more 990 coolpix ??

I got ahead of myself and forgot to ask these questions in my first
query.
Several of the used 990s I've seen had broken battery compartment doors.
Mine is OK and I want it to stay that way, so what breaks them?
I have a Nikon SB-15 flash and wonder what it'll take to fit it to the
990? Or should I be looking for a 990 bracket and newer flash and if so
does anyone have a good used one for sale? Or any other 90 accessories?

73
Hank WD5JFR

Henry Kolesnik wrote:
I got ahead of myself and forgot to ask these questions in my first
query.
Several of the used 990s I've seen had broken battery compartment doors.
Mine is OK and I want it to stay that way, so what breaks them?
I have a Nikon SB-15 flash and wonder what it'll take to fit it to the
990? Or should I be looking for a 990 bracket and newer flash and if so
does anyone have a good used one for sale? Or any other 90 accessories?

73
Hank WD5JFR

Mainly ham-handed users who subscribe to the "don't force it, get a
bigger hammer" philosophy. Buying oversize batteries also may contribute.

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote

Several of the used 990s I've seen had broken battery compartment doors.
Mine is OK and I want it to stay that way, so what breaks them?

I guess it is the spring pressure from the AA batteries. I have a 995 which
uses a single EN-EL1 battery, and the door has never looked like breaking.
As others have said, just be gentle.

I have a Nikon SB-15 flash and wonder what it'll take to fit it to the
990? Or should I be looking for a 990 bracket and newer flash and if so
does anyone have a good used one for sale? Or any other 90 accessories?

Getting rare! I have one I bought S/H from eBay 3 years ago, and it accepts
pretty much all Speedlights (mine is an SB26). You need the SK-E900 bracket
because it includes the proprietary cable that fits the flash socket in the
camera (note: as soon as you use it, you'll lose the little rubber cap that
seals it - best to take it off and store it somewhere!)

Someone is selling the brackets for $US70 (plus p&p)at the moment:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Nikon-SK-E900...QQcmdZViewItem
but you might be able to find them for less at one of the big online stores
like B&H. Note that this seller says only compatible with SB-28/50 and 80DX
guns, but like I say, I know it does work with earlier models. As to whether
your camera works with your flash, my 995 doesn't like the SB-15, so you'd
better check to see the 990 does.

Paul

Wow, $70.00 for the bracket for the $75.00 950 doesn't make sense to
me..
I'll have to keep watching.
I guess I'm going to have to learn about all the different Speedlights
because I thought someone said my SB-15 would work. Oh well, thanks for
all the answers..

--

73
Hank WD5JFR
"Paul Bartram" p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au wrote in message
...

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote

Several of the used 990s I've seen had broken battery compartment
doors. Mine is OK and I want it to stay that way, so what breaks
them?

I guess it is the spring pressure from the AA batteries. I have a 995
which uses a single EN-EL1 battery, and the door has never looked like
breaking. As others have said, just be gentle.

I have a Nikon SB-15 flash and wonder what it'll take to fit it to
the 990? Or should I be looking for a 990 bracket and newer flash
and if so does anyone have a good used one for sale? Or any other 90
accessories?

Getting rare! I have one I bought S/H from eBay 3 years ago, and it
accepts pretty much all Speedlights (mine is an SB26). You need the
SK-E900 bracket because it includes the proprietary cable that fits
the flash socket in the camera (note: as soon as you use it, you'll
lose the little rubber cap that seals it - best to take it off and
store it somewhere!)

Someone is selling the brackets for $US70 (plus p&p)at the moment:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Nikon-SK-E900...QQcmdZViewItem
but you might be able to find them for less at one of the big online
stores like B&H. Note that this seller says only compatible with
SB-28/50 and 80DX guns, but like I say, I know it does work with
earlier models. As to whether your camera works with your flash, my
995 doesn't like the SB-15, so you'd better check to see the 990 does.

Paul

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote

Wow, $70.00 for the bracket for the $75.00 950 doesn't make sense to me..
I'll have to keep watching.

Sadly, those brackets have always been pricey, because there is no
alternative to the genuine Nikon item if you want to use a Speedlight and
get any kind of connectivity (e.g., exposure control via the sensor on the
pop-up flash on the 995, or on the body of the 990.) No cheap Chinese
knock-offs available! I think I paid a total of $AU60 for my s/h one,
including postage from America. The rrp in the local camera store here was
$199 - and it would have had to be ordered in from Japan!

I guess I'm going to have to learn about all the different Speedlights
because I thought someone said my SB-15 would work. Oh well, thanks for
all the answers..

It probably would. See
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read...opinion= 1289
where someone has tried it. An additional point: you can (in theory, and if
you can find one) get just the ES900 flash adapter (the thing the flash shoe
and cable connect to) and use a generic bracket. That would probably be a
bit cheaper than buying the whole thing from Nikon.

Paul

Paul
Thanks for the point to the Davis review. I see he used a SB-15 with an
ES-900 but I can't find any info on the ES-900, what is it? I think I
may have a line on a SK-E900 bracket, reasonable.
Thanks
--

73
Hank WD5JFR
"Paul Bartram" p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au wrote in message
...

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote

Wow, $70.00 for the bracket for the $75.00 950 doesn't make sense to
me..
I'll have to keep watching.

Sadly, those brackets have always been pricey, because there is no
alternative to the genuine Nikon item if you want to use a Speedlight
and get any kind of connectivity (e.g., exposure control via the
sensor on the pop-up flash on the 995, or on the body of the 990.) No
cheap Chinese knock-offs available! I think I paid a total of $AU60
for my s/h one, including postage from America. The rrp in the local
camera store here was $199 - and it would have had to be ordered in
from Japan!

I guess I'm going to have to learn about all the different
Speedlights because I thought someone said my SB-15 would work. Oh
well, thanks for all the answers..

It probably would. See
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read...opinion= 1289
where someone has tried it. An additional point: you can (in theory,
and if you can find one) get just the ES900 flash adapter (the thing
the flash shoe and cable connect to) and use a generic bracket. That
would probably be a bit cheaper than buying the whole thing from
Nikon.

Paul

Hey me
Thanks for the site, very interesting..
Hank
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:32:25 -0500, in rec.photo.digital "Henry
Kolesnik"
wrote:

Paul
Thanks for the point to the Davis review. I see he used a SB-15 with
an
ES-900 but I can't find any info on the ES-900, what is it? I think
I
may have a line on a SK-E900 bracket, reasonable.
Thanks

An old site you might find useful info on is:
http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/990/

wrote in message

An old site you might find useful info on is:
http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/990/

I've got the 995 version of that, and it is indeed useful. I like that he
warns you which links will clog up a dial-up connection, one of my favourite
grumbles.
But don't you just hate people who use blink tags in their web pages?

Paul

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote
Thanks for the point to the Davis review. I see he used a SB-15 with an
ES-900 but I can't find any info on the ES-900, what is it?

Actually the AS-E900. Still available:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...h_Adapter.html

Here's mine, attached to the genuine Nikon bracket, but you could use any
bracket that is the right shape and has a slot so you can adjust the
position of the flash relative to the camera. With a Lumiquest hood on the
gun, the whole outfit looks pretty good, and the relatively large offset of
the flash eliminates red-eye.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64...r/DSCN3713.jpg

Paul

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:14:12 -0500, "Henry Kolesnik"
wrote:

I got ahead of myself and forgot to ask these questions in my first
query.
Several of the used 990s I've seen had broken battery compartment doors.
Mine is OK and I want it to stay that way, so what breaks them?
I have a Nikon SB-15 flash and wonder what it'll take to fit it to the
990? Or should I be looking for a 990 bracket and newer flash and if so
does anyone have a good used one for sale? Or any other 90 accessories?

73
Hank WD5JFR

A little late in catching up on posts up here, so this may be too late
to be of help. But, I have a possible different slant for you to
consider. (Being the owner of a 950 and two 995's with lots of years
using them.)

Since you already have the Nikon SB-15 flash, why not try using it as
a slave flash to the flash built into the camera itself? I don't know
anything about the SB-15, but I had an old (35 years ago) flash of an
unknown brand that I disassembled, repackaged and wired up a thyristor
trigger to fire it as a slave. This gives me the flexibility of
taking a flash shot from a greater distance than any on-board flash
can work effectively. I just set this slave up close to the subject,
aim the optical sensor towards me and the camera, and get good fill
flash. Please don't ask me for the trigger circuit, I built it too
many years ago and no longer have the circuit, but it may be available
somewhere.

73
Olin McDaniel, W4PFZ
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