Review 4 of 12
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from Singapore Summary:
I use the SB-80DX with an F65. I am very happy with it. I have noticed a very dramatic improvement in quality of my photographs. This is the case for fill flash and flash-mostly exposure. Of course it also opens the way for remote TTL flash operation. This is code for really easy off camera flash but without dedicated control. For this you need a cord.
It has the power for bounce flash photography with 100 ISO film, especially if you set a little tighter zoom when you bounce (after all, the bounce distance is greater than direct flash).
It gives you the power to diffuse the flash output and that is what improves the results. Of indoor bounced shots, my wife has sometimes said "you can't even tell that a flash was used" which is actually very high praise.
I find that it offers several system enhancements when used with the F65. It gives much more distance range for fill flash, which is otherwise measly using only the pop-up flash of the f65 combined with 1/90 sync speed. For on-camera or on-TTL cord it also offers the ability to go to TTL/auto/manual, (from matrix in P or A mode), as well as the ability to add flash + or - exposure, which the bare f65 lacks. You'd think it was an overkill for the F65, especially if you compare prices, but it improves the camera body greatly. Strengths:
Power - bounce with the white card out, fill the room with light and be happy.
Same for remote TTL using the f65 pop-up flash. It just works great.
I like the modelling light function - but it sucks batteries and the flicker is not too friendly on your human subjects.
The AF assist beam is powerful and less annoying than the white one on the F65.
Built in opto-remote ability is really useful but NOT in a crowd of other camera flashes. Weaknesses:
None really, the comments below are mostly suggestion oriented. I really like using the unit.
I'd really like a way to be able to use the AF assist light on the SB80 without having the flashtube pop. I know this would probably be fairly rare but sometimes it would be useful, e.g. long exposure where manual exposure is difficult (yes I know you can turn the speedlight off after focussing, but without focus lock on the body, its a pain). This is more the case when using a slow zoom lens than a prime lens, where the AF assist is used less anyway. Maybe I ought to carry a small penlight.
Seems to be heavyish on battery use.
Pulling out the whitecard but keeping in the wide angle diffuser is a little difficult to do quickly without being a little rough on the unit.
It would be neat to have an ability to have a 6V DC out to power your camera body if it died, and vice-versa.
Why on earth is there a red-eye reduction lamp on this thing? A waste. I have shot pictures of people with on-camera flash, dilated pupils in the dark and had no red-eye whatsoever. The flashtube is high enough not to need it. The bump/mound on the moulding that is used to accomodate the red-eye lamp just makes the thickness of the unit greater. This could perhaps be replaced with another flashtube for catchlights, like certain Metz units. Or at least give it a handy/gimmick function like as a subdued light that you could use like a penlight to see the LCD on your camera body in the dark.
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