The *OLD* Vivitar 285HV flashes are getting kind of hard to find. There
are a lot of NEW Chinese made "Vivitar" flashes, but they are very poor
quality & nowhere near as reliable.
There are a number of inexpensive good quality Chinese strobes on the
market, but the Vivitar ones are not amongst them.
I've had trouble mixing the P-TTL flashes with older flashes using
optical slaves because of the preflash.
George Sinos mentioned the Cactus V6. Here's a review from the Strobist
Group on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157644142606469/
I haven't had time to read all of it myself. I just ran across it while
looking for something else, but it may be germane to the discussion here.
For radio slaves, I've been very happy with my experience using Paul C.
Buff's CyberSync. I previously had the no name Chinese 4-channel radio
triggers.
On 8/1/2014 12:15 AM, Darren Addy wrote:
Crikey, Larry. Why use a $400 flash as a dumb optically triggered
slave? You can get old Vivitar 283/285s for that purpose and they are
a dime a dozen these days. Add a Vivitar Vari-Power Module (admittedly
getting harder to find) and you've got oodles of flexibility on an
optically fired slave.
On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 8:55 PM, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote:
When my AF 540 died, I replaced it with a metz 58-2.
For just basic flash operations, it works a lot better. My AF-540 was an
unreliable piece of crap. Unreliable in that it kept breaking and unreliable in
that I could never rely on it to do what I told it to.
The UI of the Metz is not very good. The other problem with the Metz is that I
cannot figure out how to use it as a dumb optically triggered strobe. It’ll
work with the fancy ttl controls, at least in theory, I haven’t had much luck,
but when I want it on a stand, triggered off my studio lights, I seem to be SOL
and just need to get an external optical trigger.
I’ve been looking at the yongnuo and the Midwest photo strobes lately.
On Jul 31, 2014, at 2:15 PM, Igor Roshchin <s...@komkon.org> wrote:
Dan,
I've been heavily relying on flash in what I photograph:
quick dances in a dark room, fill-in flash for my child indoors and
outdoors photos, some candid portraits in dynamic settings.
While I have only tried Pentax AF540 with K-7, I didn't like it,
and bought Metz 58 (not "2" yet), that I've been happily using ever
since, with both K-7 and K-5IIs.
IMHO, it works much better (but not universally perfectly, - so you have
to use it smartly).
I've been using it in two modes: either in "A", where the flash decides
when to cut itself off, or in PTTL.
In most cases, I find that "A" mode works better, especially when
I turn the main flash up, and have the front fill-in sub-flash enabled.
I use PTTL often for forward-facing (typically longer-distance) shots.
Also, PTTL seems to work somewhat better at the very close range (1-3 feet),
maybe because camera's CPU is faster to cut off this powerhouse.
I agree, however, that the buttons of Pentax AF540 are more convenient
than the menues of Metz 58. Those menues are frustrating.
But I choose a better functionality.
Also, there were some problems (and I don't remember all the details),
that Pentax AF540 didn't not keep its settings upon power-cycling, and
it might not allow a manual mode. (Larry might still remember this part,
- he complained about that more recently.)
It looks like Metz 58-2 might have a better hotshoe mount, which is
welcome, as the one in Metz 58 is becoming a bit "loose" after a lot of
use, and may require occasional adjustment after insertion.
See my earlier response about Metz 58 in this thread:
https://www.mail-archive.com/pdml@pdml.net/msg656989.html
HTH,
Igor
Thu Jul 31 16:36:09 EDT 2014
Paul pentax1941 at gmail.com wrote:
I have both the Metz 58 and the Pentax AF540 and would pretty much
concur with the Amazon review from Darren's link. Both will tilt and
swivel, features that I prefer for better lighting.
The Pentax is a little quicker to use since you can make most changes
via buttons rather than spending time in menus. The secondary flash on
the Metz is very useful for a fill light and the Metz is upgradeable via
a USB cable.
Either one will serve you well. The Pentax *is* pricier by about $50.
-p
On 7/31/2014 1:19 PM, Darren Addy wrote:
I've never owned a modern Pentax flash. When it came time to get one,
I looked at the power and features and went with the Metz 58 AF-1. I
think that has been supplanted by the AF-2 now, but it still gets very
decent reviews:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/744545-REG/Metz_MZ_58327PS_mecablitz_58_AF_2_TTL.html
If you don't need that much power:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Metz+52+AF-1+pentax&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
That being said, the first review on this page is worth reading:
http://www.amazon.com/Metz-mecablitz-Digital-Pentax-Cameras/product-reviews/B004DUMU8I/ref=pd_sxp_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Hope this helps.
On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 1:12 PM, Daniel J. Matyola <danmatyola at gmail.com>
wrote:
I have been extremely pleased with my new K-5IIs. Recently, however,
my hotshoe mounted flash has be acting up, and I am thinking of
replacing it.
Which flash unit would you recommend for use with the K-5IIs?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Dan Matyola
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola
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