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Photography - Can I use this with my D80 ?
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dmegatool
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2007-02-25, 09:21

Just got a D80 ! It's awsome ! I mean... There is no word to describe how it's amazing

Ok the question now. My dad gave me an old flash that he used with is Nikon 35mm (don't know exactly what it is but he got it back in 1970). The flash is a IMAGE CZ-50. Will I damage my D80 if I use this with it ?

I tried once to see if it worked and it does. After that, I read in the manual that I could burn my D80 if I certain flash... What do you think ?

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."
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Moogs
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2007-02-25, 10:52

If it has a standard hot-shoe mount you might be able to trigger it with the camera. Thing is, if it's that old it may not be able to communicate properly with the camera. They're expensive but if you're doing serious photography and want a quality flash for that camera, get an SB-800. They're designed to work with Nikon's DSLRs. It's not worth the risk to use the old flash IMO. Very good but less expensive alternatives to the SB-800 are the SB-600 an SB-400.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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danielsza
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2007-02-25, 11:33

If I were you, I would call nikon and see what they say. Or maybe go down to a high end camera store they might know for sure.
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Artap99
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2007-02-25, 13:48

D80s are fantastic. What lens(es) did you get?
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GSpotter
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2007-02-25, 14:08

Even if the old flash wouldn't fry your D80 (I don't know if it does), it would probably still only operate in manual mode.

I have an SB-800 and love it. It's not really a cheap flash, but a great package with lots of features.

The nice thing about modern Nikon flashes is their support of the Nikon CLS (Creative lighting system): You can couple several flashes together and operate them remotely. E.g. with a SB-600 or SB-800, you could use the built-in camera flash to remotely trigger the external flash which could be positioned wherever you want. This could greatly enhance the look of flash photos (instead of the "dull" frontal flash from the camera).

To illustrate the effect, here's an example: I held the flash in my left hand behind the spider while holding the camera in the right. The flash was triggered remotely:



On this picture, I used the 'strobe' feature of the SB-800:

My photos @ flickr
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dmegatool
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2007-02-25, 19:06

Quote:
Originally Posted by Artap99 View Post
D80s are fantastic. What lens(es) did you get?
I got the the Nikkor 18-135mm that come in kit. As it is my first DSLR, this one will fit my need untill I get more ... hmmmm "pro" Plus, I need to get all these accesories. Why are you asking for ? You probably own a D80

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moogs View Post
If it has a standard hot-shoe mount you might be able to trigger it with the camera. Thing is, if it's that old it may not be able to communicate properly with the camera. They're expensive but if you're doing serious photography and want a quality flash for that camera, get an SB-800. They're designed to work with Nikon's DSLRs. It's not worth the risk to use the old flash IMO. Very good but less expensive alternatives to the SB-800 are the SB-600 an SB-400.
I heard of the sb-600 and that's probably what I'll get. The SB-400 would probably fit my need but with the pics Gspotter posted, it look too cool to use remote flashes...

Thx for all the comments guy. I'm now leaning on the SB-600. Seems great not too expensive.

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."

Last edited by dmegatool : 2007-02-26 at 10:02.
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Artap99
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2007-02-28, 01:24

Quote:
Originally Posted by dmegatool View Post
I got the the Nikkor 18-135mm that come in kit. As it is my first DSLR, this one will fit my need untill I get more ... hmmmm "pro" Plus, I need to get all these accesories. Why are you asking for ? You probably own a D80
I do own a D80. I like to ask people to see if they managed to pick up an 18-135 lens. Then I like to get really jealous if they managed to find one. Or if they bought a 12-20. The 18-135 is really nice. Just watch out for pin cushioning. And really really really watch your focus. If you're exporting an NEF file, you'd be surprised how blurry it is upon export as an actual as opposed to how it looks in a 1/8th form.
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dmegatool
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2007-11-10, 23:06

Just got a sb-600 for my birthday !!!

Performance seems awsome but it's so unuser friendly. Like hold zoom and - for 2 seconds to acces settings... Yeah I would thought that

CLS (Creative lighting system) is awsome !!!

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."
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ghoti
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2007-11-10, 23:24

Congratulations, that's a great present! I have a SB-600 too and love it.

Since lenses were discussed above: the 18-135 is okay, but its maximum aperture is nothing to write home about. I got a 12-24/4 and 17-50/2.8, and haven't used the 18-135 since. Especially the wide-angle is great of course, but I'm also much happier with the DOF control of the 17-50. Additional lenses aren't cheap (those two cost around $1k together), but they really make a difference in what you can do. After all, the lens is still the most important part when taking a picture (other than the photographer, obviously).
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dmegatool
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2007-11-11, 00:01

Yeah I know that I need some other lens.

My #2 on my wishlist was a Nikkor 50/1.8. I think it will offer me some great opportunity. Maybe Santa got some in stock

Just went trought the manual. It's finally not that bad. In fact, it's pretty simple. I looooove my sb600

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."
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GSpotter
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2007-11-11, 04:13

Congrats! Using remote flash is really fun.

I recently took a few pictures of an object (camera on tripod) where I placed the flash at different positions. Then I combined the pictures in Photoshop (using layers), so I got pictures with light from several angles as if I had more than one flash. Here's an example:



@ghoti: You wrote that you have a 2.8/17-50. I assume you mean the Tamron 17-50 (The Nikon 17-55 would not match the price you mentioned)? What do you think about the picture quality and lens build?

@dmegatool: Yes the 1.8/50 would be a great addition. It's the most inexpensive Nikon lens and but one of the sharpest. (I bought a used 1.4/50, as I wanted more speed, but AFAIK, the 1.8 is from f/4 on even sharper than the 1.4 version.)

The only problem with this hobby is that you might get an expensive 'addiction', called NAS ("Nikon Aquisition Syndrome") ...

A friend once let me use a Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 Mk.I on a trip to the zoo...



Now I'm constantly saying to myself "I don't need this lens, I don't want to spend that much money on a lens, I don't ..."

My photos @ flickr
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. -- Benjamin Franklin
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ghoti
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2007-11-11, 13:11

Quote:
Originally Posted by GSpotter View Post
@ghoti: You wrote that you have a 2.8/17-50. I assume you mean the Tamron 17-50 (The Nikon 17-55 would not match the price you mentioned)? What do you think about the picture quality and lens build?
Yes, it's the Tamron. The Nikon would have been nice, but is just too expensive. The build quality could be better, but it's perfectly sufficient for my purposes. The image quality is also good, better IMHO than the 18-135 - though I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons. The 17-50 especially doesn't have nearly the vignetting, and color fringing is also well contained (the 12-24 does that a lot more, but it can be fixed quite nicely in Lightroom). I also value the much better maximum aperture, that alone makes this lens so much more useful (I'm hardly using my 50/1.8 anymore). I don't have any 100% pictures online, but my butterfly pictures were taken with it wide open, and they are close to 100% crops.
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Moogs
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2007-11-11, 19:10

I might get an SB-600. God knows the SB-800 is not user friendly. Need an EE degree just to figure half of the options out / when you'd use them.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Dorian Gray
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2007-11-11, 19:33

Real photographers guess the distance and calculate the f-stop on the fly from the flash's Guide Number, balance the light by "dragging" the shutter speed, then estimate what the heck happens when you bounce it off the ceiling. (You lose about two stops, by the way. )

P.S. The above is of course all done on Kodachrome, which has about five millistops of latitude.

I was definitely born in the wrong era.

… engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams.
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