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Got the Nikon SD-8A external battery pack from birddog last week. Used it at a wedding yesterday. Highly recommended to everyone that does event photography. It is small and light, fits in your shirt pocket. Go out and get one. No need to worry about your flash recycle time and battery life. I had no problems using it all day and night yesterday. Thanks birddog for the recommedation

This is for the SB800 right? I have the SB800 but trying to attach the extra battery, the whole operation of nearly breaking the lid put me off.

shutterbug wrote:Got the Nikon SD-8A external battery pack from birddog last week. Used it at a wedding yesterday. Highly recommended to everyone that does event photography. It is small and light, fits in your shirt pocket. Go out and get one. No need to worry about your flash recycle time and battery life. I had no problems using it all day and night yesterday. Thanks birddog for the recommedation

Just curious as to what batteries you used with this shutterbug, I'd be very keen to know...re-chargables?

tsanglabs wrote:This is for the SB800 right? I have the SB800 but trying to attach the extra battery, the whole operation of nearly breaking the lid put me off.

Once you've done it once - you'll never worry about it again

tsanglabs wrote:This is for the SB800 right? I have the SB800 but trying to attach the extra battery, the whole operation of nearly breaking the lid put me off.

I am using it with the SB800+extra side battery. You can also use it with the older nikon flash too.

Just curious as to what batteries you used with this shutterbug, I'd be very keen to know...re-chargables?

I use NIMH rechargables, Energizers & Powerex brands. Five on speedlight and 6 in external pack.

me too, I used the NiMH 2500 and with the SD-8A, I never ever notice of lacking of flash in recycle and I can say: "on demand" or "constant flash".
Never have to wait.

Quick question about the SD-8A.

Can someone tell me what sort of recycle times can be acheived with this unit? Examples: what is the recharge time from a manual full power discharge to the ready light coming back on, or the number of consecutive frames in continuous mode (3fps) at a power level of 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32?

Getting some hard numbers on what to expect would be useful.

Cheers

Matt

MattC wrote:Quick question about the SD-8A.

Can someone tell me what sort of recycle times can be acheived with this unit? Examples: what is the recharge time from a manual full power discharge to the ready light coming back on, or the number of consecutive frames in continuous mode (3fps) at a power level of 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32?

Getting some hard numbers on what to expect would be useful.

Cheers

Matt

The SD-8A with 6x fully charged NiMH cells and 4 cells in the flash unit, the quoted spec is 1.9s for full power recycle time. Compared to 4.0s with 4 fully charged NiMH cells alone in the SB800 (the SD-800 included fifth cell attachment drops full power recycle times to 2.9s).

This external battery pack would be doubly useful for those with the light sphere or other power robbing devices (eg. bounce use).

MattC wrote:Quick question about the SD-8A.

Can someone tell me what sort of recycle times can be acheived with this unit? Examples: what is the recharge time from a manual full power discharge to the ready light coming back on, or the number of consecutive frames in continuous mode (3fps) at a power level of 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32?

Getting some hard numbers on what to expect would be useful.

Cheers

Matt

the 3fps on the D70 is meant nothing to the D2series with 8fps and 40 frame continuously in talking using flash and recyclying time, the SD8 can handle it with ease, you figure out.