I will update this post as I see fit also more than likely including information that others have stated.
Key features
SB-700
Guide number: 28/92 (ISO 100, m/ft.).
Flash head tilts down to 7° or up to 90°.
Flash head rotates horizontally 180° to the left and right.
Effective flash output distance range 0.6 m to 20 m (2 ft. to 66 ft.).
Zoom to 120mm.
??? second recycle time.
Master mode with up to 2 groups of slaves.
51 (all) AF assist points at 35mm on FX.
Approx. 360 g.
SB-800
Guide number: 38/125 (ISO 100, m/ft.).
Flash head tilts down to 7° or up to 90°.
Flash head rotates horizontally 180° to the left and 90° to the right.
Effective flash output distance range 0.6 m to 20 m (2 ft. to 66 ft.).
Zoom to 105mm.
2.9 second recycle time with 5th battery.
Master mode with up to 3 groups of slaves.
17 AF assist points at 35mm on FX.
TTL multi flash terminal.
Sinc terminal.
External power source terminal.
Approx. 350g
That is the comparison so far. On paper the SB-800 looks like a clear winner, but that is before you try to navigate the menus.
REVIEW
basics
The SB-700 and SB-800 are almost exactly the same size and weight. The 800 is a very small amount shorter and deeper. Both units are considerably smaller than the SB-900, which is known to occasionally bend hotshoes on cameras smaller then the Dx series. The problem is reportedly very difficult to fix.
The head on the SB-800 can't go past 90° to the right, which makes bouncing from the roof behind you when the camera is in portrait position impossible. I never understood why the older flashes go 180° to the left instead of the right as this would have solved this problem.
The SB-800 has an extra battery that can be attached to the unit making it recycle considerably faster. I found the recycle times to be very similar between the SB-700 and SB-800 when the SB-800 has the 5th battery attached. It is however annoying to have another battery to deal with that will not fit in a four battery recharger.
The SB-700 covers all focus points for AF assist on my D700 and on my D300s. The pattern is very effective and AF is quick to lock on. The SB-800 only covers 17 of 51 points on my D700 and 9 of 51 on my D300s. The pattern is slightly less effective and slower to lock on than the SB-700 pattern. The SB-700 pattern is also brighter and can shine further. This is probably the biggest difference other than the menus between the two. It makes the SB-700 clearly better in terms of AF assist in low light situations, as a standard flash, and also as a commander. The SB-800 has the ability to turn off the flash but maintain the AF assist. The SB-700 does not. However, flash off can be assigned to the function button and held when shutter release is pressed, making this a non issue.
The SB-700 comes with solid plastic gels in tungsten orange and flurescent green. Camera settings are adjusted automatically to match gel used. SZ-3 Color Filter Holder is used to hold the four optional colours in the SJ-4 Color Filter Set. The SB-800 gels come in a small holder. They are slim pieces of plastic which need to be folded and slotted into where the built in wide adapter is. They are not durable and they do not click into place. Eight additional colours can be purchase as the SJ-1 Color Filter Set. They are fitted in the same way. Despite clear differences here most people who are serious have a number of different gel sheets which they cut to size and velcro onto their units. A lumiquest ultra strap also works well for this purpose.
Both units come with diffusion domes for a "bare bulb" style of lighting, which is seldom useful as a main light, but can be useful combined with gels for coloured backdrops.
REVIEW
menus
The SB-700 has a simplified SB-900 menu, where the SB-800 has the older style of menu which is much more cumbersome to use.
The manual is essential to understanding your SB-800, if yours like mine, is written in Japanese, you will need to download the PDF from Nikon and spend a long time (yet to be done on my part) trying to understand how to do simple things. The SB-700 on the other hand is very intuitive and I have only needed to look at the manual once to understand how to do everything.
to be continued...
