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Nikon SB900 Review

Nikon SB900 Speedlight is Nikon's latest flagship speedlight and was released in 2008. It replaced the SB800 that was released back in 2003.
It has more feature, better UI, faster recharge speed than it's predecessor, but it's not without it's fault. And it's quite a bit more expensive as well. So here is my review of the SB900 and i'll compare the SB900 with the SB600 and SB800 in a few different areas.

What's in the box

Here is the SB900 box



Quite a large box for just a flash!!


Opens the box and you'll first see the warranty card, user manual, CLS guide...etc



The supplied colour filter (4 of them) and stand are also there.



Underneath is the new flagship speedlight from Nikon: the SB900!!! it's sleeping inside the supplied carry bag..




and it's huge!!!




don't believe me?

Check the Size and Dimensions section below and see if you agree with me?


Here is the flash removed from the carry case:






See the small (big?) compartment at the bottom of the bag, what is it??

It stores the supplier diffuser and colour filter holder!




This is a side by side photo with it's small brother, SB600:




and they turn around:




and stand up:




And this is what the large SB900 LCD display looks like:




Now enough pictures, so how is the SB900 and how does it compare with the SB600 and SB800? Why the SB900 cost so much more than the SB600, they are just camera flash after all, so what makes the SB900 so much more expensive??

One of the biggest difference between SB600 and SB900 is that SB900 (and SB800) can be used as a commander in CLS mode. SB600 can only be used as a receiver in CLS mode. Most of the recent Nikon DSLR (e.g. D80,D90,D200,D300,D700...etc) the internal flash can be used as the CLS commander. But there are a few reasons why you would want to use an external flash as the commander, such as: longer range, rotatable head so you can put the remote flash behind you for example, and control 3 remote groups instead of 2...etc Another reason for getting a external flash as the commander is that it allows you to quickly adjust the CLS settings from the flash UI (user interface) itself instead of having to go into the camera menu. So let's talk about SB900's UI first.

User Interface:
One thing i really don't like about the SB600 is it's user interface. It was just not really well thought out. With the simple LCD display and limited number of button, you'll have to read the manual (or in my case, a few times!) before you can remember how to access the different features of the flash. For example, to turn on/off the CLS mode requires you to press and hold two buttons for a few seconds, then press two other buttons. It's not the most user friendly design and there is no way i can figure out how to do it if i haven't read and memorise the user manual. I have been using the SB600 for a few years, but i still need to go back and read the user manual occassionally as sometime i just forgot how to access some of the features after i don't use it for a while. The SB800 with it's bigger dot matrix LCD display and more button is better than the SB600. But for a simple function such as switch from normal mode to wireless TTL mode requires at least six button presses. Not anymore with the SB900 as Nikon really has put a lot of effort in redesigning the whole SB900 UI. The SB900 is just much easier to use, the controls and menus just makes more sense. I love the new On/Off/Remote/Master switch (with the small interlock button in the middle). I love the new and large LCD! I love the new button layout. Everything just how/where it suppose to be. It makes me wonder why the SB800 wasn't designed like this at the first place! SB900's user manual is around 100 pages long. But because of the user friendly UI design, you don't really need to read the whole manual before you know how to use it. (thank you Nikon!) You can basically pick up the flash and follow the onscreen display and you should be able to figure out how to use 99% of the function. I have still read the whole user manual to make sure i didn't miss any feature.. and i didn't find any "hidden" surprises.

Firmware Update:
The SB900 is the world's first flash that allows firmware update. It allows Nikon to improve the functionality of the flash (although i doubt they will add any major feature without releasing a new flash) or fix some of the existing problems. For example the firmware 5.02 fixes the overheating problem and a couple of small problems. To update the firmware, it requires a newer digital SLR such as the D3X, D3, D300, D700, D90, D5000, D3000. Yes the SB900 is not really film SLR friendly (more about that later)

Zoom Range:
SB900 has improved zoom range over it's predecessor:
SB900 17 - 200mm
SB800 24 -105mm
SB600 24 - 85mm
Not only that it also has the new automatic FX/DX detection feature and will adjust the light distribution (zoom) depends on if you are using a DX or FX camera.


Guide number:

M1/1 14mm 50mm 105mm 200mm
SB900 17m 40m 49.5 56m
SB800 17m 44m 56m ----
SB600 14m 36m 40m (85mm) ----

From this chart you can see that SB800 has the biggest power output out of the three. SB900 is somewhere between the SB800 and SB600. Obviously this is one area that SB900 is not as good as it's predecessor. And if you want a flash with high power ouput, then you will prefer the old SB800 power. One interesting thing is. SB900 @ 200m zoom has the same range as the SB600 at 105mm.

Light Distribution Pattern:
One of the new feature of the SB900 is it's adjustable light distribution pattern. You can select either:
Standard, Center Weighted or Even.
Standard is for general illumination. Center-weighted is best for portraits where only you want/need to illuimate the center of the picture. Use Even if you want a even light distribution is very important, like for a large group photo or interiors.

Colour Filter:
The SB900 comes with 4 colour filters (A1,A2,G1,G2) and a colour filter holder. It has the automatic white balance function when use with the supplied colour filter. The flash can detects which colour filter you are using and if you are using again.. one of the latest DSLR which supports filter detecion (D90, D3, D700..etc) then the camera's white balance will be adjusted automatically to match the colour filter.
In comparision, SB800 comes with 2 colour filter but doesn't have automatic white balance function. The SB600 doesn't come with any colour filter or filter holder.

Manual White Balance Auto White Balance
So how good does the new Auto WB feature work with the colour filter? Here are some sample photos:

Left: WB = Manual Right WB = Automatic White Balance

No Colour Filter
Colour Filter A1
Colour Filter A2
Colour Filter G1
Colour Filter G2

To see how the new Auto WB feature is compare it with the old camera's auto WB, i put the SB900 with the A1 colour filter on my D200 (which doesn't support SB900's auto colour filter white balance feature) , white balance set to Auto WB:

D200 with Colour Filter A1 Camera set to AutoWB

D700 with Colour Filter A1 using SB900's auto WB feature



Min Recharge Time:
Battery Alkaline-manganese NiMH
SB900 4.0sec 2.3sec
SB800 6.0sec 4.0sec
SB800* 5.0sec 2.9sec
SB600 3.5sec 2.5sec

*with extra battery box and 5 batteries

One of the SB900's big improvement over the SB800 is the recharge time, it's just a lot faster even if SB800 has 5 batteries installed. The SB900's recharge time is just about as fast as SB600 which has a much lower power output.


Temp Cut-off Setting
The SB900 has a controversial new feature, it's the temperature cut off protection . This is an important new feature that will shut down the flash when it reach a certain temperature and potentially save you from frying your flash. This feature can be manually turned off (i heard there is still a cut off even if you turn it off.. but i can't confirm it). So why do I call it a controversial feature? One of the main complain about the SB900 when it first came out was that, it overheat easily, especially on a hot day. Quite a lot of SB900 users claim that they never have this problem when shooting with the SB800. So why is it?
I don't know the real reason, but i believe this is mostly beleive of:
1. SB800 has no cut off protection, so it would just work until the flash reached a very high tempature and damage the flash. I have heard quite a few people who have fried their SB800 because of overheating. Hopefully with this new feature, not so many people with fry their SB900.
2. Look at the recharge time table above, you can easily see that SB900 has a much faster recharge time, even if the SB800 has 5 batteries installed. This means the SB900 can heat up much faster if you push it hard.
3. Nikon probably has set the SB900's cut off temperature too low. So the cut off protection got triggered quite easily. Nikon has then released the firmwire 5.02 which seem to have increased the cut off temperature quite a bit. Some users said this new firmware has solved their overheat problem.

My SB900 already come with the latest 5.02 firmware and I've never have any overheating problem. I've tried to test how bad the overheat problem is by intentionally firing the flash at full power continuously. At room temperature of around 20 degree celcuis with new and fully charged NiMh batteries, after firing the flash 35 time non-stop at full power. The temperature indicator on the SB900's LCD screen was still pointing to the bottom of the temperature gauge. I was pushing it a lot harder than how i normally use my camera flash so i can say it's very unlikely i'll run into the overheat problem anytime soon.


Size and Dimensions:

Weight
SB900 415g
SB800 350g
SB600 300g

Dimensions:
SB900 SB800 SB600
SB900 78.0 x146.0 x 118.5 mm
SB899 70.5 x 129.5 x 93.0mm
SB600 68 x 123.5 x 90mm


SB900 is clearly the heaviest and biggest. I personally don't mind the extra weight too much consider the improvements and extras features it has. And if you add the extra battery and battery holder to the SB800, it'll weight very similar to the SB900 anyway.
But one thing i don't like is the size of the flash when it's in the provided carry case. It's just huge. I need to rearrange my camera bags to make some room for this big boy...
okay let me put it next to my 70-200VR f/2.8 and you can see how big the SB900 is in it's carry case:



see, it's huge... and i've to remove one or two small items from my camera bag to fit the SB900


Backwards compatiblilty / With Older Film SLR:
As I've mentioned earlier, SB-900 is not very backwards compatible with the older film SLR. Not only the new feature like firmware update, auto colour filter WB doesn't work with the film SLR, The SB900 also only supports the latest iTTL. It does not support the film SLR TTL nor the early DSLR's D-TTL mode. If you are shooting with a film SLR, you'll want the SB800 or SB600 or you can only use it in M or A mode.


Others
Here are just some other differences between the SB600,800 and 900
The SB800 and SB900 both have a built-in bounce Card that comes out automatically when you pull out the wide angle diffuser. SB600 doesn't have this feature.
SB600 doesn't have a PC connection, SB800 and SB900 both have it.
SB800 and SB900 both can take external battery pack. SB600 can't.



Conclusions:

For most users, the SB900 is definitely a good upgrade to the SB800. It's not a perfect flash even when compare to the SB800. It's backwards compatiblilty with Older Film SLR is not so good, power output is less than SB800, and it's also bigger and heavier as well. But the new features like automatic colour filter WB adjustment, adjustable light distribution, faster recharge time, updatable firmware ..etc are all good and useful, and in my opinion the biggest upgrade is the new user interface. For a flash with so many features and user adjustable settings, there is no use if you just can't access and adjust them easily and quickly. It is especially true if you are shooting events, weddings as you only have very little time to make any adjustments you want to do or you'll miss the shoot you want to take. The new control layout and the new LCD display design are just make a lot more sense compare to the older models and make things a lot easier to use.
But if you are using a film SLR, then the SB800 or maybe even SB600 would be better for you as you won't be able to take advantage of some of the new features and you can't even use TTL as well.
And if I already have a few Nikon SB800s, i probably wouldn't upgrade to the Nikon SB-900 as the SB800 is a very good flash once you get used and memories the user interface. But if I'm buying a new flash and going to make a decision between a SB800 and SB900 , then i would definitely get a SB900 as i just feel it is a better overall flashgun.
If i'm buying a flash my first flash, then i'll probably just get a SB600 first. Main reason is i don't have any other remote flash to control anyway so one of the big reason for buying the SB900 (or SB800) (use the flash as a CLS commander) is not valid. At around 1/2 the price, the SB600 is a good no-frills flash. You still have all the "basic" functions like iTTL, hi-speed sync, rotatable head..etc And if you want to try out the awesome Nikon CLS system, you can use your camera built-in flash to control and trigger it. Once you become more serious, then you can get yourself a SB900, which is definitely the smartest and most advanced camera flash from Nikon.

Thanks for the great and very thorough review!!! Excellent comparison and alot of useful information there! Excellent! Thank you very much!

Auto detection of gels is very fancy! I wonder how it does that!

I also like the fact gels and all those other bits and pieces are supplied and not "extra options"!

The WB trickery and the new LCD screen are amazing!

That is one great review. Thank you.

Excellent review.
Will definitely invest in one soon.
The thing is massive though. Hope it doesn't look too odd on my D80.

Yes it is MASSIVE!!!
even when used with the D700 + grip it's still big!

(09-10-2009 05:20 PM)yellow15 Wrote: [ -> ]Yes it is MASSIVE!!!
even when used with the D700 + grip it's still big!

Another excuse to invest in a battery grip.

Can you place the flash on the side and trigger it remotely from your camera or do you need special equipment for that, ie wireless trigger, etc.?

yes you can. and you don't need any wireless trigger. that's the beauty of the Nikon DSLR system and Nikon CLS system.
Most Nikon DSLRs (D80,D90,D200,D300,D700...etc)'s internal flash can be used as a commander which can trigger 2 external group of flashes . (or 3 groups if you use a SB800/900 or SU800 to trigger). Not only you can set the power for each group of flashes + your internal flash individually you can also set whether you can to fire it in TTL/Manual/AA mode..etc. You can also use hi-speed sync with CLS as well.
It's a very useful and powerful feature.

Woo Hoo!

---

What's the range?

i think normally is around 10-20meter. but it really depends on a lot of things like the ambient light, whether there are any strong light source nearby..etc
It may not sound like a lot. but i rarely need to place my flash more than 10 meters away