SB600 + D300 AF assist only, no flash

<p>Hello pnetters,<br>

Just want to confirm that with the SB600, it's not possible to have the hot shoe flash be used only for AF assist, no flash output, but it's possible on the sb800/900? What about on the sb28.</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p>Alvin</p>

<p>The SB800 will certainly do this. The SB900 I'm not sure, but I would assume so.</p>

<p>I don't know about the SB-600 or SB-900 but, yes, with the SB-800 there's an option to disable the flash and use only the AF assist red lamp (it's buried in the flash unit's menu, not on the camera). I've used that several times in situations too dark for even the D2H to AF reliably. The AF assist lamp is activated only when the camera is set to AF-S autofocus mode, not AF-C.</p>

<p>When I moved to digital with a D200 some time ago,I was advised not to use my SB-28 under any circumstances on the camera. I've since read it can be used in manual mode, but I would seriously doubt that it can be used for AF assist.</p>

<p>Cheers guys, thanks for the confirmation :)</p>

<p>Gary: The sb28 functions very well in the auto modes or manual modes on my D200 and D300 (also on the Canon 20D, 1000D, 350D - never tried other models yet). IMO, SB28/Auto actually does better than the sb600/TTL when facing subjects that are very light.</p>

<p>Regards,<br>

Alvin</p>