Tammy,
Yes.
It's up to you.
No.
:-)The 285HV is a classic flash very popular among photojournalists and wedding photographers for reception work. Vivtar has been making them for some time. Its popularity and longevity in the marketplace is a testimony to it. It is flexible with its settings, reliable and powerful (for a shoe mounted flash). Yes, you will have to set both aperture and shutter speed manually on both the Nikon and the Canon. Whether you return it and buy a dedicated Nikon flash is up to you. The 285HV has a Guide Number of 120 (ISO 100, in feet). The dedicated Nikon flash of similar strength is the SB-28AF at about $300 new. (The SB-16B GN drops off to 105 when its zoom head is pulled back for a wide angle lens). Whether its dedicated features are worth the price is up to you. You might look into eventually buying a dedicated 3rd party flash such as the Metz for which you can buy one module to interface with your Nikon and another to interface with your Canon. However, one of similar strength to the 285HV would be even more expensive than the Nikon SB-28AF! (Metz makes high end professional grade flash heads.) Something to think about, though, and likely would be less expensive than having two different, powerful dedicated flash heads, one for the Nikon and the other for the Canon. As long as you can set aperture and shutter speed manually on the Canon Rebel, you should be able to use the Vivitar on both bodies without any problems. Running in manual mode should not be a problem. With a flash like the 285HV that has its own built-in sensor to control output, you set the flash strength, and then set the lens aperture to match your film speed and the power level you set the flash for. You may run into a problem with auto-focus hunting to find something to focus on at a reception dimly lit for dancing. You may wish to experiment some with your Nikon in particular, to see how well it focuses in low light levels. I've done weddings and receptions using similar flash setup, manual focus and completely manual exposure camera bodies and lenses. Wasn't a problem provided the viewfinder was bright enough with a very fast lens that is easier to manually focus in low light. Are you the "official" photographer for this wedding, or will you be attending as a guest? -- John
July 23, 2001
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