Nikon SJ-1 Color Filter Set, Eight Filter Light Balancing Set for the SB-800, SB-600 & SB-80DX Flashes Review

First off, I am a big fan of Nikon products and I use Nikon exclusively for my photography pursuits. I wanted to improve the results I get from flash photography, which I find to be one of the bigger challenges to learning this craft. So I purchased the great Joe McNally's book "The Hotshoe Diaries", and have been reading the amazing flash photography how-to blog "Strobist" [...]

Both of these very highly regarded sources discuss at length that you need to color your flash with colored gels in order to balance the bright white light from your flash with the ambient light of your subject. No problem. To achieve that end, I figured that since I already own a Nikon SB-600 flash unit, why not purchase gels that were made for the flash? Such a conclusion seems logical enough, yet these gels are flimsy, require scotch tape to stay on, and are about as useful as coating your flash lens with a dry erase marker.

After purchasing these gels I quickly learned the error of my assumptions and wanted to post my experience so others don't make the same mistake. For a mere $6.50 I could have bought (and eventually did) a 20x24" SHEET of any given color from B&H (they also sell some of the more widely used colors here on Amazon - namely 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full CTO or "Color Temperature Orange" - which is the most important color to have).

I spent about $40 for much better quality gel that I can cut out myself and attach using a Honl or Lumiquest velcro speed strap. As an aside, the Strobist says that you can get similar results with velcro strips you can purchase at any hardware store. Just pick up some velcro at a local store, attach it to the gel cut outs, and you now have the ability to switch your gels quickly and without the need for scotch tape, which just ends up tearing your gels anyway.

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These sheets can be cut up into many pieces that you can use on your flash. It's far more cost effective this way and you can velcro these on. The Nikon SJ-1's are flimsy and hang onto the flash without covering it completely unless you scotch tape them, which COMPLETELY defeats the purpose of having gels that are made for my flash! The scotch tape eventually ruins the gel and also means you are shooting light through a piece of scotch tape in addition to the gel. It also means you now need to carry around a roll of scotch tape whenever you go out shooting.

I got far more value than the Nikon SJ-1 gel pack with a [...] Roscogel swatchbook. The Cinegel swatchbook cost me a whopping [...] and has at least 50 shades of different gel colors. According to Joe McNally's book and blog, the CTO, plusgreen and CTB colors are the ones you will likely need the most anyway (see:http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/whats-in-the-bag/).

The Nikon SJ-1 gel pack is not a good purchase and I highly recommend the alternatives listed above (or on Joe's blog), or if you don't want to cut the gel yourself, try the Honl velcro gels. They are pricey but look like they are pretty good quality.

The little plastic carrying case is kind of nice but you are better off using a business card holder anyway.

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Product Description:
The color of light can be balanced or specific colors can be added to a scene by using a Speedlight with the optional Colored Gel Filter Set SJ-1. The Colored Gel Filter Set SJ-1 contains a total of 20 filters in 8 kinds of colored gels: FL-G1 (for fluorescent light); FL-G2 (for fluorescent light); TN-A1 (for incandescent/tungsten light); TN-A2 (for incandescent/tungsten light); Blue; Yellow; Red; and Amber. The colored gel filters will fade or deteriorate with time. When this happens, replace them with the backup gels provided in the set.

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