Hello there,

I am a photographer at a daily newspaper in Winona, Minn. We are having recycle issues with our Nikon SB-800 flash and are going through AA batteries like crazy to keep the flash from relapsing into long delays after the initial flash goes off.

We are in the market for a portable battery pack and were instructed by B&H and Calumet customer service specialists that the Quantum Turbo battery packs were the best.

Has anyone used the Quantum battery pack and found a fast recycle rate--especially for shooting basketball in dark, high school gymnasiums? Is it more convenient to have the battery pack attach to the bottom of the camera or to clip it to your belt loop and have a cable run up to the flash? Are there advantages or disadvantages to each?

Any advice would be great and thanks in advance for your help! Our sports pictures will greatly improve with these battery packs and we want to know the best options for our buck. Thanks again!

~Winona Daily News Photographer:)

The Quantum packs are great if you don't mind the additional weight. Have you tried using NmH rechargable batteries? I use the 2500 capacity in my flash and have no problems with them staying up for 100+ shots.

I'd think that lens and camera weight would have a lot to do with how you carry the extra juice. I'm a fairly big buy at 6'0 and 220, I'll wear the battery on a belt any and every day.

Overall, my photo department would just like to know what is the fastest method to recycle our SB-800 flash would be, whether using recyclable batteries or an exterior battery pack, whatever the fastest recycle time is, we would like to buy it! :D Again, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

~WDN Photographer:)

Can't speak for the SB's, but I use a 580EX and a Canon CP-E3 external battery pack. I use Duracell NiMH's 2650 mAh, 4 in the flash and 8 in the battery pack. Recycle time is less than one second at half power and 1 - 1.5 seconds at full power. I can easily shoot ~300 exposures with no problem. Obviously, if you go this route and shoot with more than one flash, you'll need a battery pack for each. It worked well for me through the football season. I imagine Nikons are pretty similar.

WDN,
Two choices, the one you already mentioned, the Quantam. These are very good on the cameras I used them on, but I don't shoot Nikon. It may be the SB800 only recycles so fast no matter what you use. THe best way to find out is see if the dealer will loan or rent you one for a couple days.
Choice #2: Get a Norman flash and battery pack. THey are much bigger and heavier, but you can't beat the recycle time on any camera! You also get a flash the size of the old fashioned flashes. They are as good as using strobes though, and can, if needed light an entire gym up on full flash! A lot of racing photogs use them because of the distance you can get, but they work just as well up close. You can find them used for $200 if you look hhard enough. Sometimes Roberts Distributors in Indy has them.

JS