Digital Home Thoughts: Nikon SB900: Flash forward?

Product Category: Camera Flash
Manufacturer: Nikon
Where to Buy: Amazon [Affiliate]
Price: $456 USD
System Requirements: Nikon DSLR with iTTL compatibility for full range of features.

Pros:

• Decreased recycle times (and without needing a 5th battery too);
• A proper switch that not only turns on the flash, but enables the wireless modes.
• New user interface is a bit quicker and easier to operate for many of the flash's myriad settings.
• A new flash-head that zooms to 200mm, giving control over the shape of the light projected...

Cons:

• ... at the cost of making the new flash much bigger than its predecessors;
• No increase in power or distance reached;
• Hotshoe stand (AS-21) mounting screw threads are plastic. Unforgivable cost cutting;
• As of now, the SB800 still is on sale, and represents a very viable and potentially better alternative.

Summary:
Introduced together with the Nikon D700 in early July, the SB900 replaces the SB800 as Nikon's high-end flash. It brings a few new features, such as increased flash cycle times, a new flash head with a twist, as well as an all-new user interface. How well did it do?

Introduction
On July 1, 2008, Nikon announced the latest incarnation of its top-of-the-line flash, the SB900. It follows a long list of great modern flashes in the Nikon lineup, starting with the SB-24. Here the SB900 will be reviewed on the merits of its latest features, starting with its exterior appearance. This review is written with the assumption that the reader has some familiarity with shoe-mounted flashes.

On the Outside

Figure Figure 1: Old vs New: SB900 on the left, and SB800 on the right.

The first thing that is noticed upon taking the SB900 out of the box is its size. Starting with the SB-28 Nikon has managed to shrink the flash to a size much smaller than competing brands without sacrificing power or recycle times. A smaller and lighter flash makes it easier to handle, and also to place in all kinds of weird angles with 3rd party flash brackets. The SB900 reverses all of that; I believe it is even bulkier than the old SB-26, one of the larger modern Nikon flashes. It certainly has been giving me some thought in packing my bags now!

Figure 2: Here, you can compare the sizes of the SB900 and the SB800. Note the size of the new flash head.
Figure 3: Quite the spread of accessories. From left, SB900 on the stand (AS-21), colour filter holder, diffusion dome, mini-folder containing four colour filters, and the included pouch.

The other thing I noticed was the number of accessories that the flash comes with. In addition to the flash, the box also contains the following:

Item	Purpose
Diffusion Dome (SW-13H)	Acts to diffuse the light in a omni-directional way; allows light from flash to bounce off different surfaces.
Colour Filter (SJ-900)	A pack of four colour filters to match the flash's light to the ambient surroundings. Two levels of tungsten and fluorescent tints are provided.
Filter holder (SZ-2)	Piece of clear plastic to hold the colour filters
Hotshoe stand (AS-21)	Another piece of plastic; this one a stand to mount the flash for remote flash purposes. Comes with tripod/stand mounting threads in plastic (!).
Pouch (SS-900)	Longest pouch for a hotshoe mount flash. Ever. Houses the flash and all the other accessories mentioned above.

There were two disappointing things with the accessories. First, the colour filters used with the flash can communicate to the camera on what white balance to set, but only for the D3 and D700 cameras. Everyone else is out of luck. Second, the hotshoe stand's built-in mount is now machined with plastic threads. Consider this accessory to be disposable if the flash is going to be on and off a light stand or a tripod often.

A new thing is that the flash head now swivels by 180 degrees in both directions. Previously the flash head would swivel 180 to the left and only 90 degrees to the right. This allows the SB900 to fire towards the rear (to bounce light off a wall, for example) when operating without a flash bracket and in portrait orientation.