Given that I have been designated the official photographer for my grandfather’s 80th birthday bash (a small gathering of family and friends in the middle of Dartmoor), I decided it was in my best interest to shell out on a flash other than the one built in to the D80. I looked at the Nikon offerings for a few days, and eventually settled on the Nikon SB-600. It’s placed between the SB-400 and SB-800 Speedlights, but appears to be a good compromise of features for the money (and getting it quite a few £ below retail certainly swayed my decision).

I’ve been shooting some test shots tonight with it, and I’m starting to wonder how I ever managed without an off-body flash. The flexibility that it’ll give me is incredible – I just need a dim room and some test subjects to get my flash-work down pat. I’ve also worked out how to get the D80 to act as a commander unit when the 600 is sitting on a stand, which is great – my initial trials made me think that it wouldn’t work. I’ll need to build a diffuser for the on-board flash, but that’s actually remarkably easy, I’ve already got a spare white film canister from Jessops (just walked in and asked if they had any :).

Of course, this means that I now have another item to pack in my camera bag, along with a spare set of rechargeable triple-A batteries, but it’ll be worth it. I think the only other items I want now are a good tripod, and perhaps a 50/1.4 or 50/1.8 prime. Oh, and having seen this, an eyecup for the D80 might not be a bad idea either, given I wear glasses. It’s also time to start reading the Strobist blog a lot more. One more link – I love the second comment on this photo, made by the owner of the camera; he’s got a good point, I never use anything other than MASP either (with a slight hit of Auto when I just don’t care).

I lied, one more.