Digital Photography Reviews

2 Responses to “Bower iTTL for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras SFD35N”

1. Gerardo Fernandez says:

   5 December 2009 at 10:10 pm

   Soy Venezolano, compre este Item ya que soy Fotografo y poseo una Nikon D80, funciona exlente, ideal para crear diversos efectos de iluminacion, recomendado. . . I’m from Venezuela, bought this Item because I’m Fotographer and own a Nikon D80, Works Excellent, ideal for some illumination effects, recomended. . .
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. Redneck says:

   5 December 2009 at 10:48 pm

   INITIAL REVIEW
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   I didn’t own this for the initial review. I had to rate it or Amazon won’t accept my comment, so I rated it a 4 based on my overall initial impression of “great value, OK features”. 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
   ~~~~~~
   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 for location work. I would like to be able to have either flash triggered by another flash (even the teeny on camera flash), but even a radio-controller won’t work with the SFD35N as it has no sync plug socket for one (what’s that about!?). So I’m going to 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. For the way I’ll use these flashes, I’ve already purchased two Bower SFD926N units plus light stands and umbrellas for cheap lightweight off-camera optical slaves. I’ll use my Nikon SB900 on an Alzo bracket and SD9 battery pack for my main flash configuration. The SFD926Ns will serve as $120 backups to the $500 SB900. 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.

   ;-{>

   Rating: 4 / 5

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