Just received my SB-900!

[deckcadet]

I woke up at 2PM today with my phone ringing to let me know that the first shipment of SB-900s was in and one had my name on it. I picked it up from my friendly hometown dealer, Pitman Photo (they always seem to come through when I need them).

First impressions: It reminds me of the Canon 580EXII in terms of size (much larger than the SB-800). The new interface is vastly superior to the old one, which even after nearly 4 years still confuses me every now and then.

The flash now cycles practically silently. At full power, the sound is a very quiet whine that goes in the opposite 'direction' from what you'd expect- sound begins at a high pitch then ends at a lower one instead of the other way around, but extremely quickly. Recycle times are noticeably faster with 4 batteries than the SB-800 with 5.

The new gel system is fantastic. It comes with 4 gels designed to balance for different kinds of incandescent and fluorescent light, and the gels are computer coded so the D3 and D700's auto white balance can use the right WB for the gel. I tested it earlier and I got some great matching of colors.

The included gels are the SJ-900 set, and the SJ-3 set is the optional color gels. The gels slot into a really nice small cover that snaps on over the front of the flash. The included diffuser dome is designed to fit over this, so you can still use the gel holder with it.

It really does well with covering wide angles, using my 14-24mm on the D3 it didn't miss a beat.

Pictures coming shortly, but here are a few to tide you over:

D300+SB-900 on left, note the attached color filter gel... D200+SB-800 on right.



D3/24-70 with SB-900

[fx101]

How even is the flash coverage at wide angles? I sort of felt like my pictures with the SB800 suffer from major flash light falloff in some corners at wide angles. It'd be nice to see a good, even, and versatile flash—I'm hoping this is the one.

[deckcadet]

One of those neat features is the ability to adjust the coverage pattern: center weighted, normal, and even coverage across the frame.

This one is either at normal or even, with the diffuser dome. I didn't expose it perfectly so I brought up the levels evenly (straight curve) to compensate. Should still give you a good sense of how it illuminates across the frame.

D3, SB-900, 14-24mm @ 14mm!

[fx101]

One of those neat features is the ability to adjust the coverage pattern: center weighted, normal, and even coverage across the frame.

This one is either at normal or even, with the diffuser dome. I didn't expose it perfectly so I brought up the levels evenly (straight curve) to compensate. Should still give you a good sense of how it illuminates across the frame.

D3, SB-900, 14-24mm @ 14mm!

Oh WOW ! I NEED an SB900. I'm shooting a wedding in three and a half weeks and a good portion of it is going to involve shooting at 15 and 11mm (this style is appropriate for the very picturesque locale amongst the andes mountains). The SB800 required heavy diffusing to get somewhat even coverage, and even then I found I had to compensate for Vignetting in PS, and that gave uneven results. $500 isn't TOO bad considering the SB800 is going for around that much. I think I'll sell my SB800 on ebay and buy one of the new '900 speedlights. All you need is to gel for tungsten, and you'll have a perfect indoor flash system. I can't wait to see how this thing bounce-flashes.

One question. How did your camera store get it if even adorama doesn't have it in stock yet?

[racedraper]

the camera store buy my house has two of them, but 200 bucks more then the 800, is it really worth it

[deckcadet]

it's been in stock all over, but Adorama is run by orthodox jews, so they are closed much of Friday, as is B&H. They probably didn't get them into the system before they closed, if they were even able to receive the delivery.

My local store actually had more than enough SB-900s to go around, plus a bunch of D700 kits that were not spoken for.

End cost was about $450 after sales tax. I had been expecting 500+tax.

You'll love the gel system if you get it... there is a weaker and a stronger tungsten gel and with the D3 and D700 it really works with the AWB. Not sure on the D300 and other prior cameras, though. I need to check. The D300 may support the AWB change. Worst case, just set for tungsten preset and go.

[fx101]

it's been in stock all over, but Adorama is run by orthodox jews, so they are closed much of Friday, as is B&H. They probably didn't get them into the system before they closed, if they were even able to receive the delivery.

My local store actually had more than enough SB-900s to go around, plus a bunch of D700 kits that were not spoken for.

End cost was about $450 after sales tax. I had been expecting 500+tax.

You'll love the gel system if you get it... there is a weaker and a stronger tungsten gel and with the D3 and D700 it really works with the AWB. Not sure on the D300 and other prior cameras, though. I need to check. The D300 may support the AWB change. Worst case, just set for tungsten preset and go.

I just checked with my local camera store and they'll have a shipment in on Tuesday. $475 with tax. I'm going to try it out with my D200 and see if I like it. I may end up getting it. As for the AWB change I rarely use AWB. I usually just set it for a grey card, eyeball the kelvin temp (you learn to get really close), or shoot one of the presets and fix it in lightroom's ACR module later.