First Impressions: Nikon SB-700 Speedlight

I'll be doing a full review of the Nikon SB-700, but I wanted to share my first impressions of this new speedlight.

Ergonomics:

First off, this thing is just a little bigger than the Nikon SB-600. The body of the flash is almost exactly the same shape between the two speedlights – the biggest difference in the dimensions comes with the head of the flash. Unlike the slightly tapering head of the SB-600, the new SB-700's head actually flares slightly (like the Canon 580EX, actually).

Overall, a much nicer, smaller form factor than the SB-900.

User Interface:

I love the UI on this flash. Almost everything function seems faster and more intuitive to access and change. With dedicated buttons or switches for many functions, my first impression is that this flash is going to be much faster in the field than the SB-900 and miles ahead of the SB-600 (but we knew that already).

One of the best new features of the SB-700 is excruciatingly simple – the exposure mode slider on the left side of the flash. This slider is used anytime you set the flash exposure mode extremely quickly. While you lose some control when using CLS (more on this in the full review), I think that the majority of users will love this operation.

Power:

For the majority of users, the SB-700 is going to give you plenty of juice. Stay tuned for the extensive testing.

Questions:

Here's the real point of this preview: What do you want to know about the new Nikon SB-700 speedlight? What keeps you up at night about this new flash? Drop me a line in the comments and I'll do my best to cover it in the review.

Where To Buy – Recommended Retailers

Can't wait for the full review coming next week? Grab the new speedlight here:

If you do buy through B&H or any of my affiliate links, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.