottix trigger and the HSS worked with that. I think some yongnuo triggers support HSS and TTL.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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Osantacruz

Senior Member
newtonikon said:
Thanks for that so i would need one Yongnuo trigger and receivers for the other three?
Have you had experience with the commander
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No but it looks pretty similar to the Phottix Odin so it should be pretty straight forward. I've used their 603 triggers but they are not TTL or HSS.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
newtonikon said:
Hi thanks for the info i have been reading up on the Yongnuo YN568EX and think i will go with a couple of them. Can i ask a question.... The Hss in this unit means that i can use a wireless trigger, for instance a pocket wizard to trigger the 900 and the two Yongnuo YN568EXs?
Also been reading about the commander unit in the Nikons that can trigger these without a wireless trigger...have i picked that up right?
Sorry for the basic questions OCF is totally new to me
Many thanks
Click to expand...


I don't think there is any evidence that the Nikon 900 camera supports HSS. Both the camera and the flash have to support it. Also I don't think Pocket Wizard does either, but it has its own method called hypersync. They say any flash and some camera combinations, I don't know any details
PocketWizard® - HyperSync

The YN568EX will work wirelessly (not radio, but optical wirelessly) with the Nikon Commander, but the 900 does not have a Commander. Several models like D7200 and D610 and above have the commander.
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
newtonikon said:
Thanks for that i think the Yongnuo YN568EX is HSS. Have you used the commander unit in the Nikon?
Click to expand...

the 568 is not a master flash. it cannot control other flashes off camera. it can be a slave though. I dont believe in optical triggering because for $30 you have reliability. I personally would not recommend pocket wizard at all and I dont think they are compatible with the yongnuo flash for hss. you should ask. go with either the yongnuo 622n ($79 shipped) or 603II ($32 shipped) for the 568. the 568 is an older gen flash and while still great, newer flashes like the Shanny SN600n better it in EVERY way, including price. it does HSS, recycles in 1.8 seconds and has 1/3 stop less than the nikon SB910. ttl is WAY more accurate. although recently, ive been shooting weddings in manual flash mode completely. I had the 568 (sold) and the 565 (passed to my partners daughter) and they both are older gen flashes but still great, just not as great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGwmXwAAcRU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWOplHhmYhg
 
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