Nikon SB-900 Review - Page 2

Zoom & Illumination / Light Shaping Functions

By combining the new illumination / light shaping features and a longer zoom range, the SB-900 introduces much more flexibility in how the photographer can use Speedlights. By zooming to 200mm, the light is concentrated in a much smaller area, often allow the use of the SB-900 as a hair/rim light without needing to resort to 3rd party (or home made) snoots. The light shaping features then allow the light to be modified further using CW (center weighted), STD (standard) or EVEN (a more evenly distributed light).

However, this is one place that the user interface is a little let down. I like to adjust the illumination modes from time to time, well, actually about as often as I play with the zoom function on CLS Remote units (which means quite often!). The problem is that there is no easy access (i.e. 1 button press) to the illumination mode selection, because it's buried in the custom menu. This means that while all the other adjustments are easily accessible via the one touch soft function buttons, accessing the illumination functions requires you to hold the OK button for 2 seconds, then scroll to the light shaping function, press the Ok button again (to select then illumination custom function), make the change by rotating the command dial then hit the Exit button. This could have been so much easier!

When using the SB-900 as a CLS Master in TTL or M mode, or when in CLS Remote mode, there is an unused function button available that could have been used to cycle through the illumination settings without having to go in to the custom menu. How about it Nikon?

This would not be possible in A (Aperture) mode because this spare this button becomes the Aperture selector. Even so, it would be nice to have in the other two modes. Maybe if we moan about this enough Nikon will listen and add it on a future firmware upgrade, which by the way is yet another great feature - the ability to update the SB-900 firmware via a supported camera type.

Thermal Protection

The SB-900 now includes a thermal indicator and automatic cutout to prevent it overheating, and ultimately melting. The indicator shows how hot the SB-900 is getting, and once the SB-900 is too hot, it will cut out and take a few minutes to cool sufficiently, then automatically resume operation. The automatic protection mechanism can be disabled in the custom functions, but is not recommended!

Modeling Light

The other minor moan I have is that the modeling light button on the SB-800 has been left off the SB-900, and relegated to custom function setting. When turned 'off', the flash trigger button (illuminated button above the power switch) fires a single flash, whereas when the modeling light function is 'on' this button fires a modeling light instead. No big deal, but some people will miss it.

SU-4 Mode

Like the SB-800, the SB-900 includes a handy SU-4 mode, allowing the SB-900 to be optically triggered by 'seeing' any other flash, even a non CLS flash. Using the SB-900 in SU-4 / Manual mode allows you to control the output just like any studio flash. However, unless my units are faulty Nikon seems to have forgotten the audio beep function to notify you when the SB-900 has completed the recycle and is ready to fire again. I always liked this on the SB-800 and it's one more backwards step that I hope they will address in a future firmware update. Please?

Access to the SU-4 mode is via the custom functions menu, but given the extra time normally associated with setting up manual mode remotes, that's not such a big deal as the illumination function is.

PC Sync Input

It's also nice to see that Nikon continue to include a PC Sync cable input on their speedlights. I hope this will long continue. However, they do appear to have dropped the TTL multi flash terminal input that was present on the SB-800, though I've often wondered wonder how many people used that anyway.

Custom Functions Menu

The SB-900 is not TTL compatible with older D-TTL bodies, and attempting to operate it in TTL mode on those bodies may provide some rather unpredictable results. The custom functions menu allows the SB-900 to be set to non TTL mode. It also allows access to the repeating flash setting, ISO sensitivity setting and much, much more. In fact there are 20 user selectable functions, many of these having more than one option (e.g. the illumination patterns). In addition to the 20, there is also way to obtain the current firmware version, and a way to reset the SB-900 back to factory defaults. As always, the user manual is your friend when it comes to the custom functions, and it's well worth the read.

<< PREVIOUS PAGE << >> NEXT PAGE >>