Almost great flash, but not quite enough.

This review is from an amateur photographer perspective (i.e. "me"), and won't go into technical specifications or technical use cases. For reference, I know a little about photography (maybe you could say "hacker/hobbyist") and have used SLR cameras for ~25 years, but am by no means even close to professional level. Most of my pictures are taken of my kids and family, family activities and vacations, etc.

I purchased this flash to use with my D40x camera based on all of the great reviews that it has received. There are some really nice features of the flash that also made it attractive to me:

1. Price - Street price on this flash is around $60-$70 less than the next flash by Nikon (SB-600). I paid right at $110 delivered for the SB-400. Not a bad price compared to the SB-600, but there are other flashes out there (without the Nikon name on them) for less or that do more. Unfortunately, only the Nikons have the i-TTL functionality.

2. Rotating bounce head - this feature is a must-have for any external mount flash. This feature improves flash-assist pictures tremendously, providing more natural looking lighting, less shadows, and elimination of red-eye. I think it is unusual to see bounce-flash capability on a flash this small. Speaking of small...

3. Size - this is the biggest (and best) feature of the SB-400. This flash is tiny, micro, diminutive, lilliputian... whatever you want to call it, but it is SMALL. I couldn't believe the size of it when I pulled it from the box. This is great because it slips in the camera bag with the camera, fits in your pocket, and is just all-around easy to take and keep with you at all times.

4. Cycle time - although the flash only takes two AA batteries, I have been fairly pleased with flash cycle time. I would say that it is probably equally as fast as with most point and shoot digital cameras, if not slightly faster. Definitely faster that the on-camera flash, and because it uses its own batteries, it lengthens the life of the camera battery.

But... there are some drawbacks. You have to take cost into consideration though, as to get some of these features, you have to pay more:

1. Flash head doesn't swivel - this means that the bounce feature doesn't look right when holding the camera vertically (as in "portrait mode"). I find that 10-20% of my pictures are taken vertically. There are occasions that I am the designated photographer for gatherings and events, and the swivel feature would really improve the quality of some of my shots.

2. Power - I was expecting more here. When bouncing the flash in a moderate sized room, it really doesn't seem to have enough power to really light up the room and make the subject well-lit. I may be biased as I am comparing to an older flash (w/ fresnel zoom lens, etc.) that I used with my film SLR's which would light up the room like daylight. Also, the flash is rated at a distance of 66ft., but I think that is a stretch. The effective range is probably more like two thirds of that distance. Don't get me wrong though, it is better than the on-camera flash, and can produce better than amateur results, but it just seems a little lacking.

Overall, I would consider this a "niche" flash. It is REALLY good as a carry-around flash for "when you need it when you didn't expect it" due to its small size. And it IS a significant improvement over the on-camera flash especially for wide angle (18mm) shots where the on-camera flash throws a shadow from the lens.

However, I think the amateur "photographer" would probably ALSO need the SB-600 (or SB-800) to meet the needs of those occasions where you are striving for professional-like results, but for the "hobbyist" this flash will significantly improve picture results.