SB-900 picked up

Ok, I got the SB-900 in my hands now, for $400. The SB-900 is a significantly larger than the SB-800. I like it that the flash surface is bigger--the larger the surface the smoother the shadows, but I really doubt the surface area increase will make any difference in practice.

Here is an image of the two flashes (source: http://www.nikonsb900.net/compare-vs-sb800/):

SB800 Flash (part 2)

Well, the flash gun is in one piece now. Although the base of the head is not flush against the body, it works fine. Krazy Glue is holding up quite fine so far. I took the flash out today and walked around with it with the same Q-Strap setup I had on Friday, except without the hang grip.

In this photo, it is not obvious where the crack line is, but the crack runs left to right across the entire width of the flash gun. The crack is right under the capacitor housing compartment (that is the round barrel). There are also two other, shorter crack lines on the capacitor housing compartment.

SB800 Flash

I was horrified to see my camera drop to the floor today. I was shooting a conference at work so I decided to use the Q-Strap. It worked great the entire morning, then came lunch. I walked out of my office and turned a corner when I heard a big thunk. I looked down and was shocked to see my SB800 split in half. It broke the fall. The SB800 head was now connected to the body by a bundle of wires. The batteries fell out of the battery compartment and the door laid some distance away. I gathered the pieces together and put it away in my backpack. I was not happy the rest of the afternoon but I had to keep on shooting.

What happened? It was not because of the Q-Strap. It worked as it should. It was the hand grip I purchased for my old D80. The tripod mount was this cylindrical metal piece that fits tightly in a groove. The hand grip bottom part is hard plastic and it virtually impossible to pull the metal piece out by hand, but I guess with enough wiggling, it can come out, and it did.

Here, I re-inserted the tripod mount back into the groove:

Lesson learned. I hesitated to attach the Q-Strap to the hand grip. I should have listened to my instinct. I have to shop for a SB800 or an SB900 now. In the meantime, I'll take my Krazy Glue out.