a Sunpak AF5000 speedlight. When I was initially looking at speedlights (which was like 4 years ago - geez where has the time gone?!), there weren't a whole lot of choices with Nikon. I remember they had one for $150 to $200 but it used some special batteries that were really expensive and not rechargeable. Then there was another model that was a great speedlight but was $350 and at the time (being a student and all) I just really couldn't jusity spending $350 on a flash.

SO...I visited a couple of photography forums and got some opinions and the Sunpak speedlights seemed to be everyone's recommendation. So that's what I ended up getting. It takes 4 AA batteries which I use the 15 minute rechargeable ones from Rayovak and I can take a few hundred photos with the speedlight before I need to recharge the batteries.

I do however use a Nikon D100 camera. At the time I got my camera, the choices were the Coolpix cameras, the D100, the D1H and the D1X - that was it! I would have LOVED a D1X but that was like $4,000 or $5,000 for the camera body alone at the time. So I got the D100 and it's one of the BEST cameras I have ever used! Even now, with the Nikon D2X out, I can't really justify getting a new system because my current one works so well for what I need it to do!

Anyways, for backgrounds, I use either white melamine or black melamine. I think I like the black melamine better for most animals because it's not bright like the white and doesn't bounce my flash back at the camera as much. There is a slight reflection of the animal on the black melamine but it is very slight and I like the way it looks. It's there yet it isn't so heavy that it becomes distracting and takes away from your main subject - the animal you are trying to show off!

If you haven't tried a melamine background yet, I would give that a shot. I don't bounce the flash on these shots but I do adjust the flash intensity for almost every single photo.

Thanks,
Celia
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Celia Chien
www.ExoticsByNature.com

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