Having got disheartened by the sheer weight of Nikon’s recent price rises especially on some of the Accessories, i decided to go on the hunt for a 3rd Party battery system for my flashgun (SB-900). The current UK Price of the SD-9 is 190 UK Pounds. A very heavy price to buy for a battery pack!
I had a look on ebay and noted several 6 cell versions that claimed they were SB-900 compatible, which didnt seem correct to me as the SD-9 is an 8 cell battery pack. Then i spotted another from a seller called GreenLife selling an “External Battery Pack For Nikon SB-800 900 SD-9/8A bj04″ and for 68 US Dollars inc Shipping to the UK from Singapore, it was mine. It is made by Yongnuo a Chinese company who appear to reverse engineer most camera accessories, however i did take a risk as the images in the auction weren’t clear on how it connected the the SB-900 as the official SD-9 only has a single connector (I think).
About a week later the item arrived, (too late for to take to France) very impressed with the build quality it feels the same as the Nikon, more importantly it is CE approved (well its stamped on it anyway) It comes with a nice case with a velcro lid and push cap base, so you can change the batteries on the go. It also came with a mounting screw so you can attache the pack horizontally on the base of your camera securing the pack to the camera via a screw into the tripod socket. Performance is fantastic, i get no heat build up from it at all. The batteries in the SB-900 control the display etc and the power for the actual flash is drawn from the 8 cells in the battery pack itself. The instructions are short, and it does say not to shoot more than 12 shots in a sequence without letting it cool, there is a thermal cut out on the back though. But i have’nt found the batteries getting hot during use. I have been using AA 2700 mAh Maha Energy Batteries, i also use one of there chargers.
Connecting to the SB-900 is easy, the one cable fits nicely into the front of the SB-900 and the other goes into the sync socket on the side of the SB-900. I am unsure why the sync cable is required but i connected it anyway. Either way the whole package was cheap and works flawlessly with the SB-900 with no issue at all. Here are some pics of the unit. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thanks
Model Nos SF-18 for Nikon bj04 made by Yongnuo Digital
Update 22/6/09 :- The battery pack works fine with the SB-900 in all modes. I have used it as remote mode and master without any problems.
Update 23/6/09 :- The sync cable that appears on this unit (bj04) does not appear on Nikon’s SD-9 however i have tested it and it makes no difference if its plugged in or not, the unit performs in the same way.
Please post questions below and i’ll respond ASAP. Cheers
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