On Sep 6, 2012, at 12:32 PM, Bruce Walker wrote: > On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 3:00 PM, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote: >> >> On Sep 6, 2012, at 9:12 AM, Darren Addy wrote: >> >>> This morning Ricehigh posted HIS list of guesses (with degree of >>> certainties) >>> http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-9-things-that-pentax-is-to-be.html >> >> It will be interesting to see how close he is to the truth. The possibility >> of a new Pentax flash is very exciting, and would likely be my first high >> dollar purchase off that list. > > I'm a big Pentax fan--I own Pentax gear almost exclusively--which I > guess makes me a non-rational self-flagellating fanboi, but I would > recommend you away from a Pentax flash, new or not. > > If I had back the cash I sunk into two AF540's and an AF160, I'd buy > three or four Vivitars or other inexpensive manual flashes *and* a > van-load of modifiers.
I won't bore the people here with my oft repeated litany of why the AF540 sucks the smegma from the foreskin of a syphilitic donkey, just take it as a given that I frequently find myself at odds with it. If, rather than get it to do what I want, I just let it do what it wants, then it will often put out something resembling useful amounts of light at a more or less convenient time. And while I can often get what I want by setting the camera to what I want and letting the AF540 do its own thing, I also often want a simple manual flash, with a good range of control, and no preflash. In theory the AF540 will do this, but in practice, no matter how often I set it to Manual, it will at some time of its own choosing, set itself back to P-TTL. I've sent it in for repair at least three times, for both this and a broken hot shoe mount. It is my birthday, allow me for a day or two, the pleasant fantasy that Pentax can design and build a flash that is more likely to do what I ask than it is to fight me every step of the way. > > Or: I'd buy two Alien Bees B1600's and a Vagabond portable battery to run 'em. I've been very happy with my White Lightnings. I have been ecstatic with Paul C Buff's customer service. I was recently given some very nifty light modifiers that work with the profoto flashes. Unfortunately, they are exactly too big to fit on my white lightning. So, the other day I cut down a bit of ABS end cap, drilled some holes in it and made an adapter so I could fit the PF light modifiers on the WL. It worked wonderfully. Until the modeling light melted the ABS. Oh well, time to come up with a plan B > > Pentax will never catch up to Nikon's system, and even if they do, > it's way too expensive and underpowered for what you get. I use these > gadgets because it's what I have and I can't afford new stuff, but I'm > so much wiser now. > > -- > -bmw > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
