Nikon Speedlight SB-900

Nikon’s flagship flashgun from the late noughties still has a lot going for it

Released: 2008 Price new: £325/$500 Price used: £150/$200

The SB-900 was designed to have an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Wide-ranging settings are easy to get at and even easier to adjust, thanks to a neat row of context-sensitive buttons below the illuminated LCD screen.

Three illumination patterns are available, including centreweighted, standard and ‘even’, along with a temperature display that alerts you to overheating problems in continuous high-power flash shooting.

The zoom range of 17-200mm is more than generous, and an auto-detection feature is able to distinguish between DX and FX camera outfits. High-speed recycling is built-in.

Supplied accessories include a soft case, mini-stand, diffusion dome and colour filters for matching the colour temperature to tungsten or fluorescent ambient light. If you’re buying second-hand, check that all these items are present and correct.