Yeah, so basically i want my flash on a cable so i can hold it and point it at different angles when taking pictures. I have a Speedlight SB-400 and a nikon D200.

A: SC-28 or SC-29. But I'm not sure if these cables work fine with the SB-400. They work fine with the SB-600/SB-800/SB-900.

This a flash I use on other Nikon cameras but cannot get to work on my digital D50, all the contacts match. Could I not have something set on a menu?

A: The flash you are trying to use must be labeled as a TTL (through the lens) flash as that is how this camera gets it's light readings. There are some other Nikon flashes that will work in auto on this camera and they should be listed in your manual or check here...... 3) Non-TTL Auto: Available with Speedlights such as SB-800, 80DX, 28DX, 28, 27, and 22s 4) Distance-priority manual available with SB-800......

I have a d40 and I have been using a Sunpak 4000af however it washes out any picture I take. I know nikon makes a great flash but I am on a budget.
I was hoping someone could give me a specific flash that works with the D40 that has a few more options then the sb-400 but a similar price.

A: That's because it requires TTL (thru the lens) flash metering, which is specific to Nikon. You'll need to buy a flash that made for Nikon TTL or buy the 400 as indicated by another answerer. Otherwise the flash will just fire the full juice (which is what it's doing in washing out the shot) instead of shutting off the flash when the camera sees that there enough light during the TTL exposure metering.

The built in flash, which has a GN of 39 should be very decent...

Neil Van Niekerk has just written a very interesting comparison between Canon and Nikon flash systems.  Neil’s a very experienced TTL flash user, and uses both Nikon and Canon extensively, so there’s really no better person to discuss the subject.

His conclusion is that for on camera TTL (including bounced flash) the systems are just different.  That’s all.

We often hear that Nikon’s flash system is better than Canon’s and being the curious fellow that I am I’ve tried many times in the past to get to the bottom of this question by searching the net.  Until now I’ve never seen a decent comparison - probably due to the fact that there are so few people who are intimately acquainted with both systems.

I personally use Canon’s ETTL-II flash extensively, and I’ve never had an issue with it. It’s always worked extremely well for me. Clearly understanding the system is key to getting good results in either case.

However, I was very interested to note Niel’s thoughts concerning the better ease of use of Nikon’s off-camera TTL, so I took a peek at the SB-900 manual…

Here’s my own feature comparison based purely on reading the Nikon manual, my own experience with Canon, and the things that are important to my own use of flash.

Initial impressions

I certainly like the way that the SB-900 presents the information to the photographer, and I also like the way that the system allows the photographer to have total control over each flash group independently (for example, placing one group in TTL and another in manual). It seems easy to understand, and certainly slightly easier to grasp for someone new to off-camera TTL flash than Canon’s user interface.

Full TTL

In a full TTL situation the two systems are very different.  With Nikon you control the flash exposure compensation of each flash group independently whereas with Canon you control the overall flash exposure and then the ratio between the A/B groups. Nikon’s approach is easy to understand.  If Canon has an advantage here it’s that its very quick to change the ratio (and thus the output of two groups at once) with the simple turn of a dial - and this is something that I do all the time.  It seems to me that the Nikon flash system would require me to alter each group in turn to achieve the same thing which may be less efficient.

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