Once in a while, great products come out in the market that not only offers quality but also great value. While most OEM products are well worth their weight in dollars, many camera equipment are beyond the beginner's limited budget.

With repeated advice in my site to beginners to get a flash before anything else after their first camera kit, it's about time that we review a low-cost, high-quality flashgun that's out in the market today.

The Nissin Speedlite Di622 is manufactured by one of Japan's oldest camera flash manufacturers, Nissin Marketing.  The Nissin Di622 (Di622 hereon out) is a mid-level flash model for the Nissin brand and it's intended to match up against the mid-level offerings of Nikon and Canon (SB-600 and 430EXII, respectively) in terms of output and features.

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Technorati Tags: flash, flashgun, Nissin Speedlite, Di622, Japan

For those of us who shoot with off-camera flash while using a light modifier such as an umbrella or softbox, we're bound to encounter the issue of having the flash not on axis with the modifier. Oftentimes, the bracket that holds the flash and modifier together are separated by at least 4-6" of vertical space with the flash firing downwards at an angle towards the umbrella.

If we're using a large modifier, such as a 60" umbrella, the problem is less pronounced, or if the flash is far enough from the area where the light will be reflecting on. However, with smaller (<40") umbrellas, the discrepancy of light hitting the top and the bottom of the umbrella will be quite visible. Continue Reading

Technorati Tags: off-camera flash, umbrella