BEST TRAIL CAMERA FOR THE MONEY

A couple of months ago I played around with Nikon's macro flash system R1C1. These are some of my findings.

To summarize, here are some pros and cons:

+ The SB-R200 units are extremely accurate and has much better individual precision in the output compared to all other iTTL units I've tried (SB-400, SB-600,SB-800 ).
+ It's easy to set the "contribution ratio" between the flash units with impressive precision.
+ Both flash- and control units are lightweight and reasonably small

- The supplied mounting system is a major disappointment. Flimsy and obtrusive.
- No readily available alternative mounting system – why no hotshoe-compatible mount or 1/4" thread on the SB-R200 units? Stupid!
- CR123A batteries. No batteries or chargers included. You can find rechargeable CR123A batteries but the manual says nothing about compatibility with these and the ones Nikon suggests you use are disposable and environmentally UNFRIENDLY Lithium batteries.

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The SB-R1C1 consists of two SB-R200 wireless flash units, one SU-800 control unit and a bunch of accessories. There is another similar kit called SB-R1 without the control unit. Cameras with built in wireless flash support doesn't need the control unit but can use the built in flash to control the wireless units instead. However the SU-800 offers a nice interface that is considerably quicker to work with than having to dig into the camera menus (at least on my Fujifilm S5pro body).

Precision and Metering
The fact that you can fire a SB-R200 straight into the lens at short distance and get a decently exposed view of the flash bulb should tell you something about the low output precision of these units. For macro work it is a great feature to be able to position the flash(es) a couple of centimeters from the subject and still get proper exposures.

The metering with the SB-R200 units also seem "smarter" than with other units since it doesn't make the strange assumptions in the way other iTTL-units I've experience with do. For instance – if you use SB-400 with Sigma 150mm it works fine in its original working range. However if you add a diopter – I like to use Raynox DCR-150 with this lens, the metering goes haywire. I suspect this is because the flash/camera uses the focus distance information provided by the lens to make presumptions about the exposure rather than using the actual TTL-information alone. At least this would explain why it overexposes about three stops if you shoot with the lens focused at infinity (which with the DCR-150 means a working distance of about 30cm). Another reason I suspect it is the focus distance info provided by the lens that fools the metering is that things work great with manual lenses (these do not provide this data). Anyway – you get nothing of this kind with the SB-R200 units – they expose perfectly whatever strange contraption the macro photographer has put on his/her camera.

I was also impressed by how intelligent the CLS system actually is. For instance – if you set the ratio between the units to 2:1 it does not merely set the output to 2:1 – instead it sets the output so that the units contribute to the exposure by this ratio, which of course is way more useful! To do this it has to meter for each unit (or to be more precise: each group) separately and hence you'll get two pre-flashes before the actual exposure (which is simultaneous).

Mounting system
SB-R1 and SB-R1C1 comes with a ring-shaped plastic adapter that attaches via an another adapter to the filter thread of the lens. It comes with several adapters for different thread sizes and these are the only parts of this system that are not made of plastic. The plastic ring adapter attaches to the knurled edge of the metal adapter with four small, plastic springloaded "pegs" that protrudes inwards. It shouldn't take long to wear these plastic pegs down to "unusableness" against the knurled metal, and it certainly doesnt feel very secure. The flash units fits into the ring anywhere around its perimeter. Once attached to the ring you can easily slide the units around the ring by pushing a couple of springloaded buttons at the base of the flash mount. Unfortunately the fit between the flash units and the ring is not tight and when you move the setup around they wobble in their mounts making the setup feel quite vulnerable. One can only hope that it feels worse than it is and you'll probably get used to this after a while. In any case it's very hard to believe you need to pay $1000 for something this flimsy!

Besides being flimsy it's very far from low profile. The ring adds a lot of girth to the end of the lens that makes it impossible to get nice low angles close to the ground at high magnifications. Also – the front end of my lenses takes a fair bit abuse when I'm out shooting. I push it against the ground, drag it along rock surfaces trying to pan along with fast critters and so

For this series I used one of Nikon's best lenses ever, the 2.8/80mm Nikkor which was designed for the F3AF camera from 1983. Since Nikon has done a good job in terms of compatibility the lens works perfectly on a F4 camera too; autofocus operation is fast and quiet (due to the built-in focusing motor of the lens). The street scene is typical for the city of Wuppertal and features 19th century houses, part of them in neo-renaissance style, part in the regional style with schist-covered walls and green window shutters.