Here is a little review I decided to do for all of you out there who may be thinking of buying your first entry-level Flash unit.
Nissin – Di622 Mark II for Nikon
I bought this flash from Amazon back in September last year. I chose this flash unit after a recommendation I saw / read on a fellow photographer’s blog, Rob Nunn. He obviously got sent a flash unit by Nissin to test and review. The review looked very good and the price was impressive (on Amazon). What also impressed me was the ability to fire off-camera using the infra-red sensor on the flash itself, meaning I could start off using off-cam flash without having to invest in pocket wizards or something similar.
Well, after getting the flash in the mail, I did a quick test and everything seemd fine. No review of the picture quality here, I didn’t get around to doing a full scale test with it (read on to find out why).
After about two weeks and only having used the thing 3 times, things started to go egg-shaped…All of a sudden, the unit stopped charging. Well not exactly, once turned on, the unit sprang to life and it sounded like it was charging up. The little red light on the back lit up to show it was charging. But then it just wouldn’t go into the ready mode. The indicator light at the back just stayed red and wouldn’t change to green, and I couldn’t fire the flash. I tried everything – new batteries, new rechargable batteries…nothing worked.
Thank goodness for Amazon, I was still within the 30-Day return goods time, so I simply printed the forms on the Amazon site and sent it back. I received a new flash within a few days.
This unit worked out of the box. Then, the same problem started again…this time about two months after the refund. Thanks to Amazon once again, I returned the flash and got a 100% refund from them.
I don’t know if this was just bad luck, or if these flashes are just plain crap. I know that I won’t be buying a Nissin flash again, no matter who recommends it to me ;0)
My next flash is probably going to be a Metz, like this one…
Hope this helps…Al