# budget flash similar to SB-600



## pokopelo (Jan 22, 2010)

hello all, I have on my wish list an SB-600, however since I'm getting a 35MM AF-S will not have budget for it, therefore I'm looking for a cheaper alternate until i can get the cash to get the Nikon, can anyone recommend a replacement one? if possible around $100


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## TJ K (Jan 22, 2010)

Well if you want a nice flash for off camera work like strobist stuff then the vivitar 285hv is a great flash. Not sure about a flash for 100 if you want to use it on camera with i-TTL. Hopefully someone here can show you something in that area. GL
TJ


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## Big Mike (Jan 22, 2010)

If you want a flash to use on your camera, I'd suggest waiting until you can afford the Nikon.  If you want something to use off-camera, then I'd suggest something like THIS.


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## loki05 (Jan 22, 2010)

Get the SB-400 ...best thing you can do for your $100 budget


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 22, 2010)

This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt. 

Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com


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## clbd39 (Jan 22, 2010)

i have a vivtar 285 and sb-600, the 285 doesn't even come close to the sb-600, but you do learn a bit with the manual operation of the 285 lol

best buy is always sending out 10-20% off coupons, i actually used a 25 gift certificate and a 10% off camera accessories when i got my sb-600 

but i enjoy both flashes!


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## Goontz (Jan 22, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt.
> 
> Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com


Wow, thanks! I just ordered one of these. For $36, I certainly wouldn't expect it to be up to par with an SB-600, but it should still be something fun to play with.


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 22, 2010)

I am having a blast with the two I ordered


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## pharmakon (Jan 23, 2010)

Hey thanks for that link buddy. Just ordered 2... I figure for <75 bucks shipped for 2 flashes it's worth a shot for practice & learning. Now off to find some ebay triggers to complete the low budget strobist setup...


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 23, 2010)

pharmakon said:


> Hey thanks for that link buddy. Just ordered 2... I figure for <75 bucks shipped for 2 flashes it's worth a shot for practice & learning. Now off to find some ebay triggers to complete the low budget strobist setup...




Yeah I got two flashes and a RF602 (which still did not get here yet )


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## newb (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt.
> 
> Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com


 
So when they run out of these (almost to that point with the Nikon units), how long does it take em to get more? Or where else could I get em?


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 24, 2010)

newb said:


> Darkhunter139 said:
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> > This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt.
> ...



I dont think they will get more.  They are open box, I think they are just getting rid of them.


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt.
> 
> Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com



do you know if these can be slaves? i can fire an sb-600 remotely from my camera


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 24, 2010)

BAmereihn said:


> Darkhunter139 said:
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> > This is a risk as some people have been getting dead units but I ordered two of another deal similar to this and they both worked, they will give you a refund even if it doesnt.
> ...



Yeah they can be.


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> BAmereihn said:
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will anyting additional be required? ie transmitter or triggers


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 24, 2010)

BAmereihn said:


> Darkhunter139 said:
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Pretty sure they can just be triggered optically just like your SB-600


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> BAmereihn said:
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NICE! they would great for getting creative with off camera flash


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

i ordered 2, they will great on the ground or some cheap ass tripods that you would never put a dslr on


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 24, 2010)

Yeah I got two similar and I love them.  I am thinking about getting some light stands and umbrellas to play around with.


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> Yeah I got two similar and I love them.  I am thinking about getting some light stands and umbrellas to play around with.



being cheap make experimenting more fun


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 24, 2010)

BAmereihn said:


> Darkhunter139 said:
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> > Yeah I got two similar and I love them.  I am thinking about getting some light stands and umbrellas to play around with.
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Yeah if they still have them left in a few days I think ill get another haha.


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## BAmereihn (Jan 24, 2010)

Darkhunter139 said:


> BAmereihn said:
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i already have an sb-600 so these are for playing with and having fun


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## Derrel (Jan 24, 2010)

You might want to verify with the vendor how long these cheap flash units will stay active and not go into "sleep mode". On one of the company's other inexpensive flashes, the units go in to sleep mode every five minutes, and power down fully after one hour of non-use. A flash unit at must be manually re-awakened by hand-touching the controls after every five minute rest period is not my idea of a suitable flash unit for any type of remote "Strobist" type use.


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## Goontz (Jan 25, 2010)

Derrel said:


> You might want to verify with the vendor how long these cheap flash units will stay active and not go into "sleep mode". On one of the company's other inexpensive flashes, the units go in to sleep mode every five minutes, and power down fully after one hour of non-use. A flash unit at must be manually re-awakened by hand-touching the controls after every five minute rest period is not my idea of a suitable flash unit for any type of remote "Strobist" type use.


The flickr link above also had a link to a digital version of the owners manual of a similar flash from this manufacturer (I think same flash, but without TTL?). Assuming it's almost the exact model, that manual does say it will go into sleep mode after about 5 minutes.


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## Goontz (Jan 27, 2010)

I just got mine in, and looking through the manual (and maybe the link above had it and I just didn't read it good enough), the 5 minute stand-by mode is only when it's _on _the camera. "In slave flash mode, the off-camera flash will be switched off automatically if you do not use it for about one hour."


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice how do you like it?


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## Goontz (Jan 27, 2010)

Unfortunately, I'm stuck at work late tonight and just get to stare at it for now. I'm _so _ready to go home already and try it out


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## pharmakon (Jan 28, 2010)

Goontz said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> > You might want to verify with the vendor how long these cheap flash units will stay active and not go into "sleep mode". On one of the company's other inexpensive flashes, the units go in to sleep mode every five minutes, and power down fully after one hour of non-use. A flash unit at must be manually re-awakened by hand-touching the controls after every five minute rest period is not my idea of a suitable flash unit for any type of remote "Strobist" type use.
> ...


 

Even if so... I ordered some rf-602 triggers that apparently support the wake function from sleep mode so I should be covered... I saw it working on a youtube video but I don't know how to embed and too lazy to figure it out right now

My flashes should be here tomorrow and the triggers will probably be in by late next week... after their happy trip from half-way 'round the world


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## TJ K (Jan 28, 2010)

pharmakon said:


> Goontz said:
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Just post the youtube link from the top of the bar and it embeds it for you. 
TJ


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## Goontz (Jan 28, 2010)

Cool. I have Cactus V4's on the way. Not sure if they'll work with this flash, but I'll find out.


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## BAmereihn (Jan 28, 2010)

my 2 900's came and they work although a lil noisey in the remote mode


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## pharmakon (Jan 29, 2010)

Got my flashes today (qdc 900wa's as linked to earlier in the thread). One was actually brand new in a factory sealed box, the other had been taped back where originally opened. The one that was really an open box product was missing the stand and diffuser accessories, but no big deal. 

Both work perfectly on my 50D with the only exception that second curtain mode on the flash seems a little erratic when shooting with the flash in ttl and the camera in aperture priority mode. For some reason it ends up firing at super low power for a few shots, then it will blast the hell out of one. Might be me though since it's my first time using a dedicated flash.

**EDIT**  Found out the reason for the aforementioned problem, apparently there is a switch that senses if the flash is locked at straight forward, or at an angle for bouncing, and it is very very touchy. So it seems that if the flash is not just so the output is increased as the system thinks it is bouncing the flash. Moral of the story: Best to use manual settings for consistent output. If you want reliable TTL buy a Canon (or Nikon) flash  **/edit**


They are noisy as mentioned before, not a deal breaker but I wouldn't reccomend for use in churches/weddings or other quiet places

Another thing I don't think was mentioned was the focus assist light. I love it since I'm used to the annoying high speed burst of the on camera flash during focusing in low light, but this flash has a dim red light that turns on during autofocus instead.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my purchase, probably going to order 1 or 2 more in a week or so if they have some left after I get a few days of use out of the ones I have to be sure they don't break after a hundred shots or so.

Now just waiting for the wireless triggers...


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## Derrel (Jan 29, 2010)

I have to report that my experience with these inexpensive flashes linked to on the Flickr group here Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com

was a TOTAL disaster. If I had read about the company sending out so many dead flashes, I would never have ordered from them. I got the link to this company from KmH in another entirely different thread than this current thread here. I ordered 4 of the inexpensive Quantarary flashes.

I charged up a set of 4x 2500 batteries and popped the flash on a camera. Would not fire. I pressed the TEST button on the flash....it would not fire. I went to the next flash,opened it, put in batteries--same thing-DOA. Flash three, DOA. Flash four was...DEAD ON ARRIVAL!!! Looking at the boxes, one box had the word "Defective" written in Sharpie marker, in cursive handwriting. Two of the four flashes had been used a fair amount, according to scratches on the body and wear patterns on the buttons.

Now, today, I see this Flickr thread above, and visit...I find out that sending out dead flashes is not an isolated incident. The are supposed to be crediting my PayPal account, but I still left negative feedback. AFTER I DEMANDED satisfaction in the form of a RMA and a free mailer TechForLess_Outlet sent me an e-mail saying that I should just dispose of the flashes as I saw fit, and they would credit me the money back to PayPal within 72 hours. Their stated terms of sale are that the buyer must pay return shipping,and I'll be darned but there was no way in Hades that I would pay $14.95 to ship back four dead flash guns to get a refund! I contacted eBay with a very strongly worded complaint, and after a few days TechForLess_Outlet requested that I revise my original negative feedback,since they had rectified the situation for me. So I did upgrade the feedback on their Communication, Shipping price and speed, but the products, plural, were all defective and the overall experience was a Negative one.


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## Darkhunter139 (Jan 29, 2010)

They refunded my account for one and did not even ask for shipping back. Then later on i opened it up and was able to fix it


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## pharmakon (Jan 29, 2010)

Derrel, I read on that flickr discussion that there were a lot of issues with them, but for the money I had to take the chance, and it worked really well for me so I guess I got lucky. I kid you not when I say one of the units was brand new with factory seals still intact on both inside and outside packaging. The second unit had little to no signs of visible wear. Maybe since they seem to have more of the canon version they haven't gotten the the bottom of the barrell yet?

It seems that people who bought them directly from techforless.com have had much better customer service stories as well.

I know that someday I will upgrade to canon flashes and maybe even pocketwizards to go with them, but right now I can't justify the cost for practicing with something that I might just be hyped up about from reading strobist for the past month when I can get myself started with 2 flashes and 3 ebay triggers for less than a single 480EX II,  heck less than a 270EX at that. 

Bottom line I wouldn't reccommend them for a pro, or any kind of paid or critical work, but for a beginner with budget in mind just wanting to try things out they are a steal. (as long as you are willing to play russian roulette with the DOA's)


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## Goontz (Feb 1, 2010)

Well, it appears this flash doesn't work with Cactus V4's. 

I know the transmitter and receiver are talking both by the test button as well as both LED indicators flashing with the shutter, but the flash won't fire. Damnit.


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## pharmakon (Feb 1, 2010)

Goontz said:


> Well, it appears this flash doesn't work with Cactus V4's.
> 
> I know the transmitter and receiver are talking both by the test button as well as both LED indicators flashing with the shutter, but the flash won't fire. Damnit.


 
Noticed you shoot Nikon. There was talk on the strobist group at this thread Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com

about modifying the location of one of the pins to make it work on certain triggers. The only thing is that if you bend the pin as shown it might not work right on your camera anymore...  Might be worth looking into though if you are only using it off camera


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## Goontz (Feb 2, 2010)

Thanks. I've tried moving it around in the shoe a little with no luck. I'm doing the pin-bending thing right now. 

After bending the pin and moving it around a bit in the shoe, I've got it to fire twice, but can't find that "sweet spot" again. I'll play around a little more and see if I can get it working consistently.

Edit: Well now I seem to be able to get it to fire once, but then it still won't fire again even though I'm not moving it at all. After the one flash, the whole unit seems to freeze up. I can't change the zoom, power, mode, etc. until I turn it off and back on. Oh well, can't expect too much for $36. Anyone want to buy a Nikon 900WA? 

Edit 2: I moved it around in the shoe and played with it a little bit more, and it seems to be firing consistently without the apparent "freeze up." I was sure to tighten it down onto the receiver as tight as I could get it so that it won't move now. I suppose it will just be staying on that receiver until I get a better-functioning flash for it.


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## Derrel (Feb 2, 2010)

Goontz said:


> Thanks. I've tried moving it around in the shoe a little with no luck. I'm doing the pin-bending thing right now.
> 
> After bending the pin and moving it around a bit in the shoe, I've got it to fire twice, but can't find that "sweet spot" again. I'll play around a little more and see if I can get it working consistently.
> 
> ...



This ENTIRE company's product line is suspicious in my mind. The people on the Flickr thread have a level of dissatisfaction,and a level of dead and or non-working  flash units that is higher than any I have ever seen from any company. I think most of these are warranty returns; how else are so many "used" flashes of the same model turning up in bulk? Or were these "used" flashes all bought from Ritz Camera during its bankruptcy problems. The bottom line seems to me to be that the equipment being sold is not worth even the low-low prices they are willing to sell it for. How much value is there in a $36 flash that has fired twice? That's $18 per flash pop.I spent $92 and got NO flash pops. Zero. No-worky! Frankly, a guy would likely have better return on his money going to a pawn shop and buying some used $20 flash units.

I tell you what--buying and receiving FOUR DEAD flashes, with one of them with the word "defective" written on the box, is the absolute worst customer service I have ever received from any company, so TechForLess_Outlet is totally and unequivocally off of my list for good as a vendor. As far as the people on Flickr describing replacement of dead flash units as , "good customer service," I cannot agree. There is a systematic pattern here, and on the Flickr thread, of bad merchandise being sold, with a defective or non-satisfactory performance rate that is extraordinarily high.


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## Dao (Feb 2, 2010)

I ordered on directly from their website.  And it was DOA.  It will not fire.  Contacted them and they shipped another one to me. (without shipping the defective one back).  Let's see if that work when I receive it.


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## Goontz (Feb 2, 2010)

Derrel said:


> How much value is there in a $36 flash that has fired twice? That's $18 per flash pop.


My troubles were specific to using it with a radio trigger. On-camera it works flawlessly, and also as a slave being commanded by the camera. Now it even works just fine with the trigger, although it was a PITA to get it there. 

I still completely understand what you're saying, though, and agree. It's more of a gamble with most of them, it seems. If a product is made _that_ cheaply, I don't think it should be made or sold at all. Certainly not something I would be happy to sell if it were my brand. I'm sure some of it comes down to people just feeling good about finding "such a good deal" in a $36 flash. I didn't go into it expecting anything spectacular, but for $36 it's fun to play with. I suppose I've essentially thrown away $36 for a flash that will likely sit on the sidelines while I use an SB-600 instead, but I'm fine with that. I don't know where the ball was dropped in terms of customer service, but it seems that everyone dealing with them through their website is getting much better service than you got dealing with them through eBay; something's not right there.


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## Derrel (Feb 2, 2010)

Well, I do not think people are getting good treatment. Here is a random sampling of people from that thread. Below I list quoted excerpts from those with DOAs; this list would have been about four times longer if I had included people having difficulties with various radio triggers. I do not think that customer service includes being sent multiple,untested flash units; it takes less than 50 seconds to see if a product like this works. Their stated policy is that the customer pays for return postage on defective units. I had NO IDEA until I found this thread just how prevalent this company's sale and shipment of DOA flashes was. The merchandise was sold as "used", but was guaranteed to be in working condition. Given the sketchy nature of these Quantaray flash units, I would say that not testing these flashes,one by one, is inexcusable.

Flickr: Discussing Strobist friendly flash on the cheap - Less than $36 in Strobist.com

"I called them today and told them about some of the issues that members have had on this thread so hopefully they will do a little better this time not sending out dead flashes."

"Ordered one and got it yesterday. It does everything but flash."

"Well They couldn't do the replacement thing for me using these as a replacement for the two other DOAs they sent me, but that was more to do with the fact that they ahve alreadt started the refund process for those other flashes."

"Just ordered a flash, hope it does not come DOA like the 2 last week. I again used Paypal as they refund almost immediately if item condition is disputed." and then, 7 days later same poster wrote: "DOA flash just arrived. Promptly refunded. Tech for less customer service is fantastic. " So, three DOA's for Barber Pole!

"Got mine today Quantaray QDC-900WA looks like new much better cond. than the DSZ PZ-1 that i was sent which did not work. "

"I just got mine (a replacement for the cheaper flash that didn't work). It came in bubble wrap only (no box, no diffuser, no instructions). I was a bit concerned about that. But, it fired up fine and works fine. "
***********
"Got mine. Unfortunately it seems a bit off on the TTL - it'll take a picture that's completely under or over exposed and then get it perfect the next three shots. Oh well, it seems to work a decent amount of the time."
"I got 2 of these for $64 - Nikon version. 1 worked great, 1 not completely unusable but not reliable either."

"Now the bad news, In TTL mode I only get a very short, low power flash pulse. This is not affected by the JrX power control using the signal inverter designed for DIY RPCube use on Canon.&#8232;Flickr: Discussing DIY Canon RadioPopper RPCube - I have it working! in Strobist.com...  Compounding the problem, this flash does not work on camera in TTL mode. All I get is what seems to be a full power preflash, visible in the viewfinder, with no sign of a "real" flash in the picture itself.&#8232;Assuming this is a faulty unit I contacted Tech for Less. Their customer service is indeed excellent. They sent me a second unit which, unfortunately, behaves just like the first. By the way I shoot with a Canon 30D."


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## dearlybeloved (Feb 2, 2010)

the vivitar 400mz is what i think would be as close to the sb600. i have one and it does the job. want to get the sb600 but money is mad tight right now. and it costs around 100 (vivitar 400mz).


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