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I guess this doesn't mean a whole lot to those of you who use TTL ;0) So far this is the most insight I can give since I've only done one wedding. They have a spinning dial similar to the dials that the non touch screen ipods use.
I've shot probably 25+ weddings with SB-800's and never had a single overheating problem, but had my SB-900 overheat while shooting a reception on the VERY FIRST wedding I ever shot with it. I'll start off by saying that the only reason I'm giving this product a 5 star rating is because of the option to turn off the overheating shut down.
On the plus side, the controls are a HUGE improvement over the SB-800. I purchased this flash in January 2010 so obviously the overheating thing is still an issue regardless of what you've read.
If I didn't have the option to turn off the safety features, this thing would be going straight back to Amazon. I'm able to adjust flash on the fly much faster than I could before.
I look forward to being able to zoom to 200mm on portrait sessions & weddings in the near future.Phil
This Flash was meant to be used by professionals and is suppose to substitute the older version SB-800. I tried to slow my shots to avoid this. I use it a few times in a baby birthday party and it get heat very easy. Then you have to wait 10 minutes without use it. A friend of mine told me: you cannot shoot pointing the head of the flash up, because that causes the heat faster, you cannot use the diffuser because it will heat faster, you cannot shoot all power because it will heat faster. So if you're a professional you want to be creative and do your work without being restricted by your tools.I prefer to get the SB-600 and improve my camera to D3S to shoot higher ISO, and improve the lenses to F2.8 and VR to avoid using a lot of power or buy the SB-900 and deactivate the temperature system.
The SB-600 was dated and no replacement was rumored, and I really wanted to buy one flash one time and not have to think about it. The batteries were not even warm when taken out, nor was any part of the flash that I could touch. If you set your camera to iso100 in a dark room and really push the flash, you can hit this really quickly but is that realistic. Either turn off thermal shutdown protection before and monitor the temperature frequently or plan to wait about 5 or 10 minutes for the unit to cool down. I purchased ENELOOP NiMH batteries and I started shooting. I've only experienced thermal shutdown twice - and that was with bounce flash + a very dark room + iso 200 photography with a 70 or 80 photos in a row. I hesitated to buy this flash. Plan accordingly.
If you can't afford a $2000+ full frame camera to shoot low light and high ISO, then having the best flash is the next best alternative. Once shutdown occurs, you can not turn on the flash and get into the menus to turn off the thermal protection circuit until the unit cools down. Plus as you grow your photography skills and upgrade equipment, this flash will continue to serve you well.The flash has the nikon CLS (creative lighting system) so you can put the flash off-camera and shoot from different angles, or use an umbrella to get nice diffuse light. It may hurt resale. I purchased it thinking I was a non-professional and I would not run into the thermal shutdown issue. If you are a pro, you probably have more than one flash anyway and can swap them though this is inconvenient.All in all, it is a powerful excellent flash.
I am disappointed that there is such a cloud of controversy surrounding it. My experience was that when the temperature gauge hits it's midpoint, you will quickly get to thermal shutdown in the next couple of photos. It helps me make fantastic memorable photos. It also comes with a ton of extras -- nice storage case, some gels for coloring the light coming out of the flash, a diffusion dome, a white bounce card.I definitely recommend this flash though I hope some day soon, Nikon issues a firmware fix or services these very expensive flashes and rids us of the temperature issues.
It happened that I got my flash just before I'd agreed to photo a church service for a family member, so I'd get to try out the flash in a realistic but non-critical situation (i.e. This flash has some really nice features. The shut down occurred after taking 47 flash shots in 19 minutes after a fairly long session of shots without using flash. Expanded zoom and 3 light distribution pattens sound interesting, though I didn't get a chance to use them.
Those last 12 shots were more rapid, ~12 in the last 3 min before shut down (about 15 sec. I'd read the reviews, including the caveats about the "Flash Tube Overheat Protection". I assumed that the relatively few who mentioned this problem were far more demanding of the flash than I ever would be. I generally agree with most of the reviews here. (4) I looked for some leftover stock of SB-800's; they're listed on Amazon for $899. I used the flash on and off for about 2 hours.
In those last shots I started shooting at f/2.8, ISO 400, bouncing off a low ceiling. I went to f/ 3.5 when I needed a bit more depth of field, and ended with 12 shots at f/4.5 in an area with a very high ceiling, flash angled up with the diffusion dome.
I really didn't think the thermal shut-down issue would be significant, at least for me, but I'm going to wait and see if Nikon can come up with a solution (though I suspect they'll do it quietly if they do). The controls are much easier to use than the SB-800, especially the CLS settings.
between shots) These last shots may have been at or near full power due to the high ceiling and my efforts to avoid direct flash shadows.Many have pointed out that flash shut down is usually preferable to damaging the flash, pointing out that the SB-800 manual also cautions against too many full power flashes in sequence. a non-paying gig).
The flash worked well until it shut down as I popped a series of shots of an assembled group. After considering the facts, I returned the flash for the following reasons: (1) I could purchase it again anytime, but I had 15 days to return it().; (2) Like many others, I'd never had a shut down or damage to my SB-800's in years of use; (3) Even SB-800 warns of burning yourself on flash tube and/or batteries after a rapid series, but tube/batteries were barely warm to the touch immediately after shut down in the SB-900.
I gave it 3 stars because it seems to be a great flash if you don't do events that require at least a moderate frequency of flash shots.
Excellent flash, works well does a better job than my SB800 covers more area and produces more light. Flash is a lot easier to use and settings are very easy to change and adjust on the fly. I plan to by another SB900 to add to my collection.
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