Home > Consumer Reviews > Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

This is the first time I have ever purchased a dedicated flash. I have used the Superb Vivitar 283 and 285 strobes for years with no complaints. However, after buying the Nikon D70, I felt the need for a TTL flash. The camera's built-in pop-up flash works OK, but I wanted something to get more control of.
The SB600 does 95% of what the more expensive SB-800 does for half the price:

Bounce Flash: Not only can you move the head vertically, you can rotate it 270 degrees to get some sweet sidelit effects. The iTTL makes bounce flash simple and accurate. When you manually zoom the lens, the SB 600 zooms the flash head to automatically match your focal length-and very quietly too.

Power: No problem here. It can easily light an average room. 4 AA batteries give plenty of juice, and the '600 powers itself down to energy saver mode. More important, it powers back up quickly when you're ready to shoot.

Goodies: You can manually dial the flash power down to 1/64 full output, and everything in between. This is perfect for fill flash. It comes with a built in diffusor for ultra wide angle settings. Nikon thoughtfully includes a little stand with tripod socket in case you want to use it off camera. The really nice part is that the SB 600 can be triggered remotely by the D70 or D2H's on camera flash! This gives you a "studio in a bag" using one flash and a Nikon DSLR. Very cool.

Ergonomics: Nikon's D70 set new standards in ergonomics, and the SB-600 matches that. The latch for the bounce head has a handy large rubber button to unlock it. All buttons are soft touch, backlit, and very responsive. The TTL display is lit as well. There is a smooth locking device to secure it on the hotshoe.

Instructions: Nikon includes a cool, full color book showing what you can do with the Sb-600 and 800. Each lighting setup has a corresponding page number for the 600 or 800 manual to tell you how to do it. The book is very helpful and very well printed. These are the kind of extras Nikon users have come to respect. I wish all digital cameras were as well documented as Nikon!

Summary: for the price, you can't buy a better flash for the D70. While less expensive than the SB-800, the SB-600 is lighter and recycles faster. This is more than worth the money, and a perfect mate for your D70.

ADDENDUM. Three years on this is still a great strobe for any Nikon DLSR made. I recently used it to demonstrate the off-camera remote control function built into most better Nikon DLSRs. The class I was teaching were amazed and the Canon shooters were left wanting. Check out the spontaneous group portrait I made of some students with this thing. Everyone wanted a copy!

Despite having a sackful of flashes, including a lot of Vivitar 283s and 285s that have served me well, when I bought my D70 I had nothing that really worked well with the new camera. In order to take advantage of the D70's iTTL metering system you really have only two choices- the SB-800 and SB-600.

Many opt for the SB-800, yet it really has only two practical advantages over the SB-600:

1. It delivers somewhat more output (at the cost of slower recycling) and

2. It can act as a master unit in an array of SB-600s and SB-800s.

All well and good, but who among us really intends to set up the three and four flash arrays Nikon shows in their brochure? Or even two flash arrays? If I need that many lights I'd use a studio flash setup, which would be cheaper and more flexible in the long run.

As it is, the SB-600 can be triggered remotely by the D70 flash, or you can use a remote cable. A small slaved fill flash unit can be added (I like to use them for lighting hair in portraits) without really affecting the main exposure. And most of the time all I need in one light. The guy who taught me lighting showed me that you can do handle just about any lighting task there is with a sigle soft light or bounced flash.

So for 2/3rds the cost of the SB-800, the 600 delivers 90% of the features, and 100% of the useful features. Add the remote cable and a couple of reflectors, and you can do just about possible one-light trick- and that's a lot of tricks.

I have a confession to make: I bought the SB-800 instead of the SB-600, but only after spending way too much time looking at both the two flashes and trying to decide which one was right for me. The 600 is a very sophisticated and capable flash, fully supporting Nikon's various TTL modes.(TTL=through the lens, meaning the camera monitors the flash.) The 600, as with the 800, is most effective on recent Nikon digital SLR bodies, esp. the D70, which can take full advantage of flash functions that constitute what Nikon calls "creative lighting system (CLS)" (basically the CLS allows you to use multiple 600 and/or 800 flashes to create studio-like lighting conditions).

(...)

Of course, either the 600 or 800 (or even "older" Nikon flashes such as the SB-28, etc.) will provide better lighting than the internal flash. Whichever flash you buy, be sure to get one that allows you tilt the flash head so you can do bounce photography. Bounce photography makes a world of difference vis-a-vis direct flash when it comes to indoor portraits.

(Originally posted on the SB-800 product page: Why I chose the SB-800 over SB-600):

I won't repeat the wealth of information the other kind reviewers have already given. I'll just focus on why I decided to cough up the extra $100 to get the SB-800 instead of the less powerful SB-600.

Compared to the SB-600, the SB-800 has the following extra features:

1) Much more powerful, as reflected in the GN.
2) Slightly faster recycle time with the standard four AA batteries. It also comes with a battery holder that holds a fifth battery which cuts down recycle time by 1/3 to 1/2.
3) The SB-800 has non-TTL auto and auto aperture modes. (More on this later.)
4) In wireless remote mode, the SB-800 can act both as the master and slave, whereas the 600 can only be a slave.
5) It comes with a useful diffusion dome, which won't even fit on the SB-600.
6) The SB-800 package also includes two colored gel filters.
7) The SB-800 can do repeating flash (in the same exposure), for a strobe effect.

Basically, both the 600 and 800 support Nikon's latest flash technologies, i-TTL (supported by the D70 and D2H only) and CLS (creative lighting system), in addition to all the TTL (through the lens) flash modes Nikon introduced in the past. The 600 is really a prosumer-level flash that's either TTL or manual, whereas the 800 is pure pro-grade with a lot of modes and options. The manual, evidently written by a Japanese manual writer, attests to its sophistication; understanding the manual will really require a Ph.D. in yoga so you don't stress yourself out.

The 800's auto modes are what won me over in the end. The auto modes can set the flash output automatically on Nikon bodies that do not support any TTL (through the lens) mode. On those bodies, with the 600 you'd have to resort to manual, which is simply a pain in the butt, not to mention prone to error. The two non-TTL auto modes on the 800 are auto aperture and auto. You'll need to study the manual very carefully to figure out the difference; I still haven't, but I'm already enjoying the auto aperture mode. The availability of auto modes also means the 800 can be used on a wide range of Nikon bodies than the simpler 600.

If you are deciding between the 600 and the 800 like I was, ask yourself the following questions:

1) Do you have an extra $100-$150 to spend? If yes, the 800.
2) Do you plan to use the external flash a lot? If yes, the 800.
3) Do you have Nikon bodies (usually older manual ones) that do not support TTL (you can find out in the camera's user's guide)? If yes, the 800.
4) Do you plan to do a lot of wireless flash photography and take full advantage of Nikon's Creative Lighting System? If yes, the 800.
5) If you want to get a diffusion dome that fits the flash, get the 800.

In the end, I think the SB-800 is a better long-term investment than the SB-600, despite the higher price. It's much more powerful and flexible, and even though it's an overkill for me right now, I imagine when my flash photography improves (and I'm trying very hard right now), it'll prove a very worthy investment.

Feel free to drop me an e-mail at hotmail with any questions. BTW, if anyone knows of a good web forum that discusses how to effectively use Nikon's sophisticated flash modes and the CLS, please let us know. Thanks.

Let me start out by saying that I am an AMATEUR photographer. I had a point and shoot that was so slow that all the pictures of my four year old daughter were just shots of a small, human shaped, blur. She just doesn't sit still long enough for the camera to cycle. So I did some research and decided that a DSLR was the cure to my blur. I ended up purchasing the Nikon D50. It is a great entry to mid level camera that can allow you to do things that professionals are doing with higher end cameras. The one issue I had with the camera was that the built in flash when needed, wasn't cutting it (a problem I am told with all built in flashes on DSLRs). The pictures while consistently clear, crisp, and still way better than pictures from my point and shoot, were still lacking the brilliance of a picture taken outside on a perfect, picture taking day. That sounds kind of corny I know; but, I couldn't think of any other way to get my point across. So I purchased the SB-600. This flash is a great add on flash with a built in diffuser that stores in the flash housing and flips out when you need it. The flash head is hinged and swiveled so you can angle it anywhere that you want. It has an abundance of controls and adjustments that can let you customize your settings if you so choose. If you experiment with the settings so much that the flash starts misbehaving (I have), you can reset the flash back to factory settings at the push of two buttons. The flash can be triggered remotely (via IR signal using D70 and more advanced cameras but not with D50) meaning that it does not have to be mounted in the hot shoe of the camera. I am still experimenting with it; but, after reading the manual about three or four times (I've discovered photography is an art form that requires a scientific approach. I've got the science part but I am still lacking in the art department.) and finding other informative literature elsewhere (the net and talented friends), I am actually starting to take really good pictures. The settings on the flash allow you to get very creative with some interesting, illumination results. The cycle time on the flash is very quick. I am actually able to take three or four pictures in quick succession and the flash fires every time. I am now able to capture my daughter and see her as clear as if she were standing in front of me actually taking a second to stop and talk to me. Bottom line... It is a very good flash.

I bought a Nikon D70S to learn digital technique. My magazines are all moving to digital so it became a practical imperative. But I quickly learned that the D70s' built in flash was too limited for pro work. I borrowed a SB-800 and found that it produced a very hot image - even with the soft-dome installed. I asked a friend if he experienced the same thing and he said, sheepishly, yes. Next, I tried the SB-600 and, amazingly, the images were perfect. And it was a many bucks cheaper.

Recycle time is good. It works like every other modern Nikon flash I have and it even will work on my F5 film camera.

Size and weight are good. The wide angle adapter is easy to use and works right out to the edge of my 20-35mm F2.8 lens.

I use it with lithium AA's and I love them because they stay strong in cold weather (well worth the extra expense).

The real cool feature is the ability to do "off camera" wireless flash. It comes with a little stand so you can place the light where you want it - nice touch.

I have to say that the unit has a real Nikon feel - solid, quality, robust.

I am very happy with this purchase. I think I probably will move up to the SB-800 ( if I can figure out the exposure thing) when I buy the D200 later this year but for now, while I learn digital, this is one heck of a bargain.