Nikon SB24 with digital SLRs?

Does anyone have any experience using an SB24 with newer digital SLRs
such as the D50, D70, or D200? I would mostly be using it on automatic
within shutter and aperture priority. Would there be any loss of
functionality?

Thanks.

 

Only M(anual) mode is usable.

 

You will of course not be able to use the OTF TTL modes (since there
is no film), but "Auto", as you say, will work fine.

Also: 2nd curtain sync, strobe and slow sync will work fine.

FP high speed sync will not work.

Not sure about AF-assist and automatic zoom head. They work on
D1/D2/D100, and probably D200, but I have a hunch that they will
not work on D50 and D70.

 

Wrong. Auto mode works properly.

-- Larry

 

Doesn't the manual for the each of the cameras cover this issue quite
thoroughly? I know that the D70 manual describes in great detail what you
can and cannot do with an SB27.
Jim

 

I don`t remember all the losses but when I got my D50, the next thing I
did was get the SB800. You can use the SB24 on "auto" flash, ie, you
set the aperture and the SB24`s sensor will set the flash level after.
No TTL possible, and that was the downer. Of course, you can`t do the
wireless flash thing. I don`t remember about the head auto-zooming.

Tien

 

The auto zoom head does not seem to work on mine with a D200. Auto mode
works fine.

Toby

 

I can testify that the zoom tracking on an SB-28 does not work
on the D70, so presumably it will also not work with an SB-24, or on a
D50 or a D70s.

Nor does the autofocus assist -- but I'm not at all sure that it
offers much more illumination than what is built into the D70's body
anyway.

Enjoy,
DoN.

 

I know that the flash is old but it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect
these features to work with the newer bodies. It just adds one more
expense if I move to a digital body. But since the SB24 doesn't work
fully with the digital bodies, it also means one less thing tying me to
Nikon (and opening the door to Canon). Ten years ago we didn't have
older equipment getting stranded by new bodies.

 

if the cost of a flash is enough to make you switch systems, you must not
have much of an investment in other components. i would pick the system i
liked best because canon has certainly stranded a few parts along the way...

 

Before you embrace Canon, just note that Canon is an expert in
obsoleting old equipment.

In the flash department, all dedicated Canon speedlites made prior to
the introduction of E-TTL is usable i "M"-mode only. Older Nikon
speedlights works fine in "auto" mode with new DSLRs - which is in my
opinion just as good as E-TTL/iTTL for most usages.

And while Nikon has made an reasonable effort to retain the
functionality of older MF lenses on newer bodies, Canon abandoned the
FD-mount completely in 1989, and even made sure that it was difficult
to use the older FD lenses via an adapter by selecting a longer
register distance for the new EF mount.

Recently Canon has introduced yet another twist by making the new EF-S
mount incompatible with the D30, D60 and 10D bodies. This makes no
sense (the Sigma EF-mount 10-22mm demonstrates that short-focusing
is not required to make wide-angles for APS-C sensor sizes), but is
of course a strong incentive for the owners of those bodies to replace
their camera with something that has an EF-S mount.

 

bodies.


Certainly we did... when you and I bought our SB-24 (actually it was 20+
years ago), we bought it only because our older flashes did not work with
the new camera TTL mode. The SB-24 was required to work with the new
cameras in the mid 1980s.

Todays digital cameras don't work with that old film TTL mode. CCD and
film cameras are very different, so the new Nikons have their own iTTL
mode, and the only flashes that work with them are the SB-600 or SB-800.

I tried my old SB-24 in Auto mode with my new D70S, which does work in
Auto mode, but it only took a few seconds to realize why I liked TTL mode
so much better than Auto. Plan on adding a new flash today. If you will
ever do anything halfway fancy with it, I would recommend the SB-800 over
the SB-600.

 

Small correction:

"Along with the extremely compact electronic TTL capable AF SB-23,
SB-24 was also introduced in 1988 to supplement the AF-Nikon F801
(N8008 in US)."

If you are going to get the SB800, I would get the D70s instead of the
D50 since you can do more with its built-in commander mode for wireless
TTL.

Tien