Cheap alternatives for Nikon speedlights?

Cheap alternatives for Nikon speedlights? - 1

Manual? My favorite is Vivitar but the ones from Yongnuo are really cheap.

Using non-Nikon flashes with Nikon cameras is risky. Shutter tends to blow out. Is it worth replacing a camera to cheap out on the flash?

Cheap AIN'T necessary as good and certainly not better. WHY do you think substitutes and generic brands aer cheaper? Do you tink they 're aS reliable? Really?

You go out of your way to get a great camera and then you bog it down with a cheapass accessory, where's the common sense in that?

Yongnuo (sold under about 10 or more brand names), Vivitar, Sunpak, and Sigma all come to mind. There are other brands like Metz that cost just as much as the Nikon units, and work just as well.

Cheap flashes are not a bad thing, regardless of what some think. The Yongnuo models are cheap, but they work just as well as any other, including the Nikon brand. The really cheap ones are not TTL, and that also is not a bad thing. Nikon has the best TTL implementation going, but it is still easy to fool. Manual flashes just work, the down side being you have to know how to use the camera and flash both in manual mode. If that scares you, there are less-expensive TTL models on the market. Sigma is probably the best in the TTL models, at less than half the cost of an actual Nikon unit.

I have decades old flash units that still work fine, if a little slow on the recharge. The oldest is a Honeywell handle mount unit that runs off AC power… No battery pack. I believe it was purchased in the early 70's. It still works.