Digital SLR Reviews Blog

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Nikon SB 400 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

The SB-400 gives photographers the opportunity to enjoy brighter and more natural lighting for images taken using a flash. It is designed to suit entry-level digital SLR users while also suitable for more experienced users. Those who have a camera within the D2 series will also benefit from the convenient portable flash unit. The SB-400 offers a guide number of 30 (ISO 200, m), and effortless bounce flash function and is controlled in i-TTL and the D40’s M (manual) mode. Flash shooting distance range from 2 and up to 66 feet Electronic construction – Automatic Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and series circuitry Guide number – (at 18mm zoom-head position, 20 degrees C/68 degrees F) 30m per 98.4 feet Angle of coverage – Light distribution covers an 18mm lens when mounted on a Nikon DX format digital SLR camera (27mm lens when mounted on an F6 35mm SLR) Flash shooting distance range – 2 to 66 feet (Varies depending on the ISO sensitivity, zoom-head position, and lens aperture in use) Flash mode – i-TTL, M (manual with the D40 only) Flash exposure control set on the camera – Slow-sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction in slow sync, rear-curtain sync flash, FV lock flash, manual flash (with Nikon Creative Lighting System digital and 35mm SLR cameras) Bounce capability – Flash head tilts up to 90 degrees with click-stops at 0, 60, 75, 90 degrees Power Source – Two AA batteries (1.5V or lower) Flashes/Recycling time at full output – Alkaline-manganese (1.5V) 140/3.9 sec, Lithium (1.5V) 250/4.2 sec, Oxyride (1.5V) 150/3.1 sec, Ni-MH rechargeable (1.5V, 2600 mAh) 210/2.5 sec Lights up when the SB-400 is recharged and ready to fire. Blinks to indicate insufficient light, insufficient battery power and incompatibility of camera with SB-400 Flash duration – Approximately 1/1300th second at full output Mounting foot lever lock – Provides secure attachment to the camera accessory

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Flash
I dont think it is much stronger than the original flash on my camera but I am sure it helps. I still have some low light problems. It makes it easier to do rapid shots though.

5 Stars Excellent For Its Size
I’ve always avoided using a flash on my digital cameras because the built-in flashes were so tiny that they were virtually useless and the shoe-mounted flashes were heavy and bulky to pack around. I was always uncomfortable mounting them on my camera’s hot shoe because I felt as if they put a lot of strain on the shoe. I recently bought a Nikon D90 and wanted to take indoor photos of my grandkids. I looked around and found the Nikon SB-400. I was hesitant to buy it because it was spendy and I didn’t know if I’d use it enough. I’m glad that I did and am finding that I now use a flash quite frequently.

This unit is small and streamlined and it doesn’t feel as if it’s going to rip the hot shoe off the camera. It has an amazing amount of power for such a small unit and battery life is excellent. It’s extremely easy to use with the D90 – take it out of its pouch, mount it, and turn it on. The D90’s TTL metering system does the rest. If you want to modify the output of the flash just use the D90’s built-in flash exposure compensation adjustment.

I also purchased the Flip-it! 400 bounce card produced by Demb Flash Products. This small and compact bounce card is designed to work well with the SB-400. It mounts and can be removed easily with an elastic strap that has a Velcro tab. It looks very small but it works great.

3 Stars Limited flash capabilities.
I own the SB-400 and SB-600 and used them frequently for my D80 for 3 years now. Both have performed very well and have not failed. Using rechargeable AA batteries saves me a lot of money. The CONS that I do not like about the SB400 are:

- It displays a shadow when using a longer lens. I purchased a Tonika 12-24mm lens with my D80 and I have to tilt the flash upwards in order to eliminate the shadow that it creates from the barrel when using a direct flash. Using the SB600 or better eliminates this issue.

- When using indoors such as your living room, it may not provide the best illumination. It can only cover smaller space or closer range and you will have to adjust your camera settings to get a better lighting.

Buy this flash if money and weight are an issue. It works well if you are using a prime lens such as the Nikon 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm; My recommendation is to get the SB600 instead for better range and illumination. Get the SB800 or 900 for better flash photography or if you intend to use multiple flashes as a remote flash commander when taking creative photography indoors. You will be much happier if you get any of the full flash from Nikon.

5 Stars Perfect flash for Nikon DSLR
Even though this is a smaller flash, the pictures taken with it are great. I have the Nikon SB600, a larger flash. For most situation the result from this flash and the SB600 is the same. This flash is lighter and more portable so I will be using this more often then the SB600. This flash is so light that I leave the flash on the camera. So I get great pictures more often with this smaller unit than the bigger SB600. I learned that a flash that you can use more often is more important than the size/power of the flash. The best thing about this flash is the bounce feature. You can use flip the flash head 60 to 90 degree. This give you a nice picture with natural light instead of the bright flash. This feature is going to make your picture much nicer than without an external flash. You can never get this kind of picture with the built in flash.

5 Stars Just what I needed for my camera system!
Before I got this flash I hesitated to take pictures at night, especially on social occasions. Now I have all the flash power I need with my little camera (Nikon p5100) and night pictures come out sharp and well exposed. Now I can also use my wide angle lens for night pictures, as this flash does not cast a shadow like the built in flash does. What’s more this flash is light and a perfect complement to the p5100.

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Nikon SB 900 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Powerful and versatile SB-900 works as a stand-alone flash, featuring wireless operation as a Commander or wireless remote light source. Expanded Auto Power Zoom Coverage – The SB-900 provides zoom coverage from 17-200mm in the FX-format and 12-200mm coverage in the DX-format. Choose from 3 light distribution patterns – Improve light quality by selecting Standard for general illumination, Center-weighted for portraits, or for groups or interiors. User-friendly firmware updating – Allows uploading of performance enhancement developments to the SB-900 with select Nikon digital SLR cameras. Color gel filter identification – The SB-900 automatically identifies mounted color gel filters and adjusts the camera’s auto white-balance setting with select Nikon digital SLR cameras. Flash Tube Overheat Protection – An added measure of safety is provided for sustained high-speed bursts. Drip-proof mounting foot cover (Water Guard) – for enhanced moisture protection (optional). Lens Coverage – 17 to 200mm (FX-format, Automatic mode); 12 to 200mm (DX-format, Automatic mode); 12 to 17mm (FX-format, Automatic mode with built-in wide-angle panel deployed); 8 to 11mm (DX-format, Automatic mode with built-in wide-angle panel deployed) Flash head rotates horizontally 180 to the left and right with click-stops at 0 , 30 , 60 , 90 , 120 , 150 , 180 Flash head tilts down to -7 or up to 90 with click-stops at -7 , 0 , 45 , 60 , 75 , 90 Output per set of batteries – 110 Alkaline-manganese (1.5V); 230 Lithium (1.5V); 190 Ni-MH (2600 mAh)

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star sb-900 price
i remember the price on these SB-900 back then when were only $300.00 with free shipping… now the cost is almost to $500.00!!? i waited around because i was hearing a lot of bad comments on how this thing shut down in the middle of shoot. like weddings and stuff… so i thought and observed a lil bit more time that more people would comment and review on the SB-900. and from there i can make my final decision on getting one. now that i’m ready to pick one up, the price is just ridiculously too high now. i usually have seen electronics goes down in price after several months but this one just went up in cost. what is up with that?

5 Stars The Big Dog
I really love this flash! Now with that said you should know that buying cheap batteries and or rechargeable batteries is a no no for wedding photography. You really want to do your battery home work on this flash. I bought some energizer rechargeable batteries and they kicked in the thermal protection after about 10 min of heavy flash use. They work fine for day to day shooting but if your shooting an event buy some good batteries.

5 Stars Still learning
I have SB 600 that I find very easy to use. This is not a replacement to my old flash but an addition to my lighting system. I am still learning to use this flash but so far no complains with the unit. Love it.

5 Stars If you want to know the truth please read
Okay, here’s the (long winded) truth about the flash and it’s “thermal shutdown problem”.

First off, let me say that I have much experience in using different camera flashes and studio strobes as well as some repairing of them. I will start of by saying that this flash is the best portable camera flash in it’s class that I have EVER used. Nikon knows what they are doing. They have an extremely high standard of quality and reliability. When they see a quality improvement / guarantee need, they will apply it. In the case of the SB-800 to the SB-900 one of the biggest and least appreciated quality assurance guarantees is the thermal cut off feature. Which, by the way, can be turned off or on. So all of those who are b****ing about it, just read your manual and turn it off!

Okay, time for a cheesy quote: “With great power comes great responsibility”. Nikon knew this. (speculation) They also knew the general public would not really understand the limitations of the flash in hand. So they incorporated a safety mechanism: “Thermal cut off”, to prevent overheating due to extended maximum flash output. This sort of “circuit breaker” is also found in some pro studio strobes. Studio strobes usually use AC power and provide a much greater power output and are more likely to overheat and sometimes “blow out”, so it is common to see some kind of safety mech built in to them. Portable camera flashes run off batteries and do not produce any where near the kind of power output than said strobes; so there is usually no critical need for such a safety. With the SB-900 however (and SB-800), Nikon has managed to build a very compact flash (yes, I mean compact if you consider it’s power capability) that recharges very quickly and sustains a consistent powerful output. To do this, it requires a huge demand on the IGBT (like a capacitor) and sustained overheating would result in failure and eventually even damage to the flash. Of course they could have “pushed it” and programmed it to trigger at a much higher temp threshold or even eliminated the option all together. But it is good to have that feature. It’s not that the flash overheats “easily”, it’s that the flash is offering more than maybe it should. With that much more power, comes that much more heat. (Especially from a compact unit without any cooling fans)

Now for my silly analogy: “It’s like the difference between driving a car that only goes 65mph (other flashes) and driving car that goes 100mph (SB-900 / 800). With the 65mph car, you can’t get a speeding ticket (overheat / failure) on the freeway with the speed limit of 65mph. With the 100mph car you won’t get a ticket either, until you start driving 100mph for an extended period of time on the same freeway. Then you will likely be stopped for speeding. Then, having a radar detector (thermal cut off feature) will warn you when a cop is around the corner and that you should slow down from 100mph to 65mph. You may ask yourself: why that speed limit? Of course, safety: limitations of the car and driver. Then you may ask: why make a car that goes 100mph if it is not safe to go that fast? (here is where my analogy doesn’t follow exactly, but you get my point) You may have a need to go 100mph and it is good to have the ability. Often it may be fine to do so. Just know you are running the risks.”

If you really need to turn off the thermal feature and shoot at max output consistently, chances are it will function just fine. Yes, it will get hot, yes your batteries will drain faster, and yes you will wait longer for each subsequent recharge but nothing major will happen: because it’s designed to do that and it’s a Nikon made in Japan. Just know this: Nikon or not, all electronics still have to follow the basic laws of physics. It’s not ultimately good for the IGBT and circuitry to sustain such powerful flash firing as some do. You run the risk of degradation and failure. I’ve seen it happen, albeit rare.

Basically, you should feel confident about the performance and reliability of this flash. It doesn’t get any better…yet.

5 Stars BEST SPEEDLIGHT ON THE PLANET
HUGE AMOUNTS OF LIGHT, HUGE ZOOM RANGE, FAST- FAST RECYCLING, SYNCHS WITH SHUTTER SPEEDS TO 1/8000 sec, USER FRIENDLY OPERATION, SWIVELS & TILTS TO EVERY POSSIBLE ANGLE.

REASON ENOUGH TO SWITCH FROM CANON TO NIKON (Don’t even think about buying a cheaper flash, you’ll regret it all your life.)

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