Suggested flash? (that supports four-pin Nikon hot shoe protocol)

[King Mustard]

I am a beginner.

I have a Nikon D3300 and will be taking (non-professional, just as a favor to the bride and groom) photos at the nighttime disco of the wedding event.

I am considering a more powerful flash than the one the D3300 has built-in, to replace and do the same job as the built-in flash (so no bounce lighting etc required).

I want a flash I can attach to the camera body and that I do not have to think about and simply works out of the box when I take a photo (so, nothing manual).

According to inksta in this thread on Stack Exchange, it appears I would need a flash that supports the Nikon hot shoe protocol (has four-pins). S/he also mentioned terms like TTL, full iTTL and HSS.

Is there a specific keyword I need to look for when looking for the kind of flash I am looking for?

Searching for 'TTL flash' on Amazon does indeed bring up flashes, such as the:

• Neewer NW635II-N
• Neewer NW645II-N
• Neewer NW700-N
• Godox TT350N
• Godox TT685II-N

Are those the correct kinds I need?

 

[Clovishound]

I have the Godox TT685 and my daughter has the Godox TT350. Both are excellent flashes for the money. We use them mainly for macro shooting.

The 350 is smaller, less expensive, simpler to operate, and has less power than the the 685. It comes with a small diffuser cap that will fit over the flash head. I believe she had some problems with the flash head overheating when using the diffuser cap and shooting a lot in a short period of time. Without the cap, she has never had any problem with overheating. It also has a small pull out diffuser built into the head as well as a very small built in bounce card. It uses two AA batteries and gets a fair amount of shots per set, although with only two, you will likely be changing batteries more often than a flash with more batteries. I don't think it would be an issue for shooting a wedding, but you definitely want to bring several battery changes just in case you need them.

The 685 has around twice the power, I believe, and has more controls and flexibility. That comes with a steeper learning curve. However, if all you are going to do is run it in TTL mode, I think it won't be very difficult to quickly learn how to use it. Just be careful not to fool with any of the controls if you aren't very familiar with how to get it back to basic TTL mode. It doesn't come with a slip on diffuser cap, but they are available rather inexpensively. The flash uses 4 AAA batteries, and I get quite a few shots per set. Note, NIMH rechareable batteries are generally recommended for optimum recycle time, and are a much cheaper option if you are going to use the flash a lot. I keep alkaline batteries in my bag for backup, as they will keep for many years without discharging, so they are basically a put them in the bag and forget them until needed, lathough swapping them out every 5 years or so is probably a good idea.

Both flashes come with a nice carrying case, a little cold shoe that doubles as a foot to stand the flash up on a table or other surface, or to mount on a tripod. Both have built in remote control capability. IOW, if you want to remotely fire the flash, you can get a Godox wireless flash trigger that will control a whole handful of Godox flashes at the same time. I believe both flashes have a slave mode in which the flash will fire when it senses the flash from any other close by flash. Note: it must be in slave mode for this to happen.

The Godox flashes seem to be highly regarded for an affordable third party flash.

 

[BF Hammer]

If you would be open to used gear, Nikon SB-600 speedlights regularly are priced $60-$80 these days at camera stores that take trade-ins. I had to pay $260 for mine when it was new.

SB-800's are out there also but get priced twice as much. If you only are wanting a single speed light in the hotshoe, the SB-600 has plenty of power without overkill of multi-light features. Aiming to bounce the flash off a ceiling with iTTL mode works well too.

Check KEH, B&H used, or other usual places.

 

[Dawg Pics]

If the specs say that the flash is Nikon iTTL compatible, then you should be good. iTTL is "through the lens metering" and is the auto setting you are looking for.
HSS is 'High Speed Sync," The D3300 does not have this capability, so your camera's shutter speed limit while using flash is 1/200. If you go faster than that, then you will get black bars on each side of your images.
Take a few test shots in the venue before getting your necessary shots. It may be necessary to use the flash compensation to reduce the flash if you are getting harshly lit subjects. Good luck.