Meike MK320 flash on D810

Pistnbroke

Well haveing fort the battle of the CF cards I turned to the flash and was supprised to find my Meike MK 300 would not work ( I like a SB 400 style close to the lens on a flash flipper) so on to the Mk 320 ....
In a word HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE
first it did not work consistantly , its construction was pathetic similar to the terrible Sunpak RD 2000, The on /off button had to be pressed for an age to get it to come on ( bad bad bad ) and I did not like the battery draw. The F stop display did not follow the lens and the flash on indicator in the D810 did not work ,,,,,,is that enough for Horrible ???
Now awaiting a MK 310 ..we shall see ..oh the majic of ebay a;nd send it back ....( worked fine on a D800 and D7100)

The SB 400 is perfect apart from it does not do high speed sync when I forget to turn it off in bright sunlight.....

kanuck

Yes I have heard these flashes just don't hold up well over time especially after taking abuse at events and daily wear and tear. Maybe you are lucky that it doesn't work from the get-go on your D810 saving you the eventual heartache right away. How about a good used Nikon Flash or lower end new model? The entire Nikon flash line-up is excellent.

Pistnbroke

I have always found Meike gear to be strong and reliable until now ..The nikon flashes are not excellent as far as I am concerned..I dont like hammerheads due to the shaddow they leave and the SB 500 does not have high speed sync

kanuck

I have always found Meike gear to be strong and reliable until now ..The nikon flashes are not excellent as far as I am concerned..I dont like hammerheads due to the shaddow they leave and the SB 500 does not have high speed sync

Oh that's interesting that's the first time I have heard that before. So you will pick up a 310 then or go with another 3rd party option? I agree Ebay certainly is magic

Pistnbroke

If you are doing event photography then you need the flash above the lens to minimise shadows..so you use a flash flipper..these have limited weight capacity and using a hammerhead lifts the flash and increases the shaddows under the ears .BUT removing shaddows under ears etc is far easier than terrible side shaddows say on a group of 5 or 6 people. Bounce flash is unpredicable with high or sloping ceilings and I think most of its success comes from a diffuser one side of which faces the subject . Diffusers suck power. If using a flsh on the camera shoe you can only shoot landscape ( ordered a MK 310 which goes back if it wont work with a D810 ..watch this space)

kanuck

When I cover any events like the one I will be doing next week (Chusok, Korean Thanksgiving) I don't mess around and use my old trusty SB 800 or one of my senior crew guy's SB-910. They hate it when I steal stuff from them, but it's basically the offices any-ways so what the heck. Been poor and doing it for years hahaha

Any shortcomings, and if time permits I fall back on Adobe CC or let a tech young'un clean it up for me

Pistnbroke

so yes Kanuck by all means use an SB 910 but where do you mount it and if its in the shoe do you shoot portrait ..??

Ironheart

The purpose of a flash bracket that flips open is to 1) keep the flash over the lens regardless of orientation 2) provide a bit of separation between the flash and camera to reduce harsh/flat lighting look. What @pistnbroke is striving for is not getting too much distance and thereby creating unwanted chin or ear shadows. You can see with a large hammer head flash, and a remote mount, you are starting to get pretty tall:

Pistnbroke

Well that flip mount is a bit nasty and I would not use it but the idea is right
This is the one I use ..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PhotR-Rotating-Camera-Flash-Arm-Bracket-Grip-Canon-Nikon-DSLR-Flashgun-Speedlite-/251451277146?hash=item3a8ba9ff5a

Pistnbroke

Got the MK 310 and it works in the shoe if you set it to -3 stops....I think it is assuming the camera is at iso 100 while in my case its at 4x the base iso of 200 which is 800 ..
Will not work on any of 4 extension leads I tried..

kanuck

so yes Kanuck by all means use an SB 910 but where do you mount it and if its in the shoe do you shoot portrait ..??

Yes we use a flashbracket similar to the one that Ironheart shows. The funny thing is the SB910 is actually frozen onto it's flashbracket from use I guess or it's been banged up too many times. Needs to go in for servicing, but as a whole this setup works pretty well I find.

Pistnbroke

For a flip bracket to work the flash must be EXACTLY over the lens in both landscape and portrait 1/2 inch out and its no good..The photos above indicate that in the lower one for portrait the camera is the wrong way up and the flash is not over the lens centre...useless oh yes and its a Canon

kanuck

Have you seen the universal macro flash bracket made by Kirk? It has a unique 2 way joint for positioning the camera directly under the flash. Our office has several beat up V brackets and as I mentioned a seized up FB studio modified by RPS. It gets the job done I think...