Battery Grip or Speedlight for d90

[joekohys]

I like shooting portraits while travelling oversea especially during winter when lighting is a problem.

Because of budget constraint please advise which accessories must I buy first. Battery Grip or Speedlight or not at all.

 

[jnet6]

Speedlight 1st.
grip u just need to "turn" yr hand to vertical position and snap.

 

[cichlid]

The Speedlight will improve your image...the grip will not.

 

[joekohys]

Thank for your input. But will the speed light (I read that Nikon SB800 is a better buy) add more weight to camera shake without the battery grip support. I am a newbie to dslr

 

[jnet6]

Thank for your input. But will the speed light (I read that Nikon SB800 is a better buy) add more weight to camera shake without the battery grip support. I am a newbie to dslr

SB800 is rare to get new. as is discontinued

 

[zac08]

Flash first...

 

[Adiemus]

Speedlight. Definitely

 

[joekohys]

Thank to all of you for your advice. Must I then go for the Nikon SB900which is expensive or lower range since SB800 is discontinued. My interest is taking portraits of my kids and family members during wintery holidays where snow pose a metering problem for me. I have yet to buy D90. Currrently use Canon 400D and encountered exposure problems when shooting with flash. So very sorry to bother you guys with such basic issue.

 

[zac08]

Thank to all of you for your advice. Must I then go for the Nikon SB900which is expensive or lower range since SB800 is discontinued. My interest is taking portraits of my kids and family members during wintery holidays where snow pose a metering problem for me. I have yet to buy D90. Currrently use Canon 400D and encountered exposure problems when shooting with flash. So very sorry to bother you guys with such basic issue.

You have to understand the metering of cameras are easily fooled as they will meter the snow as 18% grey. As such, you would be better off spot metering off your subjects or increasing the exposure with the other metering methods.

The flash system is also designed to work with the cameras in this way and you have to be careful not to burn the highlights from the flash reflections off the snow. This takes some practise.

 

[geraldkhoo]

Get the speedlight first. You can buy the SB600, which is also a CLS flash and can be used off-camera with your D90 in commander mode. I used the SB600 for more than a year and it served my purposes very well... only got my 2nd flash recently (SB800) because of doing strobist stuff. All in all, the SB600 can do most of what you want it to do already... no need to go for SB800 or SB900 unless you need those features.

 

[liquidityzero]

Definitely speedlight first.
Having a speedlight is essential to shooting portraits. A battery grip is not much so.

 

[joekohys]

I now begin to understand the importance of speedlight over battery grip for portrait shots. Thank you. It is amazing that I got such wonderful response to my first post.

Thank to you guys.

 

[MSZ006Zeta]

Adding a battery grip will also add weight to your DSLR. A flashlight would be a better choice. I'd say that you would need a battery grip only if you're talking quite alot of potraiture.

 

[Deming86]

flash first! it may add weight but when you use flash, you freeze the motion of the subject so slight shakinesss won't be so obvious too!

 

[shahrulesa]

Flash first. Joe, the rule of thimd is when you shoot white object, dial down the exposure and dial up the exposure when you take picture of dark object. Also check you flash and make sure there;s no EV conpenstion on it.

 

[tanandrew]

go for speed light you will need

 

[Daedalus Trent]

If you don't wanna spend too much, the SB-600 is a cheaper alternative

It's lighter and more user-friendly, imo. While it doesn't have as much power as the SB-900, it's sufficient for casual shooting :thumbsup:

 

[cichlid]

Shd get a diffuser too....