Nikon D80 & SB28, can they work together?

Wife just called and I was "pimped out" to shoot the kids of her Boss for

Christmas Pictures. Tomorrow! I normally would spend a few days researching my

question but I am going out of town Monday and have to shoot tomorrow. No

time! I recently aquired a D80 and feel comfortable using it except for Flash.

I have an SB28 now and was planning on getting the SB600/800 but had no idea

until today I would need to use a flash tomorrow.

Anyway. Can I make do with the SB28 on the D80? I don't think TTL will work

but I could be wrong. Any ideas on how to make this work? I am at work right

now so just trying to get some ideas to expirement with tonight.

 

I will admit, I am not very adept at flash photography so any help is mucho

appreciated. The wife's boss had photos done by a "pro" and she hates them.

She has always loved my shots of her kids so of course the wife pimped me out.

Nice of her huh? She just wants to see if I can do better.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Jim

 

 

BTW, sorry for the double post. In hurry messed up.

It should work fine in the 'A' mode. It does quite well this way with my D70 and D2X. As you already know, no TTL.

Thanks. Will the zoom on the flash still adjust with the zoom on the lens? If not, no big deal. I can manually adjust or just shoot primes.

I think you've got the right idea; in your circumstances, I think I'd shoot primes--one less unknown. When you can, get the SB-800. It's a masterpiece.

 

Best of luck,

HWD

Jim,

 

The SB-28 should auto-zoom the flash head (if it will auto-zoom a SB-600/800, then it should also zoom a SB-28). If you don't tilt the flash head for bounce, the bar graph on the flash display will also show you the effective range of the flash for the selected aperture.

 

Also, as I'm sure you realize, non-TTL A mode will only work in Aperture priority or manual exposure modes. Manual mode would be my choice for maximum flexibility - aperture priority will likely default to 1/60 sync speed in indoor lighting situations.

Auto power zoom is not available on the D200, and I would assume the same applies to the D80. As already noted, manual adjustment of flash (enter zoom, aperture and ISO) and shooting in Non-TTL auto should work fine.

 

Cheers/Mike

OK,

 

I just got home and tried some test shots on the Dog. (she's pissed, and now blind) Set to "a" mode on flash and aperture mode on the camera which is what I normally shoot in. Seems to work pretty well.

 

So, no autozoom on the flash and I need to set the aperture and zoom range. No problem. I will probably shoot primes with my 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8 anyway to play it safe and less room for error.

 

One question because my head is fried right now. On my 50mm, would I set the flash zoom to 50mm or the 70mm setting (No 75mm setting on the flash - just 70mm or 85mm). In other words, do I need to compensate for the 1.5x crop factor on the D80? The 50mm is basically now a 75mm so does that need to be carried over to the flash as well?

 

Thanks so far for the great responses. Your help is much appreciated.

 

Jim

With the SB-800 speedlight, if you have a 50mm lens on a D80, the speedlight goes with the 50mm setting. You can test out a wall in your home: set one exposure at 50mm and one at 85mm. Then see which is more to your liking.

Thom's book said to use a more zoomed in, he says if not you are just wasting power output, I have not tested personally myself though.

 

If such, and you have a 50mm - 75mm, I go for 70mm incase 80mm cuts you out. Round lower to be safe.