Loyal Site Supporter Registered: August, 2011 Location: North Carolina, USA Posts: 5,295
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| | Review Date: July 11, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $38.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Really does boost flash output by nearly 3 stops | | Cons: | flimsy construction | |
Extends the reach of a standard flash unit such as the Pentax AF-540FGZ, when used with a 300mm or longer lens.
Consists of a plastic Fresnel lens and a pair of extruded plastic mounting brackets. The whole thing goes together and mounts to the flash head with velcro. You zoom the flash to 50mm*, and the Fresnel lens refocuses the beam to a much narrower spread. The manufacturer claims a gain of up to 3 stops; in my own testing I have found nearly this much gain (better than 2.5 stops). When disassembled it packs fairly flat.
I have the FX-5 model for my Pentax AF-500FTZ and the FX-1B model for my Pentax AF-540FGZ. Neither model is made expressly for those particular flash units and the fit isn't perfect. The plastic parts are light and flimsy, but the velcro is strong and secure. The main issue is aiming the beam. The units are (presumably) designed to aim the beam correctly when the flash is mounted on the camera hotshoe and pointed straight ahead, but in practice with the combinations listed above, I find the beam too low for anything beyond close distances. (At very close distances the beam is a trifle high.) I use an extra piece of velcro to elevate the head slightly, and this fixes the issue.
Despite the flimsy feel, this is a reasonably well thought out and constructed product at a reasonable price, and it really does work as advertised. It's small and light to pack along, and for birding and wildlife shots it is highly useful. I give it a high rating because I know of no other product that fills this need.
* 50mm in full frame format; note that recent Pentax flashes have a crop sensor mode where you should zoom to 35mm.
X-Tender in action with a 400mm lens on a 1.4x TC; note the catchlight -- sun + flash. | |
