Site Supporter Registered: November, 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 2,858 3 users found this helpful | Review Date: February 9, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Effective, light, price | Cons: | needs a bit of fitting on Pentax | | UPDATE see also this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/22-pentax-camera-field-accessories/25628...-extender.html
I was prompted by Adrian's review below to pick up one of these.
This flash extender is designed to fit in the flash hot shoe and perch a fresnel lens in front of the pop up flash, to concentrate the beam. It is designed "for (most) Canon and Nikon" (compatibility chart here) and comes with a couple of spacers, 5mm and 8mm, to center the fresnel in relation to the flash. It's a black plastic cone, which might be considered just a tad flimsy, with an oval plastic fresnel lens at the front. The front end is ~ 95mm x 72mm.
There is no real difficulty in fitting this on a Pentax - a little tight on my K5, I actually used the edge of a scissors blade to pare the fitting just a touch.
However there is a problem (taken with a 28mm to show flash extent and overall illumination).
Like Adrian I found that moving the fresnel lens a bit closer to the flash* by moving the unit back about a cm had the desired effect of smoothing out most of the banding. And in particular the areas in the regions I have delineated to show (approximately) the field of view for 200mm, 300mm, 500mm focal lengths (pic below) have smooth illumination.
*according to a post by crew1 in the thread linked to above the optimal distance is 48mm.
Instead of gluing the 8mm spacer on I drilled the piece and used a couple of M1.6 bolts. It is possible to use the Safari just not fully engaging the unit on the spacer and the spacer not fully in to the flash hot shoe (1st pic above) but it's fiddly and the fitting is shaky. So glueing, screwing or otherwise fixing the spacer on the unit is recommended.
My usage so far is encouraging - I think this is a very effective piece of kit. I estimate that effective illumination can be achieved up to at least 20m. I have been testing with my 200-500mm at distances up to 12m and haven't yet used the flash on full power. Tests did not show any significant lens shadow with either my 200-500mm or my 300mm f2.8. Because I use a VF magnifier the slight extension of the unit over the back of the camera did not cause me any inconvenience. Example pic - approx 10m distance, in fact the flash is bright enough that its reflection off the feeder is clipped:
Good piece of kit IMO, and the price is right. Automatically in the bag for me from now on. Point off because of wee bit of finagling required, otherwise 10.
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Pentaxian Registered: August, 2008 Location: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia Posts: 589 5 users found this helpful | Review Date: May 30, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Lightweight and effective with built-in flash | Cons: | Requires small modification for Pentax | |
Although not designed for Pentax cameras, the Safari works great when modified as shown in the pictures attached. The modification places the lens at the right distance from the flash. Has been tried successfully on K5, K5II, K5IIS and K3. I used Araldite to glue the Safari in place as per the photos.
The Safari mounts on the camera hot shoe and places a Fresnel lens in front of the in-built flash. The advantage is that it allows use of the in-built flash with long lenses. I have used this on DA*300 f4 (with and without teleconverter), Sigma 500 f4.5, Sigma 100-300 f4, and the new HD Pentax 150-450 f4.5-5.6 ED DC AW - all with great results.
This is a great accessory for travelling. I took it to South America last year ona trip that was weight-limited and involved lots of hiking. Easy to fit and remove, and robust enough to leave on the camera while walking.
I would have rated this a 10 if it had been made for Pentax straight out of the box. For photographic effect, and practicality, I would give it top score - 10. | |