Forum Member Registered: December, 2017 Posts: 81 | Review Date: July 6, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $10.00
| Rating: 6 |
Pros: | Small, lightweight | Cons: | Two stops underpowered based on GN; no manual control of power | | It's a tiny flash unit, taking up little space in your bag. Unfortunately, my unit, even with fresh Eneloop Pros, is underpowered, and produces about two stops less light than ideal for coverage/even exposure. It's easy enough to stop down, but it's something to be aware when using the chart on the back.
It also unfortunately is only controlled by an on-off switch, and has no manual stop down of the power. It fires full blast whenever you take a shot.
| |
Veteran Member Registered: September, 2013 Posts: 306 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: September 22, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 6 |
Pros: | Size,weight,GN about 20 | Cons: | No slave mode | | Good power/weight ratio. Better by model with build in slave.
| |
Veteran Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Posts: 12,285 2 users found this helpful | Review Date: July 4, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $14.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Small, inexpensive, TILT head | Cons: | dumb flash | | This flash is very basic but does two things that the Q on-board flash doesn't do - it has a tilt head that allows you to bounce the flash and its GN 20. The Q/Q10 flash is GN 4.9-7 according to Pentax's specs so this is a significant boost in light output over the diminutive built-in flash. The tilt head is also a huge step up over the built-in flash.
Packaging is very basic with the flash in a solid box and wrapped in bubble wrap. Instructions are very minimal but because the CY-20 does not have any bells or whistles that's fine. If you want a more advanced flash in the same size range then the Metz 20 C-2 is probably more your choice, but it costs, on average, 4 times as much as this flash. For a casual user the $14 price shipped from China is a huge plus.
The flash is larger than I anticipated but still small enough to be convenient to carry with the Q system. The flash is light, possibly indicating some unused space inside that I wish they had trimmed. This means it balances very nicely on the Q and does not make it harder to handle the little camera when mounted.
Recharge time to full power on new alkaline batteries is rated as 7 seconds and that seems accurate from my use. However, this flash will discharge at ANY TIME during the recharge cycle thereby allowing you some minor control over power output and giving faster cycling if you do not need/want full power output. I find that a positive for the flash.
Bottom line for me is this - I got a nice small tilt-head flash that uses 2xAA for $14 that works well on my Q's. I already have much more complex flashes but they are all much larger and heavier. This works wonderfully on the Q.
| |