Bower SFD290 Digital Automatic Zoom Bounce Flash for Nikon D700, D300, D200, ... Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I had this flash for a Sony and now for my Nikon D300. I also have a SB-600 flash unit which is of course way better, but also way expensive - I guess nobody here should expect the same quality for 1/4 of the price.
The build is overall cheap but okay for the price, it will last a while when you take care of it. The major downside is that it's not really a TTL flash. The title says something about "automatic", I'm really unsure what they mean with that. Fact is, it produces a strong flash, you can swivel the head (even at the wall behind you) but it doesn't communicate with the camera. You can still use it on-camera though, but it's more like a manual flash gun, so operating the camera in auto-mode will most likely produce an overexposed photo. If you're unsure if you should buy it... it's an okay budget flash which will give you more options than the popup-flash, but if you're more like the I-use-my-SLR-only-in-auto-mode guy than better invest $100+ in a TTL flash which will get more information from and to the camera than: Fire flash now!

But here's the deal: Buy a remote FM-trigger (I use the "CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax Flashes Other products by cowboystudio") and use this flash as an off-camera remote unit. Again, manual mode operation of your camera is recommended, but you can achieve great results with this off-camera set for $70 (flash + trigger). Combine it with a lighting stand, camera bracket and umbrella, and you have a portable studio lighting set for about $100-$130. This flash does even fit better on the remote trigger than my SB-600 because it has a screw-ring (not shown in the product picture) to tighten it to the flash-shoe-mount.

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Product Description:
The Bower SFD290 Digital Automatic Zoom Flash is an innovatively designed flash unit for both digital and traditional SLR cameras with a wide array of high-end features at an affordable price. This model -- compatible with Nikon SLR cameras -- features fully automatic operation and helps photographers fill shadows, add depth, avoid red-eye and improve image resolution.

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