**Photography Chat** Version 1.0

Originally Posted by Cmike2780

A off camera or at least shoe mounted flash is essenstial for indoor, even daytime outdoor work. It lets you control how objects or people are lit in the scene, which can mean the difference between looking like a snapshot or a work of art. If you want to up your photo work quality, a speedlight really improves it because you are less reliant on available light in the scene.

I use a SB-900 & a SB-600 as a slave strobe. I love how easy Nikons are when in comes to wireless speedlights. I would agree with Parkerman, the SB-600, even used is a much better flash, more powerfull, than the SB-400. Its well worth the extra expense. The newer SB-700 is probably out of your budget. The SB-600's also have "gels" you can buy that can match the lighting conditions and doesn't mess with the white balance. If the SB-400 is all you can afford to spend right now, its still worth it because the built-in flash is just about useless.

Also, a lot of people overlook white balance and just set it to "auto". Everyone should learn how to do a custom white balance with a grey card (very inexpensive, accurate and saves you a lot of time in post editing).

Originally Posted by phelan

Well typically I shoot in raw. It was my understanding no white balancing is applied to NEF or raw files, so typically I tweak it later. Is that incorrect?

Any suggestions on where to find / buy reliable used stuff like a speedlight?

Originally Posted by Cmike2780

You are correct. Although, RAW files are still tagged with whatever white balance settings (as well as saturation, contrast etc) were on the camera. The difference are plenty, but the biggest "pro" for shooting RAW is being able to adjust those settings without being "distructive." There is considerably more data recorded with RAW files (12bit vs 8 bit)which means more data to work with in post. I usually shoot in RAW+JPEG. This way if I get it right in, less work for me. Shooting in RAW is great, but sometimes you don't need it.

A local camera store or B&H are great place to start since they usually carry some type of warranty (usually 6 months). They are usually a bit more than say, EBay though. It's probably still around $250-$280 for a used SB-600, so I don't know how that would play into your budget.

Originally Posted by phelan

point taken, i also shoot in raw+jpeg, but so far i haven't been too happy with the shots i take straight out of the camera. i'm still far behind our super learner kenchan here

i found a craigslister that's selling the sb-700 for 275 including the ml-l3 remote and a diffuser...i'm asking for details and negotiating, i might jump on it if it's good, but as always i'm very skeptical of CL

Originally Posted by Cmike2780

That Kenchan learns pretty quickly, so I woudn't get too discouraged

That's a really good price for an SB-700. That little remote comes in handy also.