Review: Nikon SB-700 Speedlight

Only introduced in 2004, the Nikon SB-600 has felt outdated for years. This deficit has been especially notable since the replacement of the Nikon SB-800 with the Nikon SB-900 in 2008, which left a huge disparity between the flagship Nikon speedlight and the middle-market option.

The Nikon SB-700 changes all of that completely, updating the base-level flash with many features from the flagship Nikon SB-900 speedlight. And not only does the new Nikon SB-700 make improvements over the SB-600 that it replaces, but it challenges the Nikon SB-900 with a few features and advancements entirely new to the Nikon speedlight family.

Let’s take a look at how the new SB-700 stacks up to the SB-600 it replaces and the SB-900 it challenges.

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The Nikon SB-700 tested in this review was provided on loan by B&H Photo Video in NYC. If you find this review helpful, please consider buying your next photo gear purchase from B&H or any of our other affiliate links.

What’s In The Box

Unlike the Nikon SB-600, you get a full assortment of accessories right out of the box with the SB-700, so there’s no need to turn to third-party options for essentials like the diffusion dome. In fact, the included accessories are more in line with the flagship Nikon SB-900.

Included with the SB-700 is a dedicated soft case, stand, diffusion dome, and dedicated hard filters for tungsten and fluorescent color correction.

All these goodies fit into the supplied case for the speedlight, which takes a departure from the soft cases of Nikon’s other flashes in that it zips open like a suitcase.

Key Features

In the official press release for the new speedlight, Nikon touts the primary key features of the new SB-700 as the following:

1. High-end model functions in a compact body
2. User interface with intuitive operation
3. Wireless control for two remote flash groups via CLS
4. Automatic temperature regulation (tackling the automatic shut-off issues of the Nikon SB-900)
5. Dedicated hard color filters (fluorescent/incandescent)

In addition, the following advancements are listed as per Nikon’s product page

• LCD and layout of controls designed for easy and intuitive operation
• Multi-step auto zoom covers wide 24-120 mm zoom range
• Three illumination patterns–standard, center-weighted and even–available to match every shooting environment
• Automatically detects Nikon FX and Nikon DX formats and selects suitable light distribution angle
• Short recycling time
• AF-assist illumination for multi-point AF, with wide 24-135mm focal range
• Quick wireless control mode allows control of remote flash unit groups A and B flash output level ratios
• Firmware updates via Nikon digital SLR cameras
• Automatically delays recycling time if temperature of flash head rises in order to avoid deterioration of flash head
• Automatically detects type of hard-type color compensation filter (fluorescent and incandescent) and automatically transmits filter information to camera for optimum white balance setting
• Optional Water Guards WG-AS1 (for D3 series), WG-AS2 (for D300 series) and WG-AS3 (for D700) protect camera’s accessory shoe contact when SB-700 is mounted on a Nikon digital SLR camera

We’ll take a look at these features and how the Nikon SB-700 stacks up to the flagship Nikon SB-900 and the Nikon SB-600 it replaces in this review.

Design

In terms of design, the new SB-700 takes many cues from the SB-900, but delivers in a smaller form factor that’s closer to the smaller SB-600.

While the SB-900 has always struck me as a pretty huge flash, the SB-700 strikes a nicer balance – it’s a much more “reasonable” size overall with nice proportions. Though the size differences are slight, the smaller size of the SB-700 make it much easier to pack into a bag than the SB-900.

The biggest outward change in the SB-700 is an evolution of the SB-900′s core user interface, with dedicated controls and a central job dial for quick adjustments.

In a slight departure from both the SB-900 and SB-600, the SB-700 features a two-by-two battery arrangement. More simple than the SB-600′s awkward three-and-one arrangement, but different than the SB-900′s linear configuration.

Aesthetics aside, the astute observer has already noted that the SB-700 lacks the connectivity of the SB-900 in terms of an external power option and a PC sync port. The saving grace of SB-700 in terms of the latter is the proliferation of the wireless flash triggers that feature a built-in hotshoe, such as the Yongnuo RF_602 and Phottix Strato.

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