Vivitar Bounce Zoom Swivel Dslr Flash for Nikon Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought the Vivitar D-383-NIK dedicated flash because I used the Canon version with the yearbook and I realized how much I can do with it beyond the yearbook. I'm not saying it is not good for yearbook shots because it really is good for that. It provides excellent fill light, especially when the built-in diffuser is put on and the reflecting plate is added.
One of my favorite features of this flash is the slave mode. In my opinion, when it comes to art, nothing is worse than a flash that shoots straight on. A little photography tip, side lighting is the best lighting for still life and nature. I put my Nikon's built in flash on 1/32 or 1/16 power which is enough to trigger the Vivitar flash, but not really enough to make a difference in terms of lighting. I use the Vivitar flash as a source of side lighting and the results are amazing!
There is one problem with the flash. After about a week and a half of owning it, the flash bulb broke. Every other function like the zoom and the LCD screen worked, but the flash would not fire. Luckily, I called the company and they sent a replacement flash for no charge at all!
The only major improvement that I would make on the flash is the short battery life, but this can be worked around with a few sets of rechargeable batteries.
The swivel and pivoting head is amazing and the quality of the flash when bouncing light is also superb.
I would recommend this product to anybody because it is very similar to the Nikon SB-600, but at half the price.


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Vivitar DF-283 DSLR AF Flash Features
Bounce Zoom Swivel DSLR AF Flash.

Red Focus beam to assist in low lighting conditions
Includes reflecting plate and wide angle diffuser
Uses 4 AA batteries
DSLR Auto Focus
TTL metering
Red eye reduction
Power Saving
Automatic shutter speed setting

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Sunpak PZ40X II Power Zoom Digital Flash for all Nikon TTL, D-TTL, and i-TTL Cameras (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this little flash to use with my Nikon D90. This flash works well with the camera. It does not have many bells and whistles for special effects, but it's light, simple and the price is right. Recycle time is reasonable for quick burst at close range. I used it on around 1,200 shots without a single problem.

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Auto power-offUses 2 AA alkaline, NiMH, or Ni-Cd batteries

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Bower SFD35N Nikon i-TTL Dedicated Flash Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)INITIAL REVIEW
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I didn't own this unit for the initial review. I had to rate it or Amazon won't accept my comment, so I initially rated it a 4 based on my overall initial impression of "great value, OK features". I later edited this comment and reduced the rating to a 3 due to poor durability (one of the flashes burned out under relatively light use). I initially reviewed it to provide the following missing technical information. Researching found the following for comparison to Nikon flashes (The Amazon product description is difficult to read):
Model Name: Bower SFD35N Flash for Nikon
Guide Number: 34m/112ft at ISO 100(50mm at ISO 100)
Circuitry: IGBT Circuitry (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
AF Illumination: 0.9m-8m/3ft-26ft
Automatic TTL Range: 0.9m-17m/3ft-56ft (f2.0)
Color temperature: 5600K
Bounce angle: up 30-45-60-75-90 degrees
Swivel angle: left 60-75-90-120-150-180 / right 60-75-90-120-150 degrees
Flash duration: 1/700 sec (at full power)
Number of Flashes: 100-300 per set of batteries
Exposure check confirmation: Green auto check lamp
i-TTL indication: Orange lamp
Auto standby
Recycle time: 4 to 6 sec with Alkaline Batteries
Power Source: 4 AA Batteries, not included
Zoom range: 28-85mm (manual not automatic) - For 35mm/FX format
Auto distance range: 3.3ft to 33ft
Angle of coverage: Horizontal - 60 degrees, Vertical 45 degrees
Dimensions: 76mm(W) x 60mm(H) x 185mm(L) / 3.(W) x 2.5 inch(H) x 7.3inch(L)
Weight (without battery): 280 grams (13,6 oz)
UPDATE
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I decided to take a gamble and buy this flash. Based on playing with it a little and using it on a location family portrait shoot, it is definitely no where near comparable to a Nikon in quality of manufacturing, but it is a good value given it's low price. This iTTL flash does work well as advertised on-camera, and has a really good guide number (better than a Nikon SB600 costing a lot more). If you only want a single consumer-grade iTTL flash for on-camera work to replace Nikon's weak built-in flash, this is a very cost effective choice.
However, some of the missing features (such as no optical slave) are more annoying to me than I thought they would be. I do portrait and wedding photography, and was looking to buy a few cheap units as backups for location work. I would like to be able to have either flash triggered by another flash, but even a radio-controller won't work with the SFD35N as it has no sync plug socket for one (wassup wit dat??). So due to lack of sync socket I'll sell this flash and replace it with a Bower SFD926N (which has an optical slave - but still no sync socket).
My buddy with a D-40 wants an economical flash with better reach than the built in flash, and I am very comfortable selling this flash plus 3rd-party diffuser to a close friend. He's an avid amateur with limited hobby budget, has no need for the off-camera slave function and has already seen the quality of bounced light this flash produced at a indoor party with fairly dark wood interior and bright window light, so he'll be as pleased as I was with this flash when used in that configuration. I purchased two Bower SFD926N units for backups and as cheap lightweight off-camera optical slaves - so I can have multiple lights and not have to lug around my Photogenics system. I use my Nikon SB900 with SD9 battery pack for my workhorse. Either of these Bowen flashes (SFD35N or SFD926N) have guide numbers better than some monolights I've researched and are way more portable for location/wedding work, with no "car batteries" to lug or power cords to have to string across a church.
Also read the comments and responses to this post by clicking on the COMMENTS link below...
;-{>


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The Bower SFD35N Digital Auto-Focus Flash is a fully dedicated i-TTL program flash designed to work with the Nikon line of digital and film SLR cameras. Designed with professional and amateur photographers in mind, the SFD35N flash is equipped with a guide number of 112' with full i-TTL metering, automatic shutter speed control and aperture control of digital and analog SLR cameras.

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