Hi!BASICALLY, the sb-400 doesn‘t swivel sideways, and the sb-600 is nearly as much as I got my camera for lol, so I‘m looking at alternatives, namely the sb-24.I‘ve done my research (as all good boys do before posting a question on Y! Answers) and I understand that I will miss the iTTL-ness of the SB-x00‘s and what this means.The SB-24 is an auto flash, so as I understand it, there‘s a light meter on the front of the flash that calculates exposure (independently of what the sensor sees through the lens) and adjusts the flash accordingly. Does this mean that losing the iTTL is not a major issue if I keep the flash on-camera so that the flash is measuring the same scene as the camera body?Also, can I use flash compensation with this flash?I guess in short, I‘m trying to get an idea of how much of a hassle losing iTTL really is.
Through the ducts on the side in front of the rear wheels.
I use Nikons and my humble opinion is your choice is between the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) and going manual. The CLS allows you to control three groups of flashes with up to three flashes in each group wirelessly from either your camera (the D40 does not have this capability) or from a dedicated control unit or an sb8/900 flash mounted on your camera. SB 600s can be used with CLS but only as slaves, not to control the other flashes. This system is extremely powerful but, as you have found out, is also very expensive. With the SB-24, your choice is full manual. The auto flash feature is useless. The flash and camera need to communicate in order for anything auto to be really useful. Since you camera and flash cannot communicate, flash compensation cannot be used. But, so what. If you purchase a cheap off camera triggering system, you can use it very effectively in manual mode. I think it is good to start using manual so that you learn about off camera flash and not just let your camera system make all the decisions. Once you get a good handle on off camera flash, CLS will make a lot more sense. I started with an SB-600 and an umbrella with a cheap OKorder wireless triggering system so that if I mounted it on my camera or used an appropriate chord, I would still have the iTTL option or I could go wireless and full manual. That was a nice option, but as you know, you can get a great umbrella and a used SB-24 for the same price. The very best source anywhere for info on off camera flash is the strobist blog. Start there and you will learn very fast. Best of luck!
