I was in the market for a new flash unit as my old Vivitar had conked out on me and I didn’t want to spend money having it repaired for the nth time. Budget was a bit of an issue so I was looking for a flash unit that produces good results but would not burn a hole in my pocket. Surfing the ‘Net for deals, I found a used (3 weeks old) Nissin Di622 Speedlite flash being sold at half the price so I went for it – and I tell you, I am not disappointed with what I have.
Looks and Build
Third-party flashes are much maligned by “brand fanboys” i.e. power is so so, build quality is lamentable and the Nissin Di622 was not spared from negative reviews. In some ways, the Nissin Di622 is underrated. I’ve read reviews where people commented that the body of the Di622 had a plastic feel. I disagree. The body of the Di622, while plastic, does have a solid feel and the camera is solidly built. I was temped to ask those people of what material is their beloved 580EXII or SB-900 made of, adamantium? Nah, thought better of it.
The flash is big, as big as Canon’s 430EX and but not as big as Nikon’s SB-900 or Canon’s 580EXII. Still, it made my already small 400D look even smaller when I mounted the flash on the hotshoe. The flash totally dominated! The workmanship done on the flash unit is very good. Screws are flush, edges are smooth and the finish of the plastic is quite nice. Tilting the head vertically was easy to do, although I did find stiffness with the head when I turn the head horizontally, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The Nissin Di622 has a screw-in lock so that users can lock the flash on the camera’s hot shoe. Sure, die hard Nikon lovers will say that their switch system is better and in some ways it is but for me, as long as the screw-lock mechanism locks the flash to the camera tightly, it’s good to go.
Features and Ease of Use
The flash has a built-in diffuser and white bounce card, which the 430EX and the 580EX don’t have. It has slightly more power than the 430EX and could be as powerful as the 580EX but that remains to be seen as I’ve not yet done a head-to-head (Di622 vs. 580EX). For “weekend photographers” like myself, the power of the Di622 is more than enough for my needs. The Nissin Di622 supports Canon’s E-TTL and E-TTL II. Based on the initial tests I had made, the results were pretty good and pretty accurate. The recycle time of the flash lived up to what is indicated on the manual: 4 seconds. I managed to squeeze out 200+ test photos on this baby before my Eneloop Ni-Mh went dead. Not bad, not bad at all.
Flash head facing front, tilted 45 degrees
Another feature that worked pretty well was the Di622’s wireless slave mode. Power was excellent and results pretty were good. I used the built-in flash of my 400D to trigger the flash, which I placed at several locations inside my small house and there were no misfires. Sadly though, the flash did not fare well when I went outdoors so the wireless slave mode of the Nissin Di622 is only 100% useful when you are indoors. The AF assist was pretty good too.
If there’s one thing with the Di622 that I find a bit annoying is that it makes a soft “purring sound” when the zoom head is working its magic. Inside a totally silent room, the noise would be audible but under “normal” shooting conditions, I think the noise won’t be much of an issue. I can live with the soft “purring sound”.
Although the Nissin Di622 does not have an LCD screen, I found that not having an LCD screen made the flash easier to use as I’ve only three buttons to fiddle with. Setting the flash to slave mode can be done with just a press of a button. Same with setting the power level of the camera. Flash exposure level can be controlled with the camera as well. Results were quite good and accurate.
Last Words
All in all, the Nissin Di622 is a pretty good budget flash and works quite well. Build is solid and output is consistent, contradictory to what C/N die-hards say. The flash is easy to figure out and use. Bear this in mind though: flash photography is not learned overnight. Getting the best lighting requires practice, experimentation and knowing your equipment.
Flash on slave mode, placed to left of subject and tilted 45 deg to the right (wall bounce)
For it’s price (brand new unit), the Nissin Di622 is as steal. At the price I got mine for, it was highway robbery. The Nissin Di622 is really a nifty flash. If you’re in the market for a powerful and reliable flash but do not want to burn a hole in your pocket, the Nissin Di622 won’t disappoint. At least, it didn’t disappoint this user.
Happy Shooting!
Hehe, this’ll make it easier for me to sell my Nissin stocks