Nissin Di866 Flash..

My Di866 has arrived

I ordered early Sunday morning and arrived on my desk at work 4.00pm Tuesday afternoon.. It was ordered off ebay out of Hong Kong and delivered via DHL.. Great bloody service..

I bought this flash specifically for off camera flash photography using RF-602 trigger/receivers..The Nissan Di866 works great with the RF-602s .. At the moment it won't sync at 250th second as my 430EXs do, but 200th it's good.. This could be due to the Eneloops in my receivers haven't been charged since the last shoot.. I need to do some more testing once I charge the Eneloops..

At first I didn't think it had any more power than my 430EXII or 430EX flashes but after more use I'm getting a stop or so more power than the 430EXs..

Recycle times are a little slowish on manual full power but it's recycling faster after more use, about 3 seconds.. At 1/2 power it's pretty quick,, about 1 second recycle..

I haven't tested the wireless features as yet, as I doubt I'll get much use out of this set up, but it's there if ever I need it..

Build and finish is beautiful, as good as my 430EXs and my Nikon SB-28.. Nice clear menu, easy to navigate.. The menu LCD screen information rotates as the flash is rotated,, nice touch..

The only minor quibble is the battery magazine.. I like the way it slides full out but the Eneloops are a bit snug and fiddly to remove/install.. BTW,, spare magazines can be bought separately..

I think I'm going to enjoy this flash..

yogestee wrote in post #11082138
I bought this flash specifically for off camera flash photography using RF-602 trigger/receivers..The Nissan Di866 works great with the RF-602s .. At the moment it won't sync at 250th second as my 430EXs do, but 200th it's good..

This was my main critisism as well when I tried a couple of Di866's, the flash duration seems longer. They also go into thermal shutdown quicker than my 580exii as well.
Maybe they would improve this with the upcoming MK2 version.

All in all though, yes I agree it's a really good flash for the money, and in my opinion has better layout and menu options compared to my 580exii.

It will sync at 250th second on camera with both my 50D and 20D..

Same here, only got banding when I used RF-602's and also Pixel TR-332's.
I'm going to get a pocket wizard Mini tt1 (and maybe a tt5 to use with my 580exii) to use with my RF-602's, hopefully it should all work together and I should be able to get 1/500th of a second with hyper-sync.
Also as it allows two timing configurations, I should be able to 'tune it' and get over 1/1000 without banding which would effectively give me HSS on my YN-560's while be a little more efficient than HSS but who knows.

The Di-866 is being tested by Pocket Wizard for use with the FlexTT5 as an ETTL speedlite.
It is apparently much less noisy than the 580EXII.
For off camera manual flash I prefer the YN-560. It simple, same output as 580EX and uses external battery packs. And is less than $100. So three manual speedlites for price of one Di866 or 4 for price of 580EXII.

I am thinking about getting a Di866 for use with Flex. I have three 580EXs but every once-in-awhile
a fourth ETTL light would be nice.

I ordered one yesterday as part of a kit that includes Stroboframe quickflip 350 bracket, off camera cord batteries and quick charger, diffuser and lens cleaning kit. I have a 580EX II and a 430 EX. Cant wait to play with all three together. I think the price of the Di866 is decent

When you get a chance, can you check out the claims that the Nissin Di866 is fully compatible with Canon's IR wireless slave system? If it is.... there is a thread listing all flashes that are compatible with the 7D and it would be nice to add it to the list. If it works as advertised, it will probably be compatible with the 7D as well.

7D slave flashes: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=760227

Di866 seems to work fine with my 7D wirelessly.

msowsun wrote in post #11085189
When you get a chance, can you check out the claims that the Nissin Di866 is fully compatible with Canon's IR wireless slave system? If it is.... there is a thread listing all flashes that are compatible with the 7D and it would be nice to add it to the list. If it works as advertised, it will probably be compatible with the 7D as well.

7D slave flashes: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=760227

Yep Mike,, checked this.. The Di866 works as master with my 430EXs as slaves..

msowsun wrote in post #11085189
When you get a chance, can you check out the claims that the Nissin Di866 is fully compatible with Canon's IR wireless slave system? If it is.... there is a thread listing all flashes that are compatible with the 7D and it would be nice to add it to the list. If it works as advertised, it will probably be compatible with the 7D as well.

7D slave flashes: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=760227

I have had no problems firing my Nissin Di866 flashes from my 7D. They have also fired using the ST-E2, Metz 58 and Canon 580EXII. I have also used the Nissin as the master and fired the Metz 58 and Canon 580EXII.

I purchased my 866's last November and they have worked fine - no overloads and no need for firmware upgrade to work with 7D, 1D3 and 5D2. I have not tested with the Canon 8AA battery pack yet.

Peace
Mark

OldA1 wrote in post #11085680
I purchased my 866's last November and they have worked fine - no overloads and no need for firmware upgrade to work with 7D, 1D3 and 5D2. I have not tested with the Canon 8AA battery pack yet.

Peace
Mark

Mark,, I have ordered a Canon CP-E4 copy for my Di866 to speed up the recycling a bit and for more battery power..

BTW,, I only use Eneloop AA in all my flashes.

Does this flash support high speed sync on camera or with the flex tt5?

Sure it does on camera cant talk about the flex

dmward wrote in post #11082840
The Di-866 is being tested by Pocket Wizard for use with the FlexTT5 as an ETTL speedlite.
It is apparently much less noisy than the 580EXII.
For off camera manual flash I prefer the YN-560. It simple, same output as 580EX and uses external battery packs. And is less than $100. So three manual speedlites for price of one Di866 or 4 for price of 580EXII.

I am thinking about getting a Di866 for use with Flex. I have three 580EXs but every once-in-awhile
a fourth ETTL light would be nice.

I was thinking about YN-560 as well until I saw a fellow POTN'er had problem with his unit for misfiring a lot. And then, another POTN'er also mentioned that production for this unit was put on hold due to improvement of internal circuitry. Not sure if this is a warning sign, but without US based service center or customer service I think it is just too much hassle to deal with if unit is faulty. But this is just my personal opinion, ymmv.