Nikon SD-8A Hi-Performance Battery Pack - Grey Market

2012-01-09T19:00:00

Bulky, not best choice.

Robert B.

2009-08-18T21:00:00

I was, frankly, concerned about using the non-Nikon batteries on my SB-800s, due to the fear of blowing them up. I went with the Nikon version to maintain my warranty and for that extra peace of mind. Also, this is much cheaper than the Quantums, and specification suggests a recycle time almost as good. I found I was able to shoot two weddings on a set of Alkaline batteries with good recycle times, but generally use NiMH batteries and recharge them after every wedding as a matter of habit.) Related to NiMH batteries, not to the SD-8A, watch out for the fact that NiMH do exhibit something like "memory" and they lose performance over time. Bad batteries will give you slow recycle times (e.g. 3 seconds) where good ones will give < 2 seconds for a full power recycle (most of the time you won't be burning full power on each flash anyway, we hope!) So, buy yourself a conditioner--this will keep them in top form, and perhaps more important, will show you which batteries are in good shape, and which are past their prime. When I first got my conditioner, I found that 75% of my batteries had lost more than half their capacity. The conditioner improved that, but some were 3+ years old and have been relegated to non-critical devices (i.e. I don't use them in my speedlights any more!)

Simon R.

2008-09-03T21:00:00

Works great, just be sure to have a lot of AA size batteries on hand!

Mozarkid

2008-06-26T21:00:00

I should qualify my comments in saying I have only tested this around the house, taking multiple flashes to see consistancy of exposure and number of shots before failure to fire. I haven't used it for a wedding yet to check longevity of batt charge. I use NiMH's mostly, so using alkalines may help these issues slightly, as per instruction sheet, at the cost of adding to the landfill. Got varying results of 3-4 shots before flash would skip a frame (or more). Basically the same performance SB800 gives with 5th batt attached. The exposures were slightly more consistant, however, but there still was a minor dropoff on each one. I had hoped that would at least be eliminated. It's rare I need more than 3 frames unless shooting sports. Even for that, getting 5-6 shots before failure would be nice. Higher iso's/ apertures help this, of course. I'm guessing its best benefit is more total shots per batts, which a wedding should prove this out. Also, I only have 1 - SB800/D200, so some of this may be the flash itself, not having another to test against. Haven't tried it with the 80DX or SB26, as I use the 800 primarily. It is light and small enough that I can slip it onto my Stroboframe without being in the way or adding too much weight instead of mounting on belt. It is nice not to be tethered to it if you want to pick up another camera. I would recommend it with reservations, depending on your needs.

srphotog

2007-09-26T21:00:00

I bought it for wedding photography. It did help me a lot when I used it first time. Strongly recommended.

Jacee

2007-09-25T21:00:00

I use it when doing wedding photography. It's lightweight and fits nicely on my belt.

Sarah