Let Me Shed a Little Light on Myself......

I don't know whether it cause's my feminine side come out or what, but I've noticed that whenever I get stressed.....I shop. Of course, that means in a "Frugal Propellerhead" style, not the credit card melting, many bag toting, manner typically associated with the female gender. My daughter is in the hospital after an emergency appendectomy, so I bought a Nikon SB-800 off of Craig's List. Just to get it out of the way, it was $260, in "mint" condition complete with box and everything originally included. They guy says he used it a few times and the condition would bear that out. 

Of course this would lead to a Post topic to discuss this aspect of my hobby. When you pursue photography at any level higher than snap-shooting, it's inevitable to have to buy an outboard, strobe eventually. These thing are usually "shoe-mounted" devices that give the photographer MUCH more flexibility in how lighting is handled. These things are not what they were in "the old days", where the flash was just triggered by the camera and nothing else. These days, it's not only that they are controlled through the camera, get AND send exposure information, they're actually Lighting Systems, with the ability to control other units. So much for the whole modern flash thing. Let's talk about what I need one for and what that mean's in Frugal Propellerhead-World.

A few years ago, after I got my first DSLR (D70), I realized that the little built-in pop-up flash was pretty much for emergency purposes only when a real flash isn't available! Since the vast majority of photographs that I take are of the family portrait variety, I needed an ability not only to do "fill", but to control light in general when it isn't exactly what I need at any given time. After looking around, it was apparent that the going price was going to be around $200-225 for the smaller Nikon SB-600, so I cheaped-out. I searched around to find a Sunpak PZ-40 for about $50-60. I won't say that it was a "waste" of money, but it definitely wasn't what I wanted or needed. So I finally broke down and bought an SB-600 on the local Craig's List for $185. It turned out to be one of the best things I've ever bought in photographic equipment. I use it all the time and it completely gives me control over lighting that I never had before. All the subsequent photo shoots were so much less stressful since I could now create my own lighting (within reason)! 

Of course for us semi-OCD types, this leads to a new fascination for strobe-based creative lighting. Which began with all manner of late-night internet reading on the use of strobe-lighting, the generally accepted Guru of which is a guy named David Hobby. Just Google "the strobist" and prepared to be amazed! I was, but of course that mean buying more equipment......woe is me....... Anyway, I was motivated to desire a small fleet of remotely controllable strobes (Speedlights in Nikon-speak). Of course, "desire" is the operative word when you are frugal. So, what I needed was a relatively powerful flash capable of manual operation (with fractional power control) and some ability to remotely trigger the strobe. I'm not going to get into the details at this time (future post), but I've been trying to learn from the experience of others, and the Nikon SB-24, 25, and 26 Speedlights are highly recommended by David Hobby, the Strobist. 

The most desirable of these is the SB-26, mostly due to the inclusion of a built-in optical "slave" trigger, that allows for it to be easily used remotely without having to buy anything else. And as luck would have it, I came across one on Craig's List for $50. It was a terrible ad and didn't even tell the model number. I had to ask, since there was no picture either! However, after I found out what it was, I ran my happy butt up to Plano and picked this thing up from a woman who was cleaning up her husband's "old junk"! This state of affairs went on for some time and I was happy with what I had, but in the back of my mind, I always thought I wanted another flash, but couldn't afford/rationalize it, especially given that I really wanted a SB-800. These things routinely sell for over $300, and that's kind of a psychological break-point for me when it's not a major piece of equipment like a camera body, computer, receiver or speakers.

Last night though, we had the Perfect Storm of Photographic Propellerheadedness occurred. Daughter was getting her appendix out, $260 burning a hole in my pocket from some computer work, and a person selling his SB-800 (and 600) after upgrading to SB-900s. I talked him down from the very fair $300 he was asking to $260, with a Visual Echos Flash Extender thrown in. So, on the way down to the hospital, I arranged to meet the seller and picked up this latest acquisition. It's a good, but not awesome price. It's not something I needed, or will majorly change my photography. The SB-600 will do 85% of what this thing will do. It just turn out to be the right piece of equipment at the right time, at the right price.