dddwyer1981
Senior Member
I like my SB-700. Pretty straight forward from my limited experience with it.
what flash should I save up for?
- Thread starter Bill16
- Start date
Bill,If I were in your shoes,I,d buy the Yongnuo flash.The price is right.You can always upgrade later and get to have fun now.If something goes wrong with the Yongnuo your not out mega bucks.When I got my sb 700 and sb 400 I was in the right place at the right time,or I may have bought the Yongnuo.My flashes serve me well.IMO.Good luck buddy.
Sorry for jumping in on all of this unannounced (well, Ok, I'm not really...)
With a D3100, and wanting to be able to trigger remote flashes in a wireless set up, wouldn't the SB-700 be a little superior? Granted, I'm asking this as a rookie with ZERO flash experience whatsoever...
These two features, copied off of Amazon, are why I ask.
Hot Shoe and Wireless Operation
Use on-camera, as a wireless master, commander or remote light source.
Wireless Flash Control
Wireless Commander Mode controls up to 2 remote Speedlight groups and an unlimited number of compatible Speedlights. When used as a remote speedlight up to 3 Groups can be selected. Four wireless channel options help manage wireless conflicts in multi-photographer environments.
With a D3100, and wanting to be able to trigger remote flashes in a wireless set up, wouldn't the SB-700 be a little superior? Granted, I'm asking this as a rookie with ZERO flash experience whatsoever...
These two features, copied off of Amazon, are why I ask.
Hot Shoe and Wireless Operation
Use on-camera, as a wireless master, commander or remote light source.
Wireless Flash Control
Wireless Commander Mode controls up to 2 remote Speedlight groups and an unlimited number of compatible Speedlights. When used as a remote speedlight up to 3 Groups can be selected. Four wireless channel options help manage wireless conflicts in multi-photographer environments.
The SB-700 can do the Commander wireless flash control. The D3100 cannot.
A Nikon SU-800 Commander ($250) could be added to the D3100 hot shoe, which would then do this. However, the D3100 still does not have the FV Lock feature, which is sort of needed (for pictures of humans, who blink). Models like the D7100 do have the commander in the internal flash.
I'm not sure exactly what your asking. But if your question refers to my choosing this model as a d3100 user, then it might help to know I also want to eventually upgrade to a D600.But never having used a external flash, one of the more knowledgeable people will be able to answer your question much much better than I could. But based on the needs I stated in the first post, the SB-700 was one of the favorites among the recommendations, along with the yongnuo brand flash of similar abilities. 
Sorry I'm not able to answer your question better.
Sorry I'm not able to answer your question better.
Where is a good place to buy the Yongnuo flash from? It doesn't look like B&H or Adorama carry it. And it's only available through Amazon from a 3rd party seller.
eBay has them with free US shipping. I purchased my 565 from a China retailer before US distributors stocked them.
ebay does not sell/ship anything
Sorry, should have stated "available on eBay".
So, just to clarify. If one had a SB-700 on his D3100, would that then allow it to wirelessly control remote flashes? Or would you need the SU-800 with it as well?
Correct.
I'm really surprised that the SB-800 hasn't been recommended more. You can get one for less than $300 used in pristine condition (many even have the SD-800 with them). As mentioned before, they're Japanese built and they work flawlessly. I have three of them (yes, three! ). I loved my first one so much that I looked for a second one, through a timing fluke on eBay (switching from the eBay phone app to the laptop) I ended up buying two by accident.
How easy is the flash to use? Within twenty minutes I had the two new (to me) 800's being triggered by the first one. I'm learning all of the features still but I swear, dollar-to-dollar, the SB-800 is the best buy right now.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4
How easy is the flash to use? Within twenty minutes I had the two new (to me) 800's being triggered by the first one. I'm learning all of the features still but I swear, dollar-to-dollar, the SB-800 is the best buy right now.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4
I buy all my Yongnuo flashes on Amazon.
I still have 1 SB800 for TTL work.
But sold the other 3. The Yongnuo flashes are just so much easier to use in manual mode.
The SB-800 is a great flash for sure. But I hate the time it takes to work through the menus when using them.
I still have 1 SB800 for TTL work.
But sold the other 3. The Yongnuo flashes are just so much easier to use in manual mode.
The SB-800 is a great flash for sure. But I hate the time it takes to work through the menus when using them.
Yes, SB-700 can be the commander (as can SB-800 and SB-910 and the SU-800). You only need one Commander, and it must be on the camera.
But the hot shoe is probably not where you want to waste a flash for that purpose. The SU-800 commander is both less expensive and better, one reason is that especially since the D3100 does not have FV Lock to prevent blinking. Because, the SU-800 commander filters out visible light, to output only infrared light, which the subjects cannot see, so they don't blink. (however, the remote TTL flashes still do their preflash, which can cause blinking, but they are a little less in the face of the subject. FV Lock works around that, when present).
SU-800 commander can individually control three remotes, which can all be different modes.
SB-700 only controls two remotes (plus itself), all of which must be same mode.
One other solution is applying SU-800 purchase price towards a camera upgrade, for one which has commander in its internal flash (like D7100). This also gets FV Lock (and a few other features not related to flash). This controls two remotes, of different modes.
Commander system has pros and cons. It offers fast setup, almost point&shoot TTL multiflash for a couple of lights, but it definitely has pros and cons.
See Summary about half way down page at
Using the Nikon CLS Remote Wireless Flash System
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Yeah, I agree, Fred. I was just wondering what part in particular needed refurbishing. Just curious.
It would be interesting to know what parts tend to fail or wear out. But I doubt Nikon would want to publicize it where their competitor's could maybe use it against them somehow.
But I doubt Nikon would want to publicize it where their competitor's could maybe use it against them somehow.
Yeah, I agree, Fred. I was just wondering what part in particular needed refurbishing. Just curious.