[Kieron]

I was looking to try out some strobist work and was wondering on what flash to get. Seen all of this business about P-TTL and TTL, I was wondering if you'd advise any flashes that are relatively cheap for some 'strobist' work. I've looked at the Yongnuo 460 & Yongnuo 560 II.

Thanks in advance, Kieron!

[joe.penn]

The Yongnuo 560's are great flashes, and they are cheap. The only thing is these are not really considered to be newbie flashes as you will have to set the flash manually. For a cheap newbie flash, the Pentax 360 fits the bit, not sure what your budget is but you can usually get the 360's for about $150 on the used market.

[jake14mw]

I agree with Joe. If you're going completely off camera strobist flash, the two you are looking at are good choices. If you want on-camera, and don't want to pay the high price for pttl, you need to get a flash that has auto-thyrister mode (auto). This works very well for events where you don't have time to constantly adjust the flash exposure. Good options for this are in the used market. You can look for Sunpak flashes (383 is a great model). Older Nikon flashes (like the SB-28) have great auto and manual modes. The Pentax 360 is good and will give you pttl, but it does not swivel. That drives me crazy as it limits your ability to bounce the flash, which when you can is always better than direct flash. The Pentax 560 does have swivel, but it's a lot more $, and much bigger.

[Stone G.]

My advice: Go for a flash that can both tilt and swivel - otherwise you will/might soon feel too constrained. For me that rules out the Pentax 200 and 360, leaving only the (rather costly) Pentax AF 540FGZ among the genuine Pentax flashes.

I belive even the cheaper Yongnuos have both tilt and swivel, but as said bye joe.penn you will have to work in manual mode only.

The Metz 44 AF-1 and 50 AF-1 are reasonably priced alternatives that feature tilt, swivel plus P-TTL for Pentax.

[grhazelton]

Promaster has some possibilities. Their 7500EDF tilts, swivels, etc. Promaster 7500EDF for Pentax/Samsung | Cameras - Flash - Cameras - Flash Additionally it can be upgraded. I'm not sure it can handle trailing curtain synch.

I have an early Promaster with Pentax TTL automation, it has given excellent service for over 15 years with my LX. It does everything with the LX that the Pentax units would, and at far lower cost. One really nice feature of my unit, unfortunately not continued with subsequent units, is a separate handle/battery pack which converts the shoe mounted flash into a handle flash with a coil cord for easy use. The handle holds 4 C cells, giving much longer shooting time than the 4 AA cells in the flash unit proper. This feature was enabled by the interchangeable modules which clip to the basic flash and allow it to interface with Pentax, Canikon, etc. The handle/battery pack went "between" the flash head and the module. Good thinking! Wish other manufacturers would do likewise.

[pinholecam]

IMHO, you need to decide a few things before jumping :

1. Are you going to do paid work? - if so, then you need as much power as you can get and that means AF560 or Metz58
2. Do you need PTTL? - Metz48, AF360, AF560, Metz58
3. Do you need a swivel head for on-camera convenience of directional bounce? - Metz48, AF560, Metz58 (YN460 and 560 too, but no PTTL)


If you are going all manual and using wireless triggers that don't support PTTL, then any flash that has manual power control will do.
The usual ones are Vivitar285Hv; YN460; YN560; there are also Nikons (eg. SB-28) but IIRC their prices are no longer that cheap due to the renewed life as off camera strobist flashes.


Personally, I'd choose either method :
1. A 'good' flash that supports most of the whiz bang (ie. PTTL; swivel head; Pentax wireless ) + cheap manual flashes - that means a Metz or a Pentax AF560
There will be times you are lazy to bring out or adjust everything, and the 'whizz-bang' will let you do that.

2. All cheap YN460 or YN560 setup. Its easier to adjust power ratios between each flash this way.