NISSIN i40

The Nissin i40 is a compact, dedicated flashgun and is a winner of the prestigious TIPA Awards 2014 for the “Best Portable Lighting System”. The i40 that we received had a Canon mount and was tested using a Canon EOS 6D fullframe camera.

Design & Build Quality

Compact and well designed, the outer body is made from durable plastic and the hot-shoe is made with metal. The mounting foot has a tiny pin that acts as a safetylock. A Quick Release button is provided. Build quality is quite good but the swivelling hinge could have been made better. The flashgun is made in China and is currently available in Canon (E-TTL, E-TTL-2) and Nikon (iTTL) mounts. The i40 in Sony and Fujifilm mounts are expected soon.

Key Features

The Nissin i40 flashgun has a GN of 40m/132ft at ISO 100 (at 105mm position of the flash-zoom-head). With flash head set to 35mm position, the GN is 27m/89ft at ISO 100. The head can rotate 180 degrees to the right/left, tilt up to 90 degrees. The head includes a ‘Fill-in Reflector’ and a ‘Wide-angle Diffuser’ (covers up to 16mm). The fill-in reflector slides out, revealing manual zoom positions as per colour coding. A continuous light source placed under the flash-head acts as video light. In low lighting conditions, the flashgun’s AF-assist beam (0.7 - 5m) enables the AF system to latch on. With Canon models, the flash works in E-TTL II / E-TTL mode. The i40 has a convenient Mode Dial and a Power Dial. The Mode Dial has settings for:

a) Video light with 9 steps of output level (Output power can be adjusted using the Power Dial) b) Full Automatic Mode (A) c) TTL Program Mode (TTL). Flash output can be adjusted in 9 steps: -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, 0, +0.5, +1.0, +1.5 and +2.0 EV.

d) Manual mode (M). Fractional power can be used, 1/1 up to 1/256 power.

e) Slave Digital (SD): For digital cameras. Flash exposure is controlled using the pre-flash system.

f) Slave Film (SF): For film cameras. Flash exposure is controlled using light reflected off the film.

g) Wireless TTL Slave Mode (A/B/C): Wireless remote flash system. Here is a table from the i40’s user manual, showing the aperture and the shutter control possible using the i40:

In TTL mode, the flash output can be compensated by +/- 2EV, in 0.5EV adjustments. The flash has an overheat protection system. If the flash is used in a continuous burst at full power (20 to 30 flashes), the i40 will automatically shut down to prevent internal damage through overheating and will recover after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Ergonomics

Once you know how to, the Nissin i40 is easy to use. Using the flash on the hot-shoe and the built-in 16mm wide-angle diffuser, I found the i40 quite suitable for closeup photography (but this also depends on the focal length you are using and the flash to subject distance). A detailed user manual is not provided and has to be downloaded from Nissin’s website. Unfortunately, the user manual is poorly written and is quite confusing. This could possibly make it difficult for a new-comer to use the i40 to its full potential.

PERFORMANCE

The flash unit was tested on a Canon EOS 6D camera.

Manual mode

The i40 performed well when used in manual mode. In this mode you need to calculate the flash exposure yourself by using the formula GN/ Distance = Aperture.

Auto mode

Exposures in (non-TTL) auto mode were satisfactory, except at the far limits of the permissible distance, where some underexposure was noticed. This is true of most auto flashguns.

TTL auto mode

Here too we were satisfied with the exposures (flash directly pointed at the subject and also when bounced). However, we did notice that ‘Daylight’ White Balance gave more neutral colours than WB set to ‘Flash’.

Wireless TTL Slave Mode

We could not check the wireless remote flash system as the Canon EOS 6D camera does not have a built-in flash.

Value for Money

The Nissin i40 flashgun is available at an MRP of Rs.19,500. We feel the price is justified.