The Nikon SB-28 Speedlight was a complete surprise to me. As a Canon user I never expected to become a fan of any other brand but this unit certainly changed my mind. Now I have had my SB-28 for a little while I have to say my early perceptions were spot on.
So what about this little flash impressed me?
1) It’s Light. Compare to my other strobes …
- sb-26 = 390g
- 580ex = 375g
- sb-28 = 320g
2) It looks nice. Not a big issue certainly but if you are going to have equipment it might as well look nice, eh?
3) Features. It might not have Sb-26 optical trigger or the 580ex TTL brilliance but it has everything I need and probably more if I cared to investigate. I just want to set the power manually by chimping. That’s all. It’s dead easy to use and comes with a sync socket too, neither can be said of the 580ex which is “ok” in use but needs to be modified to have a cable socket.
4) Power. I don’t really care about what the specs say on paper, in real world use it has all the power I need for an off camera flash. It bounces light really well and find I am having to drop the power down rather than shift it up. And this power does NOT come at a battery-draining price. The SB-26 drains batteries like a hum-vee drinks gas (perhaps because it is an older model). The SB-28 recycles pretty durned good too.
5) Price. Nikon SB-28, used from eBay = £45. Canon 580ex, new, from high street = £350. OK I bought the Canon flash new and from a pricey store and I did well with the Nikon to get that deal but still, quite a margin of difference, right? Yes I could have bought a used Sigma or older Canon but as I said I need to have manual operation and sync ports.
So if I love the SB-28 so much do I regret the 580ex? My answer is “No”, and “kinda”.
If I ever need to use a flash on camera it will be the 580ex, no question. But the problem is I hardly ever do. How much gear could I have bought for the same price as that one flash?
Now I use my beloved eBay radio triggers rather than cables you could say I don’t need sync ports so much. There you would have a point, but it’s nice to have a backup. And what about when I upgrade to pocket wizards?
I got a good deal by using some sneaky eBay techniques but you ought to be able to pick up one in good condition for around £70 used if you keep watching eBay.
Technorati Tags: nikon,photography, lighting, flash
3 Comments
I picked up one of the “bargain” grade ones off KEH.com for much cheaper than ebay prices, after reading a comment on strobist about bargain grade being better than it sounds. I can definately back that up, I’m really happy with my setup now- along with the ebay remotes
Cool. A lot of people are put off used because of knocks and scratches but if you are buying to make use of it aesthetics isn’t so important providing it’s in good working order. I must admit I like my gear to be clean and shiny where possible though!
In case anybody cares .. the SB28DX with the D50 or D80 NIKONS :
A link to Ken Burns Site for a good revue.
C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner\My Documents\Nikon SB-28DX SB28DX Speedlight.mht
Has some Cool features If you care to put in some numbers .. Has a Auto setting that emulates TTL and i-TTL , emits no preflashes ( no more eyelid portraits ) Seems to work well wth my dog. He dosent react well to the onboard i-TTL flash of D50 or D80 at all …