Will Nikon SB-28 flash work with the F4?

I have a F4 and a F5 body. I'm thinking about getting a SB-28 flash for both bodies. Is the SB-28 backward

compatible with the F4? Does the SB-28 support all the flash control capability of the F4, such as matrix

TTL flash? I know the D function won't work since the F4 does not support the distance function.

Yes, the SB-28 is fully compatible with both of your bodies. I think the F100 was the last body that was completely compatible.

I'm having trouble finding details to back this up, but I think that between the F4 / SB-24 combo and the F5 / SB-28 combo, there was a 'migration' of feature control from the flash to the camera. The features in question are slow sync, rear sync, and red-eye reduction.

 

By using a 'new flash' on an 'old camera' (e.g. SB-28 on F4) you may be giving up control of / access to those features.

 

The SB-25 and SB-26 were 'bridge models' for the migration of those features, as were the N90 and N90s cameras. On those combos, you could control those features from either the camera or the flash. Before the 'bridge models', the features were controlled from the flash. After the bridge, the features are controlled from the camera.

 

For straight up matrix TTL use, yes, the SB-28 should work fine with your F4.

I use a SB-26 for my F4. It allows rear-sync (and hence automatic slow-sync) which the SB-28 does not. From features side the SB-26 is the best flash for the two cameras. SB-28 is a bit smaller and if I remember right a bit more powerful with shorter recycle times. Not so much that it really matters, though, imhu.

The SB26 is a little bigger but it also has an optical slave which the SB28 doesn't have.

Thanks for all the great inputs.