I love SB-600s
Posted on 03 June 2009
Wednesday is Photoshop/photography day. Thought I’d share with you why I prefer my SB-600s.
These days I hang around with all kinds of photography heavy-hitters, starting with Scott Kelby himself. I’ve been on photo shoots, in classes, and just spending time with the greatest photographers and photography trainers out there, so in the early days it was really tempting to run right out and buy whatever equipment these guys were using. But two big problems arose in my world… my wife and my pride.
Okay, that’s not really fair. My wife is not a problem (in real life I really adore her, but that last sentence wouldn’t have sounded as funny) so in this case, she represents my intellectual understanding of my budget and the fact that I should know better than to buy equipment like I was a professional photographer, when I’m really just a serious hobbyist who hangs around professional photographers. My pride is involved because I want all the cool toys the other kids have.
So when I started learning from Scott and Joe McNally about flashes, of course I wanted to rush right out and snag 3 or 4 SB-800s. Gulp! That would have set me back almost $400 each, so I settled for one SB-600 (under $200 at the time), and learned how to use it on camera and off camera, controlled by my D70s. Turns out I got great results! I started by learning about lighting with just one speedlight, and some inexpensive reflectors and stands. Now I have more lights and more equipment, and my current camera is a D200, but I have never regretted buying that first SB-600 one bit! It never let me down and I could do all the things everyone else was doing with their SB-800 at the time.
SB-600 pros:
- less than half the cost of a SB-900 (SB-800s are discontinued these days)
- capable of being controlled remotely as part of Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (the biggest plus)
- approximately 85% as strong as a SB-900 (but it’s very rare that I need full power so it’s plenty bright)
Cons:
- Not quite as bright as the SB-900 at full power (but for LESS than the cost of a single SB-900 I could buy two SB-600s, set them up side-by-side and have even more power, and since there are two I could dial down the power and have even faster recycle time between flashes)
- Doesn’t have the cool lighting pattern options of the SB-900 (this is really a cool feature but then again, two SB-600s at a price below one SB-900 allows me some pretty cool lighting pattern options by moving them around separately and controlling their power separately)
- Menus are a bit less obvious and harder to navigate than SB-900s
- Can’t function as a commander (but my camera’s built in flash does that job)
- Can’t accept a larger plug-in external battery pack (but I carry lots of extra AAs and running out of power is rare anyway)
- lower “cool factor” when hanging out with pro shooters (oh sure, they don’t ever say anything but I know they’re thinking ‘poor Larry, what a lame shooter’) – not really
- can’t be set as a ‘dumb’ optically triggered slave (though I have never needed this)
So an SB-600 will run you around $225 these days. It can do everything I personally want (except those cool SB-900 lighting patterns but we already talked about that) and I can’t ever see spending more than $450 to get just one SB-900 for what I shoot and the way I use speedlights. I currently own 3 SB-600s and use them all regularly. If I made up my mind to only buy SB-900s, I would own one speedlight for the money I have spent (and be half way to buying my 2nd light). Since SB-600s meet my needs, I own three speedlights and that is waaaay more versatile in my book.
I use them with Westcott Apollo softboxes, standard diffusers, cheap reflectors, various Honl light modifiers, and by themselves. Granted, I don’t do the huge variety of stuff Scott and Joe do, but last week, when I was watching Joe’s class on Kelby Training about using multiple speedlights, I realized I could do everything he was teaching, I just have to press different buttons on my flash unit. If I find an extra $469 lying around, instead of buying one SB-900, I’d buy two SB-600s and take the extra $19 I’d have left over and buy a couple more sets of rechargeable NiMH rechargeable AAs.
If you’re just getting into Nikon flash photography and money’s tight, give the SB-600s a look. You might just find that they do everything you need, including helping the bottom line.
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27 responses to I love SB-600s
So glad I read the Tweet about this post! I’ve been playing around with a Nikon D300, and have yet to get a flash for it. I fall under the “just getting into Nikon flash photography and money’s tight” category, so this is perfect for me. I never even knew about this flash, since all I kept hearing about was the SB-800. Thank you so much for the tip!
I use the SB-600 with my D300’s popup flash as a Commander and I absolutely love it. Only very rarely do I ever find myself in a situation where I really NEED two flashes, though I find myself WANTING them with surprising frequency
Love the blog! I’ll be a regular here
Good for you, Larry. Getting more bang for your buck is what it’s all about. It’s not the gear. It’s the vision that matters. Just ask Joe.
I have 2 sb 600’s and I love them. I use them for shooting catalog items for gogreeninstages.com With the money I saved not buying the sb 900’s I put towards 2 stands and umbrellas completing the set. Once you figure out the quarks in the menu system, they work just fine.
Brian
Larry - I shoot Canon and my main flash is the 580EX (Canon’s top of the line until the EX II came out). I wanted another flash to add to my tool box. I ended up buying a used 430EX, and it was partly due to reading your posts over on the NAPP forums. The 430EX will slave to my 580EX or to my remote unit, so like your 600s, it’s a bonafide part of the “system” just a bit lower on power and it can’t serve as a master - which is not an issue. Here’s to fiscal prudence.
Tony
For a short time, I had one leg up on the ‘get the best gear’ wagon. When I got my first SB600, I wanted an 800 (because all the big boys were recommending them), but decided to go with the 600 as a first flash, with the intention of getting an 800 later. Well, after getting the SB600, I never looked back. I now have two of them. I have dropped my ‘need’ of an SB800 and am really looking on getting an SU-800 and more SB600’s. The 600’s may not have the cool patterns, like you said, Larry, but that is why there are gobos… and indeed, some pretty cool effects can be had by moving them around and adding gels (can get free sample packs that fit the 600 perfect).
Sam
I have heard so much advice about buying the SB800 in the past just because of the added features it was great to get a PRACTICAL analysis. I owned an 800 since getting my D70 but needed a few additional lights to spread around areas to be photographed and for portraits. I just couldn’t justify the additional costs of 800’s and settled on two 600’s. Although I sacrificed some power and some features, for MY use I’m glad I went this route. Like you, I love my 600’s.
[...] I love SB-600s [...]
I saw a tweet about this post and I’m so glad I read it. I ordered my SB600 at the beginning of this week based on a post I read at KenRockwell.com and though I was excited to get a flash, I’m currently reading “The Hot Shoe Diaries” and was having a bit of equipment envy. Reading this post made me feel a lot better. The SB600 arrived yesterday and I’m thrilled with it so far.
I’ve got three SB 600s and, as you said, the bang for the buck is great. Most of the time you hear Joe McNally or Scott talk about dialing back on the power of the flash. Duh! If you dial back an SB 800 or an SB 900, don’t you get into the same power levels as an SB 600? If you have your SB 900 at 1/4 power and the SB 600 at 2/3 power they still produce the same amount of light. Sure, the SB 600 has to try harder, but two for the price of one sounds good to me.
This is me! Your experiences mirror mine exactly, especially the part about having a nagging desire to have the same equipment the Pros use. May look lame compared to a 900, but like you wrote the 600 does the job. Nice post, thanks!
I’m a 2-SB600s user myself. Thought about buying a 3rd 600 to use with my D80 and I still may do so. And here’s another thought. For the cost of one SB-900, if you’re looking for more power, you could buy an Alien Bee AB800 monolight kit with the light, reflector, light stand and 20 degree honeycomb grid and STILL have money left over for, say, a 24″x 36″ softbox. I’m not trying to push Alien Bee’s stuff here. Just wanted to echo the sentiment that for the price of the SB900 you definitely have other choices.
Larry, found your blog from Scott Kelby’s. and this was the first article I read. i recently had this debate with a friend… one sb900 or two sb600s! i chose two since my original SB600 had served me so well.i maystill add a third Sb600 as well.
I’m also very content with my SB-600, I own one since late last year. I used it off camera with my Elinchrom EL Skyport and also with a Lastolite Ezybox at times, very satisfied with the results so far.
Larry, I have to admit that I strayed. I bought an SB-900 a couple of months ago.
Remember the thread a while back in the photography forum over at NAPP? I had just gotten my SB-600 and was quite happy with it and said that I didn’t expect to get a 900 for a long time.
Then I went and bought Joe McNally’s Hot Shoe Diaries. And the more I read, the more I got 900-envy. I looked sooo cool and had the beautiful menus and great features and suddenly I couldn’t control myself anymore. Two days later, Amazon delivered it. I must say it’s pretty sweet. I’ve used it on several shoots and it’s pretty much the Cadillac that Joe says that it is.
That being said, I’m getting ready to buy my third speedlight and I’m going to go back to a 600. The 900 is great and it fills a big need — powerful flash with lots of options that can serve as a remote commander when I’m outdoors or in a bad spot that my D90’s pop-up can’t reach. But the $477 that I would have spent for another 900 will get me a 600, a Sto-fen diffuser, a nine-foot light stand, a shoe-mount multi-clamp, a Hoodman Loupe (which I have been lusting after for a while), a book of Roscolux swatches, and have plenty of money left over.
So does that get me back in the fold?
I have to agree. When I picked up my D70 a few years back I went with the SB-600 or the 800 because from what I read and what I needed it for, I would be just as happy with the 600. I was right and now I’m learning the Nikon CLS and the 600 is right there with me.
Now, can you help me with the D700 envy problem I have?
The hot shoe diaries is like a coke dealer for SB 900’s. You start to feel that you just can’t function without about 53 of them (I’m always trying to light really large aircraft, and find myself wanting just one more light…right)–and then they up the price. My wife has been wondering where her piano disappeared to…what else can I hawk?
Just this week I was about to buy a 900…but I, too got to calculating:a 900, or a new prime lens and Lightroom? or two 600’s? or a whole slew of other add-ons?
I have a question: Who has needed an SU-800? I sometimes have trouble in bright or overcast light with my SB-600 picking up the flash. A business card redirecting the light has always done the trick, but I wonder if it would be worth getting an SU-800? thoughts?
I’m also in the SB-600-only camp at the moment, though not entirely by my own choice, and agree that you can get most of what you need done like that.
I do miss being able to put it on my D40 and get commander mode though. I suppose I should get an SU-800 but it seems strange to pay so much for a not-flash.
Right on Larry. I’m all for getting bang for the buck. I started off with a SB600 and still have it. It and a D70 got run over by a $16,000 racing ATV and the sproket chainsawed the pair, so I replaced with a D200 and SB800. Well, for under $100, Nikon repaired the SB 600, so now I have a 2 flash system. No, the D70 and lens didn’t survive, but here’s a little known secret about the D70 and D70s. (I do have a D70s) They have the fastest sync speed of ANY nikon that I know of 1/500 sec at full power. So when I shoot fill flash of moto X racing, I shoot at 1/500 sec AND fill in under the helmet or backlit rider against the sky when jumping. Yes, I get too close sometimes but keep a hay bail or pile of tires between me and the nuts on the bikes.
Now about that D3 or D700 that I NEED for low light, high ISO sports and events,,,,honey, I NEED it. Saving up. JG
[...] last week I spent a little time sharing my budget-minded justification for buying SB-600 speedlights. Assuming you’ve got a flash (or 2 or 3) it won’t be long before you’ll want to [...]
Still laughing over “poor Larry, what a lame shooter.” I can understand your equipment envy. I’m taking baby steps toward starting a photography business, and looking at upgrading my camera (I have an SB-600, so enjoy seeing the SB-600 lovin’ going on here). I saw a pic of a local photographer I know with a lens a foot long and a lighting rig that looked as tall as a one-story building. Suddenly I had a big “L” pasted on my forehead. Equipment envy/inferiority complex is a killer to creativity and confidence.
[...] I Love SB-600s [...]
[...] I was browsing around his site my attention was caught by a recent post about Nikon SB-600 Speedlights. In it, Larry gives a great rundown of the pros and cons of the [...]
[...] and the versatility the 600s offer me is great (if you want to know more about that decision, visit this post from last year.) But if you want to shoot anything with natural light (other than snapshots), or a [...]
Awsome post! Love all your thoughts around a more economic (some might say cheaper) perspective one photogear. I don´t hang around pro´s, but i often shoot with my brother in law who has a much bigger wallet and trunk of gear then I. Often tempted to by the high-end gear and instead I did like you; I got myself i speedlite 430ex (Yes, I´m on the dark side of the force: I´m a swedish Canon shooter. Don´t know what the swede-part of it had anything to do with anyting, maby just an excuse for my english). And now I´m planning to by at least one more 430ex.
Keep up with the great job on the blog and the new videosegments on D-town. Love´em!
/Stefan
Your recent show of “Cheap Shots” at DTOWN-TV made me rethinking about my plans to add a SB900 as a second speedlight. Joe McNally’s wonderful book had me fired all up! I have one SB600 already and I like it. The pros and cons you list make all sense. The cons are not that big of a deal, at least for me. Another SB600 will do the trick too… Thanks!
[...] time ago I wrote about my SB600 and some attachments to make them into a slave flash. I never really explained why someone might [...]