Indoor photos, cheap flash gun. Vs manual foucs prime lens?

[stu_the_flat]

I've never in my life taken a good photograph inside with a on-board flash. in seems like the prefect devise to gauge when people last washed and highlight spots that the subject hadn't even noticed!

All thought I was reading about a technique called "dragging the shutter" which you will probably know more about than me. Can that still be effective with and on-board flash.

I did have some success using a bounce with an ancient flash gun mounted on my Olympus 5060 a couple years ago. Sadly the flash gun died.

The Nikon SB 800 costs more than my camera did.

I was wondering if I bought this

http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?p...

would it do the job?

or would a lens that takes in lots of light be better?

Again the Sigma 30mm f1.4 would be amazing but sadly its also very expensive.

so would manually focusing this one be a viable option?

http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/item/355-101B/

Once again your advice is greatly appreciated.

[andy-xr]

SB400's worth a look if you're not bothered about it's limitations, SB600 would be better.

[Kermit power]

I'm not sure it's an either/or question? OK, unless you've got a lot of light, you will need either/or to take indoor photos of any sort, but once you're after that point, there are surely all sorts of different things you can do with one or the other?

I've got a 50mm f1.8 for my Canon which can do amazing things with very little light. I've also got a 580 EX flash which can do amazing things. The best spent money, however, was probably the £20 I spent on a Chinese wireless remote for the flash. This means I can put the flash wherever I want, so not only can I take pictures indoors, I can take pictures with the light coming from wherever I want it.

Unfortunately, I'm only just starting to experiment with what all of this actually means, but doubtless others will be along in a while who can make better recommendations, based on the sort of shots you want.

[stu_the_flat]

Cheers guys.

I supose that involes me wanting to know what sort of photos I want to take! I was really just wanting to know if the cheap stuff is decent enough to alow me to play about or is it a prime candate to join the "junk at the bottom of the cuboard" section.

Interesting about the sb400. I didn't see how it tilts but that is really clever.

Cheers

[Kermit power]

Why would you need to manually focus that lens?

I don't know Nikons, but I'm assuming from the look and price that it's roughly the equivalent of my Canon 50mm f/1.8, which auto-focuses superbly with very low ambient light.

[stu_the_flat]

I bought a Nikon D60, Basicaly it wants a atuofoucs mirrors on the lens not the camera, I think, In short an auto foucs that works with the D60 is labeled af-s, rather than just plain old af.

Stuart

[andy-xr]

I've used that 1.8 on my D40 and it's a bit delicate to get the DoF anywhere near useable, but it works. I wouldnt use it for any kind of action shots though. The D300 was having problems with the 50mm @ 1.8 in a dark club. Sometimes there's just not enough light full stop until you create a bit more.