Welcome to our ultimate Nissin DI600 review that we have decided to publish after seeing a steady increase in the number of people reaching out for advice on this flash unit. Although the DI600 would be a decent flash unit if it was in the sub $50 price bracket, it is currently retailed for almost three times that and is simply outclassed by other camera flashes on the market like the Neewer NW620 (Click here to check for product prices and availability) that is actually cheaper than it.
We just wanted to get that out there early in the article as we know many of our readers are strapped for time and don’t want you to read this article only to get to our verdict at the end to have another flash recommended to you. That said, we know that some people will want to know why we feel the way we do about this flash unit so we will still fully review the Nissin DI600 below.
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User Interface And Control System
So, to kick things off, let’s start with the user interface and control system for the flash unit as shown in the image above. As you can see, it is very basic with very limited customization available for a flash unit at this price point in the market. In addition to this, it uses a totally different system compared to the competing products in this price bracket that use the LCD screen and directional pad interface.
Although the system does get the job done and lets you tweak the performance of the flash unit, it just doesn’t cut it considering flash units that are half the price of the Nissin DI600 let you do more with a system most of our readers will be familiar with. All in all, we feel that Nissin has totally missed the mark on this one and have simply botched a bunch of tech together to make the flash and then had to jerry-rig a system to control it on a shoestring budget.
There are literally $30 flash units like the Neewer TT560 (Click here to check for product prices and availability) that blow the Nissin DI600 out the water when it comes to ease of use, customization, and quality control.
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Performance And Functionality
When it comes to performance, the Nissin DI600 does manage to get the job done but again, for what it delivers, it is massively overpriced and in our opinion, needs its price tag reducing to at most, a third of what it currently is at the time of writing. In addition to this, the light is meant to have a color temperature of 5600K that is meant to replicate regular daylight but we have seen various reports from people commenting on how their flash unit seems a little off with a hint of Yellow in it.
As you would imagine, when it comes to flash photography, this can have a massive effect on your image quality and if you are working with paying clients this is doing to have a direct effect on your reputation. In the day of social media the last thing you want is angry clients bad mouthing you online ruining your reputation.
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Although the officially listed number of flash activations per set of fully charged batteries from the Nissin DI600 is 200-1500, we have not seen a single report from a photographer to back this up. The average number of activations seems to fall between 150 to 250 even when using high-quality batteries and moderate flash settings.
The variable flash recycling time of 0.1 seconds to 4.7 seconds on the flash unit is a nice touch as many other camera flashes at this price point come with set recycle times but it simply just is not enough to justify the price tag.
We have seen people also complaining about the power saving technology used in the Nissin DI600 too and although the power saving mode seems to work well, the auto power off setting seems to just randomly kick in for some people. Now, keep in mind, we were unable to duplicate this issue our selves so this may be down to user error and we would probably give a flash that held up to the expected quality for its price tag a pass, we just see no reason to take the chance on the Nissin DI600 due to the other issues it has.
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Build Quality And Design
The strongest point of the Nissin DI600 is definatley its build quality but there is no reason to spend this much money on a flash unit with poor performance and superior build quality. Whereas many competing flash units have superior performance and a lower build quality and get away with it as it is the performance of the unit photographer care about, we were unable to find a single other flash units that has seemingly prioritized build quality over performance.
The heat dissipation tech on the Nissin DI600 does seem solid and to work well allowing you to use the shorter recycle times on the flash in quick succession for extended periods of time without issue. The tilt and pan joint also seems to be decent quality and allow you to tilt or pan the had of the flash unit as required to bounce your flash as needed for your specific situation.
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Our Verdict
That brings our short and sweet Nissin DI600 review to an end and as you can probably guess, we would recommend that our readers give the DI600 a very wide birth. The Neewer NW620 (Click here to check for product prices and availability) is not only cheaper but also out performs the DI600 in every way and we would highly recommend that our readers consider picking it up over this Nissin offering.
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Image Licensing
Shared under Creative Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
dallashangerphoto – Bekah Timm – https://flic.kr/p/8rXMCh
Kah Wai Sin – Bella Again – https://flic.kr/p/8Yhdzj
