Nikon 1 SB-N7 Speedlight

I agree with another reviewer. Read the specs. I love all the reviews on various sites stating that the flash does not rotate and is not usable because of the inability to rotate the camera and bounce flash off a ceiling. A lot of the reviewers claim to be ´professional portrait´ or ´professional wedding´ photographers. Really? What professional photographer on assignment would even consider using a CX format camera? Come on. Be honest and don´t glorify yourselves as some kind of ´expert´. CX is for someone who doesn´t want to carry 5 pounds of camera and glass for a snapshot situation. I often leave the D800 behind and use the V2. It´s fine for most situations. If I were getting paid to take the pictures, of course I would use the D800. But for most situations the V2 is fine.

This flash does what I want it to do. Provide more firepower than the built in flash. Same reason I hold on to the SB-800 for the D800. And if I have to take a portrait picture with the V2, no big deal. It´s not for the cover of National Geographic. I usually don´t even rotate the camera unless something won´t fit in the frame. I can crop later. Plenty of pixels available for the typical 4x6. Most of the time I use the SB-N7 for fill and it works fine for that. A diffuser works great for taking the hard edges off when I do use the flash. It´s light, small and doesn´t take up much space. Serves my purposes.

The gentleman with the experience was quite right, portrait photographers normally take their shots in a vertical position, therefore cannot use this flash to bounce light off a ceiling for a softening effect. I too find this unfortunate. Also, I am having trouble finding information about the flash at all (uses for red eye reduction, fill flash, etc.) in either the manual that came with my Nikon 1 V1 or the flash unit itself. However, for general shooting where more light is needed, I will be keeping the unit, not sending it back.

To the individual who slammed Nikon for this flash not rotating: (1) Nikon´s tech specs clearly state the flash tilts not rotates; (2) you´re review is unfair, because it assumes others do like you and don´t read the specs; and (3) it´s quite likely that most portrait photographers bounce light off of ceilings as opposed to walls because the light is more evenly destributed off ceilings and ceilings are more likely to be white..

I am not usually one to rant or write reviews, however this product´s design flaw needs to be shared for other potential buyers. I have a Nikon 1 V1 and I love it for what it is. A great compact camera that gives me some of the benefits of my two D700s without all of the weight and space of them plus the pro lenses I use with them. I love the size of the V1 when carrying all the stuff with our new child. I have the SB-N5 and I like it too for it´s small size and ability to minimize red eye due to being off enough of the lens axis. However, my biggest gripe has been the lack of power, especially when trying to bounce flash. So I was very interested in the SB-N7 so I could have that extra punch for those nice bounce flash shots as well as outdoor daylight shots. I preordered over a month ago and eagerly awaited trying it out tonight when the package arrived.
After opening the package I was playing around with the flash and was getting ready to try it when I saw something was amiss. I was like wait a minute....maybe I just don´t know how to do it. I pushed, pulled, did a 360 examination. Nope, they really designed it this way. The stupid flash can´t be used to bounce when shooting in the vertical format! That´s right, when most people would be using the bounce effect, taking portraits, you can´t bounce the flash. The flash head does not twist horizontally. Nikon even says on their website for the SB-N7, ´´Experienced shooters often bounce their flash off the ceiling above them or a wall behind them for an attractive softening effect. The Nikon 1 SB-N7 Speedlight´s flash head tilts 120° so you can direct the light exactly where you want it—straight ahead, up, behind you and everywhere in-between.´´ Yes, it tilts 120 degrees forward and aft when you hold the camera for the standard horizontal shot. However it´s direct flash only if you want to shoot vertical. How is it that the less powerful, supposedly designed for amateurs SB-N5 can bounce for both horizontal and vertical shots but the SB-N7 can´t? I´m returned this poorly designed item. Big time goof Nikon.