Nikon SB28 cheap alternative speedlight

gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

Hey folks, sorry I have been AWOL (2nd redundancy followed by a car crash and write off made me pause camera trapping for a little while.

Anyways back underway and my weird and wonderful experiment in trying to do this on the cheap has yielded a new surprise alternative for the Nikon SB28.

I had a Chinese export called a Viltrox JY680A sitting in a draw in my office which cost me £20 on ebay. It turns out that its not mentioned in the manual however it has a fantastic sleep mode which has meant my battery life has more than quadrupled.

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-jeff · **Posted:** Wed Jun 05, 2019 9:25 am

Interesting. I notice the hot shoe only has two connections. Ground and trigger.

Does it wake and flash after sleeping for a couple hours? If so, this would be a great flash to use with an optical trigger.

gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

Let me leave it to test tonight for you, but yes as far as I know....however don’t forget my setup is .. erm virgining

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gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

-jeff wrote:

Interesting. I notice the hot shoe only has two connections. Ground and trigger.

Does it wake and flash after sleeping for a couple hours? If so, this would be a great flash to use with an optical trigger.

So 1 hour 30 yes, 2 hours 30 no

So I still need to buy an SB 28 dont I (sob)

gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

gazenium wrote:

-jeff wrote:

Interesting. I notice the hot shoe only has two connections. Ground and trigger.

Does it wake and flash after sleeping for a couple hours? If so, this would be a great flash to use with an optical trigger.

So 1 hour 30 yes, 2 hours 30 no

So I still need to buy an SB 28 dont I (sob)

Although that said this time its still running and that was what 2 hours ago?

-jeff · **Posted:** Wed Jun 05, 2019 5:16 pm

I think I have one of these somewhere in the shop. Now, to find it.

greengrass · **Posted:** Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:10 pm

Would be curious to know what the sleep and wake current draw is if you take measurements and how that compares to the SB28.

gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

Me too, any ideas how I could check? Only issue I'm finding is that it doesn't wake after leaving for a whole evening I'm afraid

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-jeff · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:47 am

I found it. You can set the sleep in the menu from 5 minutes to 90 minutes or turn the sleep mode off altogether. Once in the sleep mode, the first full shutter press wakes the flash and the second will fire it. After the flash is sleeping for a few hours, it turns completely off only to be started again with the power button.

gazenium · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:09 pm **Posts:** 71

Ah so that means a no go really?

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Nikon SB28 cheap alternative speedlight

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