Speedlight Camera Flashes

Ultimate lighting control is yours.

When you’re ready to differentiate your photos, Nikon Speedlights capture your imagination with limitless light sculpting potential and workhorse performance. Make subjects stand out, enhance natural and available light, and add artistry and drama to any scene. The world of light is yours to explore and control with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System, complete with accessory flashes, engineered and optimized specifically for your Nikon camera.

Flash Photography for Beginners

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Versatility

Nikon Speedlights can pivot, rotate and even be positioned off-camera, allowing light direction and intensity to be completely controlled.

Greater Distance

External flashes can illuminate subjects up to 98* feet away, nearly 3 times further than your camera’s built-in flash.

*When using SB-5000 with Radio Control

Creative Possibility

Manipulate the color, shape and texture of light to create dramatic moods and unique special effects to take your photos to amazing new places.

Nikon Speedlights

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Flagship

SB-5000

Radio control Advanced Wireless Lighting that does not require line-of-sight to work

Learn Moreabout SB-5000

Advanced

SB-700

The perfect balance of exposure, performance and portability

Learn Moreabout SB-700

Multimedia

SB-500

Speedlight and LED video light in one

Learn Moreabout SB-500

Entry-Level

SB-300

Compact, versatile i-TTL Speedlight

Learn Moreabout SB-300

Speedlight Commanders,
Controllers and Systems

Advanced Speedlights and accessories for multi-flash control and communication and specialized flash
techniques like macro photography.

SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander

Learn Moreabout SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander

WR-R11a Remote Controller, WR-R11b Remote Controller

Learn Moreabout WR-R11a Remote Controller

R1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight System

Learn Moreabout R1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight System

R1C1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight System

Learn Moreabout R1C1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight System

Flash Techniques

Enhance your photographs with these basic techniques and principles of flash photography.

Bounce Flash Portrait
A simple bounce technique—bouncing the light from a single Speedlight off of a wall will give you a large, soft light source with which to illuminate a portrait subject. The addition of an accent light will further separate your subject from the background.
Get the shot
Off-Camera Flash
with Background Light
Removing your flash from the camera puts you in complete control of the light source and direction. If you don’t have a stand for your off-camera flash, have a friend hold it. Add a light behind your subject aimed at the background to create depth and a sense of space.
Get the shot
Three Speedlight Technique with Radio Control
Flashes with radio control allow you to trigger them even when they’re not in direct line of sight. Here, the addition of a radio-controlled bounce light directly behind the subject adds depth, while a colored rim light helps separate the subject from the background.
Get the shot

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Learn More About Flash Photography

Flash Photography
the Easy Way

David Tejada’s easy-does-it flash tips

Six Steps to Lighting
Magic with Joe McNally

Follow lighting expert Joe McNally’s instructions for easy flash photography with great results.

Using Auto FP High-Speed Sync to Illuminate Fast Sports Action

Dave Black on using high-speed flash sync for sports action

Speedlight
Glossary

Bounce
Refers to a flash unit aimed at a reflecting surface, such as a wall or ceiling, to illuminate the subject with reflected light.
Commander
Some DSLR’s built-in flash or external accessory Speedlight can be set to Commander mode, which makes that flash the master flash, controlling remote (optional) flash units in one or more groups.
Coverage
The disbursement angle of light projected from a Speedlight as it relates to lens focal length.
Flash Compensation
This feature allows you to compensate for the amount of flash output that a built-in flash or accessory Speedlight can produce. Flash Exposure Compensation can be + (plus) or - (minus) in increments of 1/3 EV.
Fill Flash
A technique that uses flash illumination as a supplement to ambient light. Useful when photographing subjects that are backlit with very high-contrast lighting or in shadow.
Flash Sync Speed
The speed at which a flash synchronizes with the opening of the shutter.
Guide Number
Indicates the power of a flash in relation to ISO speed.
Illumination Pattern
The user-selectable pattern at which light is distributed from the flash. Common illumination patterns include Standard, Even and Center-weighted.
i-TTL Flash Control
Nikon’s i-TTL (intelligent through-the-lens) flash system meters every exposure, setting the Nikon Speedlight’s output to the precise level needed to balance the scene’s ambient light.
Recycling Time
The time necessary for an electronic flash to recharge and be ready for the next picture, it often depends on the type and condition of the battery and the guide number of the flash.
Repeating Flash
A feature available in some flash units that fires the flash many times while the shutter is open, during a brief exposure, producing a strobe-light effect. In this mode, the photographer can control the flash output, number of times the flash fires, and how often the flash fires.
RF
RF (Radio Frequency) enabled Speedlights use radio frequencies to communicate with off-camera flashes and do not require optical line of sight to trigger the flashes.
Transmission Range
The maximum distance at which a Speedlight can communicate with the camera or Speedlight master.

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Meet Nikon Ambassador
Joe McNally
Creative lighting master and Nikon Ambassador Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose career has spanned 30 years and included assignments in over 50 countries. McNally is known internationally for his ability to produce technically and logistically complex assignments with expert use of color and light.
Meet Nikon Ambassador
Dave Black
As a freelance photographer for over 30 years, Dave’s work has primarily centered on sports photography for major publications such as Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, ESPN and more. Known for his creative use of Speedlights and the artistic technique of Lightpainting, Dave’s portfolio continues to broaden into the commercial and advertising industries.
Meet Nikon Ambassador
Todd Owyoung
Todd Owyoung specializes in youth lifestyle, musician/celebrity portraiture and concert coverage, traveling the world on editorial and commercial assignments for clients such as iHeartRadio, Anheuser-Busch, 7UP, Atlantic Records and others. His imagery has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Q Magazine, SPIN, Kerrang and more.
Meet
David Tejada
Corporate photographer David Tejada is a location shooter; traveling to where his subjects are found—on construction sites, inside factories and executive offices. By using a minimal amount of equipment, placed correctly, the viewer is given the perception that the lighting situations in the photographs that David produces are more complex.