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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
I think the person that gave this such a bad review might want to go back and read the directions on how to use it. Either that, or he has no concept of photography or how anything really works.
Don't worry bout what he said, if you take the time to learn the system, it will NOT fail you. 9 times out of 10, it isn't the equipment, it is the USER. I know that hurts, but it is true.
from Kentucky on 9/6/2008
Along with a few SB-800s, it's studio lighting in small case!
from Frankfort, KY on 8/31/2008
This is great. I have used it for a wedding and two other photo shoots so far. I have been too busy to learn how to use the settings to change one group of speedlights to a different light level than the others, but it has been great. I just put it on the camera and started shooting. With this unit vs. the pop-up flash, there is no extra light source(no matter how dim)coming from the camera. That means no glare when photographing reflective or semi-reflective surfaces/subjects. The unit just works. I have been using it to fire three sb-800 speedlights with great results.
from SE Ohio on 5/21/2008
This has performed as expected, I wanted to be able to control 3 lights independently with Nikon CLS and this does the job, without adding any additional light to the photo.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Paragoul, AR. on 2/21/2008
It's much better than having to use an extra SB-800 to control the remote flashes, and the SU-800 doesn't control with visible light so unwanted reflections from the controller don't show up in the photo.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Washington DC on 11/27/2007
I was disappointed with the range of the SU-800. Don't expect your flashes to trigger beyond 12 feet or so. I prefer using a SB-800 as master when I'm shooting outside of my little studio. The SB-800 does a better job in distance to trigger other flashes.
The rest of the SU-800 features are fine.
from Staten Island, NY on 9/26/2007
Worked as expected, made controlling multiple flashes simple.
[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
from Kingsville, OH on 8/1/2007
In a word, unreliable. Nikon's CLS is based on infrared. Sometimes it works, sometimes it works halfway and about 50 percent of the time the flashes fail to fire. After a year of trying to get this to work, I'm back to Pocket Wizards to control my flashes. I get very inconsistent results when using this unit. It is especially unreliable in churches, where I do wedding photography, and where reliability and repeatability are crucial. During a recent wedding, CLS failed to work in a three-light setup to photograph the bride. I grew more and more frustrated as shot after shot came up dark and I kept pumping up the output, fiddling with the sensor direction and moving the light stand so the SU800 could communicate with the flashes. We finally ran out of time and had to forgo those shots until after the wedding. The really frustrating thing is that five minutes before the bride came in, I had tested the set up and it was working O.K.
Range is very limited. Nikon says 60 feet. No way. 25 max. It takes a battery that is expensive (123) and can be hard to find. It really doesn't do much more than the commander in the D200 does. Just another way for Nikon to get more money out of us.
from Greenville, MS on 7/10/2007
The SU800 works flawlessly with my SB800s. It is wonderful having a "portable studio" without wires or bulky battery packs. The SU800 is a wonderful addition to my Nikon lighting system!
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Chesapeake, VA on 7/10/2007
Excellent. Easy straight forward setup.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Washington, DC on 2/12/2007
As a replacement for the use of either built in flash or on camera flash as a master controller it is invaluable. The SU-800 eliminates the often unwanted effect to a lighting setup of an on camera flash, while still controlling a number of remote flash using Nikon's excellent Creative Lighting System. The SU-800 equivalent in studio lighting is the wonderful Pocket Wizard.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Michigan on 2/5/2007
My grandchildren ( 3 & 5 years old ) would not look at me when I wanted to take their pictures. After discovering the flash hurt their eyes I use the SU800 to control 3 remote units to bounce the room full of light. Now they will look straight at the camera because they know the light is not going to blind them.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Tampa, FL on 2/5/2007
Using my Nikon D-70 w/the pop-up flash was all right, but it didn't put the light where I wanted it, so I purchased the R-1 Speedlight kit. This put the light where I wanted, but not the the control over it that I desired. Then purchased the SU-800 Speedlight Commander, upgrading this to a R-1-C-1 kit, plus a third SB-R200 Speedlight (two come with the kit). Now I'm happy as a clam, as it does everything I want. I would advise anyone who is interested in this type of tabletop and/or close-up photography to go with the R-1-C-1 kit to begin with and save yourself a few bucks by not wanting to upgrade later.