Nikon SB-800 Speedlight/Flash

This flash is 21 years old and was replaced with the SB-900 in 2008.

The SB-800 (with a Guide Number of 125 ft.) is more powerful than the SB-5000, SB-910, SB-900, SB-700, SB-600, SB-500, SB-400 or SB-300. It is a powerful flash. So powerful, in fact, that there was an accessory, the SD-800, that allowed mounting an extra AA cell to the outside of the flash unit for the purposes of allowing this powerful flash to charge faster. With this accessory, the recycling time drops to 2.9 sec.

As one would expect from a flash of this caliber, the head tilts and rotates. The power zoom works as a zoom lens is zoomed in and out or a lens is changed.

The SB-800 can accommodate 14mm, 17mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 85mm, 105mm lenses.

In manual mode, the flash tells the photographer, based on aperture, focal length, and power output, how many feet/meters the flash will reach. It's pretty slick. Importantly, it has Auto FP High-Speed Sync which allows shutter speeds up to ¹/_8000th sec.

This flash supports automatic, non-TTL, mode which means there is a little sensor on the front of the flash that reads the scene to determine when enough light has exposed the scene.

Additional accessories include a SD-7 battery pack that uses C-size cells and is good for 350 flashes, an SD-8A battery pack that drops the recycle time to 2 sec. and 300 flashes, and a SU-4 wireless slave flash controller..

Complaints

Accessing the functions of this flash is a bit convoluted, but only a bit. The button has to be held down until the menu changes. It's much better than the SB-600, for example. It would be nice if buttons were dedicated to master and slave modes, though.

Compatibility

This flash is compatible with all Nikon Z, Nikon DSLR and film cameras.

Specifications

Electronic construction	Automatic Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and series circuitry
Flash exposure control	i-TTL, D-TTL, TTL (film based), Balanced Fill-Flash, Manual
Guide number (at 35mm zoom-head position)	38/125 (ISO 100, m/ft), 53/174 (ISO 200, m/ft)
Flash coverage	14 to 17mm (Automatic mode, with built-in wide flash adapter (14mm with SW-10H Diffusion Dome )) 24 to 105mm (Automatic mode)
Flash shooting distance range (in TTL auto flash mode)	0.6m to 20m (2 to 65.6 ft.) (varies depending on the ISO sensitivity, zoom-head position and lens aperture in use)
Power SW	OFF/STBY ON
Recycling time	2.7 sec. (approx.) with R6, Ni-Cd or Ni-MH AA-size batteries, or with Quick Recycle Battery Pack SD-800; manual 6.0 sec. (approx.) with FR6/Lithium AA-size batteries; manual
Number of flashes / Recycle Time	90/3.5–30 sec. (1.2V NiCd) (x5) 90/4–30 sec. (1.2V NiCd) (x4) 130/4–30 sec. (1.5V Alkaline-manganese) (x5) 130/6–30 sec. (1.5V Alkaline-manganese) (x4) 140/5–30 sec. (1.5V Nickel) (x5) 140/6–30 sec. (1.5V Nickel) (x4) 150/2.9–30 sec. (1.2V Ni-MH) (x5) 150/4–30 sec. (1.2V Ni-MH) (x4) 170/7.5–30 sec. (1.5V Lithium) (x4) 190/7.5–30 sec. (1.5V Lithium) (x5)
Creative lighting system	A variety of flash operations are available with cameras compatible with CLS: i-TTL mode, Advanced Wireless Lighting, FV Lock flash, Flash color information communication, Auto FP High-Speed sync, and Wide-area AF-Assist Illuminator
Wireless Communication Channels	Four: 1, 2, 3 and 4 Channels
Wireless Groups	Three: A, B and C
Other Available Functions	Test Firing Monitor Pre-flashes AF-assist illuminator Modeling illuminator
Wireless Flash Modes	Master Master (RPT) Off Remote SU-4
Display LCD	Segment type
Shoe-lock	One action lock
Power source	Four 1.2V KR-AA (AA-size NiCd) batteries Four 1.5V LR6 (AA-size alkaline) batteries Four 1.5V FR6 (AA-size lithium) batteries SD-7 DC Unit (optional 1 2) SD-800 Quick Recycle Battery pack holds a fifth AA-size battery for faster power recycling (optional) SD-8A Battery Pack (optional)
Dimensions (W x H x D)	Approx. 2.8 in.(70.6 mm) x 5 in.(127.4 mm) x 3.6 in.(91.7 mm)
Weight (without batteries)	Approx. 350g (12 oz.)
Included accessories	Speedlight stand (AS-19), Soft case (SS-800), Diffusion Dome (SW-10H)
Optional accessories	TTL Remote Cord SC-29, TTL Remote Cord SC-28, Color Filter Set (SJ-1)