Flash unit for the D80 camera

A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash. I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera. I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800, but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Thanks.

wrote in message
oups.com...
A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash. I have an older D80 flash used
with
the old D100 camera. I compared the specifications of the D80 and
D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that
an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the
two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial
guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800,
but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments
on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Ok, first off I'm going to presume that you're talking about the
built-in flash in the D80 and the external SB-800 Speedlight flash
(there is no D800 unit).

Secondly, the gains are quite obvious to any experienced user. The
SB-800 is a much more capable flash unit with substantially more
output power and more flexibility in how it's used. The SB-800 has
about 3x-4x the flash output power of the built-in depending on zoom
setting, and it also has bounce/swivel for more ambient lighting
control. And it has highspeed sync for bursting at very fast shutter
speeds, and faster recycle time for quick shots. That's the obvious
stuff.

The SB-600 is similar but with about 2.5-3.5x the flash power.

There are lots of other cool features that you can read about at the
Nikon site. You may want to Google for information on flash units and
what they can do. If you find you use flash a fair bit, an external
unit is really helpful.

"Bill" writes:
Ok, first off I'm going to presume that you're talking about the
built-in flash in the D80 and the external SB-800 Speedlight flash
(there is no D800 unit).

He means the SB-800 vs. the older SB-80DX which is a dTTL flash. The
D80 really wants an iTTL flash which is what the SB-800 is. It gives
you all this really cool multi-flash balancing stuff and can get
wireless exposure control commands from the D80's built-in flash.
That means you can simply plop a bunch of iTTL flashes around a room,
set the D80 flash in "commander mode" through the menu setting, and
kaboom, you get complete multi-flash TTL autoexposure by pressing the
shutter release button, that would have taken a fancy studio setup and
multiple test shots and running around to adjust the different flashes
by hand between tests, not all that long ago.

Go for the SB-800 (or SB-600), the D80 won't really be complete
without it.

Ed Ruf wrote:
On 29 Sep 2006 08:51:17 -0700, in rec.photo.digital "
wrote:

A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash.
I believe you mean the SB-800.


I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera.

I believe you mean the SB-80DX

I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800, but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Modes supported by both:

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin...i=&p_topview=1

directly or go the support site and check the FAQs for the D80.
-
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 )
http://EdwardGRuf.com

Thanks. The web page by Nikon clears up many of the details. Yes, my
old unit is an SB-80DX.
Mark Schupack

wrote:
Ed Ruf wrote:
On 29 Sep 2006 08:51:17 -0700, in rec.photo.digital "
wrote:

A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash.
I believe you mean the SB-800.


I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera.

I believe you mean the SB-80DX

I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800, but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Modes supported by both:

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin...i=&p_topview=1

directly or go the support site and check the FAQs for the D80.
-
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 )
http://EdwardGRuf.com

Thanks. The web page by Nikon clears up many of the details. Yes, my
old unit is an SB-80DX.
Mark Schupack

I finally tracked down the crucial difference using material on the B&H
web site (undoubtedly supplied by Nikon). The new SB-800 is the
replacement for the SB-80DX, the unit I own. The major difference is
that the new SB-800 uses the i-TTL exposure control system in contrast
to the older D-TTL system on the SB-80DX. Undoubtedly the new system is
better, more accurate. The question is whether it is worth $300 at this
point for this improvement. The answer depends in part upon how often
and under what circumstances you use flash. I;ll have to shink about
it, Comments welcome.

" writes:
replacement for the SB-80DX, the unit I own. The major difference is
that the new SB-800 uses the i-TTL exposure control system in contrast
to the older D-TTL system on the SB-80DX. Undoubtedly the new system is
better, more accurate. The question is whether it is worth $300 at this
point for this improvement. The answer depends in part upon how often
and under what circumstances you use flash. I;ll have to shink about
it, Comments welcome.

Put your old flash on ebay and deduct whatever you get for it.

iTTL is great, it's not just some minor difference in exposure
accuracy, it's convenience of operation undreamed of in the old days.

wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Ed Ruf wrote:
On 29 Sep 2006 08:51:17 -0700, in rec.photo.digital
"
wrote:

A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera
clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash.
I believe you mean the SB-800.


I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera.

I believe you mean the SB-80DX

I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that
an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the
two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be
fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the
D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial
guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800,
but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera.
Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Modes supported by both:

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin...i=&p_topview=1

directly or go the support site and check the FAQs for the D80.
-
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 )
http://EdwardGRuf.com

Thanks. The web page by Nikon clears up many of the details. Yes, my
old unit is an SB-80DX.
Mark Schupack

I finally tracked down the crucial difference using material on the
B&H
web site (undoubtedly supplied by Nikon). The new SB-800 is the
replacement for the SB-80DX, the unit I own. The major difference is
that the new SB-800 uses the i-TTL exposure control system in contrast
to the older D-TTL system on the SB-80DX. Undoubtedly the new system
is
better, more accurate. The question is whether it is worth $300 at
this
point for this improvement. The answer depends in part upon how often
and under what circumstances you use flash. I;ll have to shink about
it, Comments welcome.

Check out the SB-600 - most of the features of the SB-800
but $100 less. I have the SB-600 and really like it with my
D70s.

mikey

I had SB600 and now I have SB800. The SB800 is much better. I strongly
suggest to choose the SB800.

The only better thing with SB600, is that it is more compact, light and
better balanced in the camera.
--
Dimitris M



, Check out the SB-600 - most of the features of the SB-800
but $100 less. I have the SB-600 and really like it with my
D70s.

wrote:
A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash. I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera. I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800, but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Nikon digital SLRs and the F6 require i-TTL for TTL metering. The
SB-80DX will not give you TTL exposure, cannot be used as a remote
unit, and cannot be used as a commander unit. In fact, you cannot use
the Advanced Wireless Lighting System at all. Otherwise, you can only
use it in the manual and the non-TTL auto modes. If you set the SB-80DX
to TTL the camera will lock up.

Only the SB-800 and SB-600 will give you TTL metering with any of
Nikon's newer SLR cameras. Apparently it was easier for Nikon to change
the way film cameras meter with flash than it was to make a digital
camera meter like their old film cameras.

The SB-600 cannot act as a commander unit for other flashes, will not
adjust for range, cannot do repeating flash, has no automatic aperture
mode, and cannot do non-TTL auto.

The SB-800 does everything, including all of the features for the
Advanced Wireless Lighting System, which is truly amazing.

There is one other i-TTL Nikon flash unit, the SB-R200. This unit has
no hot shoe mount and can only be used as a remote flash triggered by
either the D80's built-in flash in commander mode, the SU-800 Commander
unit, or the SB-800 in commander mode. The only way of mounting this
flash on the camera is with the optional lens mount ring and threaded
adaptor. It sounds crippled, but in fact this is an extremely versatile
unit, especially if you have the SB-800. My favorite way of using it is
to hold or mount it off to one side.

TTL capability is a big deal. Your SB-80DX had that with older film
cameras, but it no longer works at all on any of Nikon's newer cameras.
Mounted on the D80, it would have little more capability than a dumb
strobe.

cjcampbell wrote:
wrote:
A recent thread about a flash unit for the Niknon D80 canera clearly
recommended the Nikon D800 flash. I have an older D80 flash used with
the old D100 camera. I compared the specifications of the D80 and D800
flash units to see what would be gained by upgrading. I found that an
exercise in frustration. There seemed to be no way to compare the two
flash units from the specifications published by Nikon. (To be fair,
the D800 specs came from the blurb on the Nikon web site and the D80
information from the manual that came with the unit.) My initial guess
is that the D80 would not be as good in some respects as the D800, but
it would be perfectly adequate for use with the D80 camera. Comments on
this judgment would be appreciated.

Nikon digital SLRs and the F6 require i-TTL for TTL metering. The
SB-80DX will not give you TTL exposure, cannot be used as a remote
unit, and cannot be used as a commander unit. In fact, you cannot use
the Advanced Wireless Lighting System at all. Otherwise, you can only
use it in the manual and the non-TTL auto modes. If you set the SB-80DX

to TTL the camera will lock up.

Only the SB-800 and SB-600 will give you TTL metering with any of
Nikon's newer SLR cameras. Apparently it was easier for Nikon to change
the way film cameras meter with flash than it was to make a digital
camera meter like their old film cameras.

The SB-600 cannot act as a commander unit for other flashes, will not
adjust for range, cannot do repeating flash, has no automatic aperture
mode, and cannot do non-TTL auto.

The SB-800 does everything, including all of the features for the
Advanced Wireless Lighting System, which is truly amazing.

There is one other i-TTL Nikon flash unit, the SB-R200. This unit has
no hot shoe mount and can only be used as a remote flash triggered by
either the D80's built-in flash in commander mode, the SU-800 Commander
unit, or the SB-800 in commander mode. The only way of mounting this
flash on the camera is with the optional lens mount ring and threaded
adaptor. It sounds crippled, but in fact this is an extremely versatile
unit, especially if you have the SB-800. My favorite way of using it is
to hold or mount it off to one side.

TTL capability is a big deal. Your SB-80DX had that with older film
cameras, but it no longer works at all on any of Nikon's newer cameras.
Mounted on the D80, it would have little more capability than a dumb
strobe.

I think we have the definitive answer to my query. Thanks to all who
took the time to comment.
Mark Schupack