Almost a year ago I purchased my first DSLR, the Nikon D40 (last November I upgraded to the Nikon D40x). Most DSLRs, including the ones in Nikon’s line, include built-in flashes. And while they do the job, they can’t be angled or rotated, nor can they “bounce” their light. There’s only so much you can do with the included flash: it’s basically on or off, with camera settings to adjust white balances, flash compensation and exposure.
So, after months of being frustrated with certain lighting conditions and having to go all or nothing, I purchased the Nikon SB-600 AF Speedlight Unit for $229 at Ritz Camera. My reason for purchasing it is that I was looking for an external flash whose head could adjust to varying degrees, in order to “bounce” the flash and cast more natural lighting over and around subjects in photographs. The SB-600 does this, but it also does a lot more. In addition to the flash head angling, the entire head can rotate. Also, the flash works in conjunction with the settings that the camera its attached to has (provided that it’s a compatible camera), and has its own menu and options on the back for quick adjustments (my favorite is doing on-the-fly flash compensation, and turning down the brightness a notch or two). The flash can also work wirelessly with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System, but I doubt I’ll ever get to a point where I use it for that feature.
I have now had the flash for a week, and I am loving it. I have had a few screw-ups, but those can definitely be attributed to user errors (hi, I am an idiot), as the flash itself is flawless. Below are some great examples of shots taken with no flash (in order to avoid the white out and harshness created by the built-in Nikon flash) vs. shots taken with the SB-600.
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The built in flash on my Rebel sucks too. I need to invest in an external. I’m getting quite ticked off as I can’t take photos I’m proud of inside during the night.