Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

This unit provided the level of light I need when using it a my shooting
Locations.

I really enjoy the speed of resetting and the flexible ranges.

I would recommend this unit to all photographers.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I will give the flash a complete workout 4/26/13 at a Non-Profit social event. I volunteer each year for photos of attendees. The organization provides support for handicapped children and their parents. My photos are made into a personal photobook that they take with them before leaving for the night. I get lots of compliments and hope my new flash will provide better resolution.
I like the swivel and rotating head. The price was fair and the unit easy to attach.
It has a remote capability that I have yet to use.
In the push for green products I think a CD with instructions and some professional tips would better serve me than a little booklet.
B&H graciously allowed me to return an earlier flash purchase that was not dedicated to my Nikon like this unit. As always the service provided was outstanding.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

As an external flash with an umbrella. It works fine with my Nikon D7000 and D300. Still figuring out how to use it and make the adjustments for output, etc.but I'm in an experimental phase with flash anyway.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I mostly shoot film, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a high-end flash when I could get by on 'vintage' strobes that work just fine with my Nikon 35mm gear. I did however want two things: a flash with built in optical trigger, and a TTL flash to use with my older dSLR for the times when i needed on-camera flash.

Sadly the Vivitar disappointed on both accounts. First off, the optical trigger is extremely directional. Probably a 5 or 10° window. I needed something that would trigger from almost any direction, or at least approaching 180°. The Vivitar would work in a studio situation when you have time to fuss with the flash body's direction vs the head's direction. But in a run-and-gun wedding situation, forget it: the Vivitar is useless as an optically triggered slave.

As for the TTL, it worked reasonably well when the head was pointing directly at my subject. But for bounce flash, images came back woefully underexposed. I boosted the flash exposure on my dSLR, which helped a little. But +1 was as far as it goes in the positive direction, and this wasn't nearly enough.

As far as positive qualities go, I do like the flexibility it offers, such as manual settings, wide panning ability, and the build isn't great but it was sturdier than I was expecting. If you're shooting mostly direct on-camera, or are using it as a studio-style manual strobe off-camera, then this might be a good deal. But for what I was looking for...nope.

I ended up returning it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Received this flash and it is definitely high powered and gives you lots of bang for your buck. It can illuminate a medium sized room in bounce position with no problem. Also easy to use.

But the construction and material it's made out of is lightweight and seems flimsy. It's easier to carry due to its light weight, but I have a feeling if I drop it, it will be toast.

I have used several Nikon brand flashes in the past and those were always much more solidly built. But they are twice as expensive than this Vivitar, so there you have it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

The flash didn't work properly from the beginning. It said "QA passed"... I really doubt this. I sent it to three different technicians for reparation. All of them said the same thing: The flash inside has a lot of wires sloppy welding and cannot be repaired. Wasted money.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Purchased Two of these speed lights to use with Nikon SB910 and SB 700 in Nikons CLS. They fit in perfectly with the nikons. Using the nikon for the commander the camera controls all of the other lights. This is a wireless system so there is no more tripping over cords. I was able to purchase two of the Vivitar lights for less than the cost of the SB700. They perform very well with fast recycle and good light output. Very pleased with this product.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Works perfectly with D90, both on and off camera. Great value for the price compared to Nikon flash. I also have an SB600. No noticeable difference in photo quality.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Just received it and have used it a few times with good results

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I purchased this flash to use with my Nikon D5100 for an introduction to photography class. I needed something better then the on camera flash to work in low light and wanted something with wireless capabilities to use with a reflective umbrella. This flash was easy to set-up in wireless slave mode and gives good light coverage for my needs. This flash should hold me over until I decide to upgrade to the more expensive Nikon wireless system, and I will still be able to use it with the new flashes if needed.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Very Happy with Purchase, flash was shipped quickly and worked great when it arrived, can't wait to use it more.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Picked this flash up to get ttl exposures for some fast paced event photography. Output is quite low compared to what I'm used to (Vivitar 283 and 285). Once I figured out that I needed to boost the ISO on the camera, flash worked consistently, recycled quickly enough to keep up. I'd gladly pay half again more for another stop or two of output.
Construction feels a bit light, but no problems yet after a day of use/careful handling.
Works well on camera with a light modifier, seems to play well in wireless ttl mode controlled by Nikon D7000.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Camera Used Nikon D3200, the DF-483 is doing just what Vivitar claims it should do, and is a good looking flash.The ITTL is accurate, and no Washout and Colors are accurate wether at 10' or 40'..The Red auto Focus assist light is also good to about 25'.the Zoom Head works as stated,to a 105 Lens.The LCD screen Clear&sharp, The manuel Power out put seem to be accurate(7 Settings). The red eye flash portion works fine, but since the flash is so high any way,you wont get red eye, so it doesn't matter..The built in defusior is very handy, and I use it a lot, it prevents harsh photos, and a great help with skin tones, if your not using a soft box or warming filter. Also when I'm at a car show, I use a Vivitar Df-383 as a slave fill flash, with the Defusior, prevents most harshness from to much light.In the sales photo,they show the flash on a mount, well it comes with the flash, so it can be a stand alone slave,or ,with the built in 1/4" nut, it can be mounted on a stand..I have not tried the rear curtain portion yet, but I bet it will work just fine..By the way this Flash also locks onto the shoe, and the foot is partly metal. so it should hold up well..I would like Vivitar to add a Negative Head position for close up flash photos. AND add a seperat button for the Manual power setting, so you don't have to go thrue the additionl features offered, or shut the power off, and then back on, to get back to Auto..

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Huge upgrade over the 5 year old flash we had.
Consistent and speedy recycling a main plus for us.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I am a semi pro photographer who needed a second flash to pair with my Nikon Speedlight. This flash is a great slave flash and has worked perfectly for me. My only complaint is the locking mechanism. It is nowhere near as sturdy or secure as the Nikon system, but it is also much much cheaper.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

After unboxing and inspecting this flash it seemed to be of lesser quality than I expected. I bought this as a second flash to use in addition to my Nikon SB-700. The flash works very well so far, all the iTTL wireless functions are working properly with my D7000. I think that the shoe mount could be better, the locking device seems very "cheap", nothing like the Nikon. I plan on using it off camera so this may not become an issue. I think anyone looking for a second flash that can be used with the Nikon iTTL system should be happy with this unit, just wish the quality was a little better.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Good Value for money

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I give it 3 stars. It was fairly good value for the money while it worked. But it was short-lived and had it's limitations.

I have used a lot of old Vivitar 283's as slave and off-camera flashes and those old 283's were built like a tank. When I unpacked the DF-483 my first impression was "this sure isn't a 283". The DF-483 is very light-weight, and lightly-constructed.

The other reviewers who complained about the battery cover were right. Be gentle if you want it to last. The DF-483 does not use a battery caddy like the old 283, and its battery slots are a bit tight, making it fussy to remove (fat) NIMH batteries.

I like the shoe-lock system on the DF-483 much better than the old 283. It is very quick and positive to lock and unlock. But it sticks out in the back, and after several days of continuous use I developed a small welt on my forehead from constantly pressing against the shoe-lock tab.

The DF-483 has a built-in optical slave sensor, which the old 283 lacked. It works fine (except outdoors, as would be the problem any other optical slave sensor). There is a convenient on/of slide-switch to turn slave mode on or off (sometimes it would get accidentally switched "on" during handling, double-check that slave switch if the flash is unresponsive when shoe-mounted). The "mode" button allows you so select how many flashes to delay before the slave should fire (0 to 9 delay flashes), so you can use it as a slave with cameras that pre-flash. Nice touch. When used off-camera (not mounted in the camera shoe), the flash does not go to sleep. Other flashes fall asleep after 3 minutes or so, and are rendered useless as slave units. But the DF-483 seems to stay alert when used off-camera in slave mode (I tested for about 20 minutes and it was still awake.)

For a low-cost flash, and given its light-weight construction, this a powerful flash. Not quite as powerful as the top-of-the line Nikon, Canon, Sony or Pentax models, but as powerful or more powerful than any of the second-model flashes from any of those manufacturers (e.g. Nikon SB-800).

I mostly shoot in manual mode, so I wasn't particularly interested in auto/program flash performance. If I want reliable auto/program flash, I would buy the brand name flash to go with my camera (e.g. Nikon SB flash). But I used the Vivitar DF-483 in "manual" mode at 1/32 power as fill flash, with my Nikon D3 at ISO 1600 or 3200 and I had a powerful fill-flash that could fire continuously at 5fps with very little power degradation within a burst of 4 to 6 frames.

There are 2 buttons on the back of the DF-483, one for "mode" and one for "zoom". Zoom ranges from 24mm to 110mm, a nice range for broad fill-flash, or for long-range telescopic lighting.

The "mode" button has a lot of settings, including all the manual power settings from 1/1 down to 1/32, but there are another dozen or so other options beyond the 1/32 manual setting, so if you need to get back to the beginning you can short-cut by switching the "slave" switch on, then off, and that resets the mode options back to the top, instead of having to press the mode button dozens of times to get back to the top.

The DF-483 is sensitive to high humidity (higher than 85%) or condensing humidity (e.g. moving from cold to warm/humid environments). The flash becomes occasionally unresponsive. The "mode" button does not respond, and you are frustratedly punching, stabbing, jabbing that little rubber "mode" button until it decides to respond. One or two times I pressed the "mode" button so hard it disappeared inside the housing, luckily I was able to get it to pop back in place. If you live in a dry area where the humidity normally ranges well below 80% you won't encounter this issue except in the winter if the flash has been outside in the cold and you enter a nice warm room.

My flash finally blew up after several days of hard use in 1/32 fill-flash mode and maybe 150 pops over the course of 45 minutes at full 1/1 and 1/2 power, outdoors in modest humidity (75%), and about an hour later when I tried to used it again indoors at 1/32 power it just blew up internally, and that was the end of my experience, after owning the flash for 3 weeks and using it heavily for about 6 days during that time.

In a different climate and pattern of use the DF-483 might be quite a successful flash for other users, particularly as a slave flash. So I can't tell you not to buy this flash, but as for me I enjoyed my quick fling with the DF-483 but won't be buying a replacement.

Thank you for reading.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I am really impressed with this flash. I was not prepared to find a flash with so much to offer that was not part of the Nikon lineup. The wireless using my camera as the commander was simple and by far my favorite feature of the flash. The fact that it was a fraction of the Nikon flashes was very nice as well.

The only thing I am not really fond of is the mode button and the number of times you need to get where you are going. Nonetheless I still like it very much and will get used to it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Haven't had too much time to play around with it yet. I'm just a casual photographer, and it has been great for me. Still a lot to learn but I'm very happy with it! Works great with my D5000!

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

This unit provided the level of light I need when using it a my shooting
Locations.

I really enjoy the speed of resetting and the flexible ranges.

I would recommend this unit to all photographers.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I will give the flash a complete workout 4/26/13 at a Non-Profit social event. I volunteer each year for photos of attendees. The organization provides support for handicapped children and their parents. My photos are made into a personal photobook that they take with them before leaving for the night. I get lots of compliments and hope my new flash will provide better resolution.
I like the swivel and rotating head. The price was fair and the unit easy to attach.
It has a remote capability that I have yet to use.
In the push for green products I think a CD with instructions and some professional tips would better serve me than a little booklet.
B&H graciously allowed me to return an earlier flash purchase that was not dedicated to my Nikon like this unit. As always the service provided was outstanding.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

As an external flash with an umbrella. It works fine with my Nikon D7000 and D300. Still figuring out how to use it and make the adjustments for output, etc.but I'm in an experimental phase with flash anyway.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I mostly shoot film, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a high-end flash when I could get by on 'vintage' strobes that work just fine with my Nikon 35mm gear. I did however want two things: a flash with built in optical trigger, and a TTL flash to use with my older dSLR for the times when i needed on-camera flash.

Sadly the Vivitar disappointed on both accounts. First off, the optical trigger is extremely directional. Probably a 5 or 10° window. I needed something that would trigger from almost any direction, or at least approaching 180°. The Vivitar would work in a studio situation when you have time to fuss with the flash body's direction vs the head's direction. But in a run-and-gun wedding situation, forget it: the Vivitar is useless as an optically triggered slave.

As for the TTL, it worked reasonably well when the head was pointing directly at my subject. But for bounce flash, images came back woefully underexposed. I boosted the flash exposure on my dSLR, which helped a little. But +1 was as far as it goes in the positive direction, and this wasn't nearly enough.

As far as positive qualities go, I do like the flexibility it offers, such as manual settings, wide panning ability, and the build isn't great but it was sturdier than I was expecting. If you're shooting mostly direct on-camera, or are using it as a studio-style manual strobe off-camera, then this might be a good deal. But for what I was looking for...nope.

I ended up returning it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Received this flash and it is definitely high powered and gives you lots of bang for your buck. It can illuminate a medium sized room in bounce position with no problem. Also easy to use.

But the construction and material it's made out of is lightweight and seems flimsy. It's easier to carry due to its light weight, but I have a feeling if I drop it, it will be toast.

I have used several Nikon brand flashes in the past and those were always much more solidly built. But they are twice as expensive than this Vivitar, so there you have it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

The flash didn't work properly from the beginning. It said "QA passed"... I really doubt this. I sent it to three different technicians for reparation. All of them said the same thing: The flash inside has a lot of wires sloppy welding and cannot be repaired. Wasted money.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Purchased Two of these speed lights to use with Nikon SB910 and SB 700 in Nikons CLS. They fit in perfectly with the nikons. Using the nikon for the commander the camera controls all of the other lights. This is a wireless system so there is no more tripping over cords. I was able to purchase two of the Vivitar lights for less than the cost of the SB700. They perform very well with fast recycle and good light output. Very pleased with this product.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Works perfectly with D90, both on and off camera. Great value for the price compared to Nikon flash. I also have an SB600. No noticeable difference in photo quality.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Just received it and have used it a few times with good results

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I purchased this flash to use with my Nikon D5100 for an introduction to photography class. I needed something better then the on camera flash to work in low light and wanted something with wireless capabilities to use with a reflective umbrella. This flash was easy to set-up in wireless slave mode and gives good light coverage for my needs. This flash should hold me over until I decide to upgrade to the more expensive Nikon wireless system, and I will still be able to use it with the new flashes if needed.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Very Happy with Purchase, flash was shipped quickly and worked great when it arrived, can't wait to use it more.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Picked this flash up to get ttl exposures for some fast paced event photography. Output is quite low compared to what I'm used to (Vivitar 283 and 285). Once I figured out that I needed to boost the ISO on the camera, flash worked consistently, recycled quickly enough to keep up. I'd gladly pay half again more for another stop or two of output.
Construction feels a bit light, but no problems yet after a day of use/careful handling.
Works well on camera with a light modifier, seems to play well in wireless ttl mode controlled by Nikon D7000.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Camera Used Nikon D3200, the DF-483 is doing just what Vivitar claims it should do, and is a good looking flash.The ITTL is accurate, and no Washout and Colors are accurate wether at 10' or 40'..The Red auto Focus assist light is also good to about 25'.the Zoom Head works as stated,to a 105 Lens.The LCD screen Clear&sharp, The manuel Power out put seem to be accurate(7 Settings). The red eye flash portion works fine, but since the flash is so high any way,you wont get red eye, so it doesn't matter..The built in defusior is very handy, and I use it a lot, it prevents harsh photos, and a great help with skin tones, if your not using a soft box or warming filter. Also when I'm at a car show, I use a Vivitar Df-383 as a slave fill flash, with the Defusior, prevents most harshness from to much light.In the sales photo,they show the flash on a mount, well it comes with the flash, so it can be a stand alone slave,or ,with the built in 1/4" nut, it can be mounted on a stand..I have not tried the rear curtain portion yet, but I bet it will work just fine..By the way this Flash also locks onto the shoe, and the foot is partly metal. so it should hold up well..I would like Vivitar to add a Negative Head position for close up flash photos. AND add a seperat button for the Manual power setting, so you don't have to go thrue the additionl features offered, or shut the power off, and then back on, to get back to Auto..

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Huge upgrade over the 5 year old flash we had.
Consistent and speedy recycling a main plus for us.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I am a semi pro photographer who needed a second flash to pair with my Nikon Speedlight. This flash is a great slave flash and has worked perfectly for me. My only complaint is the locking mechanism. It is nowhere near as sturdy or secure as the Nikon system, but it is also much much cheaper.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

After unboxing and inspecting this flash it seemed to be of lesser quality than I expected. I bought this as a second flash to use in addition to my Nikon SB-700. The flash works very well so far, all the iTTL wireless functions are working properly with my D7000. I think that the shoe mount could be better, the locking device seems very "cheap", nothing like the Nikon. I plan on using it off camera so this may not become an issue. I think anyone looking for a second flash that can be used with the Nikon iTTL system should be happy with this unit, just wish the quality was a little better.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Good Value for money

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I give it 3 stars. It was fairly good value for the money while it worked. But it was short-lived and had it's limitations.

I have used a lot of old Vivitar 283's as slave and off-camera flashes and those old 283's were built like a tank. When I unpacked the DF-483 my first impression was "this sure isn't a 283". The DF-483 is very light-weight, and lightly-constructed.

The other reviewers who complained about the battery cover were right. Be gentle if you want it to last. The DF-483 does not use a battery caddy like the old 283, and its battery slots are a bit tight, making it fussy to remove (fat) NIMH batteries.

I like the shoe-lock system on the DF-483 much better than the old 283. It is very quick and positive to lock and unlock. But it sticks out in the back, and after several days of continuous use I developed a small welt on my forehead from constantly pressing against the shoe-lock tab.

The DF-483 has a built-in optical slave sensor, which the old 283 lacked. It works fine (except outdoors, as would be the problem any other optical slave sensor). There is a convenient on/of slide-switch to turn slave mode on or off (sometimes it would get accidentally switched "on" during handling, double-check that slave switch if the flash is unresponsive when shoe-mounted). The "mode" button allows you so select how many flashes to delay before the slave should fire (0 to 9 delay flashes), so you can use it as a slave with cameras that pre-flash. Nice touch. When used off-camera (not mounted in the camera shoe), the flash does not go to sleep. Other flashes fall asleep after 3 minutes or so, and are rendered useless as slave units. But the DF-483 seems to stay alert when used off-camera in slave mode (I tested for about 20 minutes and it was still awake.)

For a low-cost flash, and given its light-weight construction, this a powerful flash. Not quite as powerful as the top-of-the line Nikon, Canon, Sony or Pentax models, but as powerful or more powerful than any of the second-model flashes from any of those manufacturers (e.g. Nikon SB-800).

I mostly shoot in manual mode, so I wasn't particularly interested in auto/program flash performance. If I want reliable auto/program flash, I would buy the brand name flash to go with my camera (e.g. Nikon SB flash). But I used the Vivitar DF-483 in "manual" mode at 1/32 power as fill flash, with my Nikon D3 at ISO 1600 or 3200 and I had a powerful fill-flash that could fire continuously at 5fps with very little power degradation within a burst of 4 to 6 frames.

There are 2 buttons on the back of the DF-483, one for "mode" and one for "zoom". Zoom ranges from 24mm to 110mm, a nice range for broad fill-flash, or for long-range telescopic lighting.

The "mode" button has a lot of settings, including all the manual power settings from 1/1 down to 1/32, but there are another dozen or so other options beyond the 1/32 manual setting, so if you need to get back to the beginning you can short-cut by switching the "slave" switch on, then off, and that resets the mode options back to the top, instead of having to press the mode button dozens of times to get back to the top.

The DF-483 is sensitive to high humidity (higher than 85%) or condensing humidity (e.g. moving from cold to warm/humid environments). The flash becomes occasionally unresponsive. The "mode" button does not respond, and you are frustratedly punching, stabbing, jabbing that little rubber "mode" button until it decides to respond. One or two times I pressed the "mode" button so hard it disappeared inside the housing, luckily I was able to get it to pop back in place. If you live in a dry area where the humidity normally ranges well below 80% you won't encounter this issue except in the winter if the flash has been outside in the cold and you enter a nice warm room.

My flash finally blew up after several days of hard use in 1/32 fill-flash mode and maybe 150 pops over the course of 45 minutes at full 1/1 and 1/2 power, outdoors in modest humidity (75%), and about an hour later when I tried to used it again indoors at 1/32 power it just blew up internally, and that was the end of my experience, after owning the flash for 3 weeks and using it heavily for about 6 days during that time.

In a different climate and pattern of use the DF-483 might be quite a successful flash for other users, particularly as a slave flash. So I can't tell you not to buy this flash, but as for me I enjoyed my quick fling with the DF-483 but won't be buying a replacement.

Thank you for reading.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

I am really impressed with this flash. I was not prepared to find a flash with so much to offer that was not part of the Nikon lineup. The wireless using my camera as the commander was simple and by far my favorite feature of the flash. The fact that it was a fraction of the Nikon flashes was very nice as well.

The only thing I am not really fond of is the mode button and the number of times you need to get where you are going. Nonetheless I still like it very much and will get used to it.

Comments about Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon:

Haven't had too much time to play around with it yet. I'm just a casual photographer, and it has been great for me. Still a lot to learn but I'm very happy with it! Works great with my D5000!