[lesmore49]

I've got a Pentax K10D. I want a flash more powerful and useful than the pop up flash. I like the 540, but it's pricey for my budget, so I'm looking at the Pentax AF360GZ.

I've got the 26-45 Pentax lens and I'm wondering will the 360 cover the complete frame when using the 16 mm wide angle setting? Right now my pop up flash on the K10D cuts off part of the picture on the 16 mm setting .

How far (feet) will the 360 throw it's flash on automatic and then on manual setting ?

I've heard that the 360 is kind of weak around the foot area where you attach it to the camera's hot shoe. Is this the case, or is this a pretty rugged flash?

Any other negatives or positives?

[JJJPhoto]

If you bounce the flash or use a light modifier like an Omnibounce or the evil Lightsphere then the 360 should give you plenty of light for 16mm wide angle without any "hot spot" effect. However, if you fire the flash directly forward without a light modifier using a wide angle lens then you should expect to see a hot spot with dark edges to the frame.

[GaryML]

I've got the 26-45 Pentax lens and I'm wondering will the 360 cover the complete frame when using the 16 mm wide angle setting? Right now my pop up flash on the K10D cuts off part of the picture on the 16 mm setting .

How far (feet) will the 360 throw it's flash on automatic and then on manual setting ?

I've heard that the 360 is kind of weak around the foot area where you attach it to the camera's hot shoe. Is this the case, or is this a pretty rugged flash?

Any other negatives or positives?

Assuming you have a Pentax DA 16-45 f4, the AF-360 flash will automatically cover the full range without a problem. The "24mm" display on the flash is the equivalent for 35mm cameras, and it works just fine with the 16-45mm set at 16mm.

The distance the flash will cover depends on the lens used, the zoom setting on the flash, the selected aperture of the lens, and the camera's ISO setting. I can't give you an exact amount of feet with sample settings, but my experience was that it will cover most normal indoor residential usage with a reasonable settings (e.g., f4 and ISO 400). If you're going to need a lot of power (e.g., for event photography) then you definitely want the 540.

The foot of the 360 is plastic and seems a bit weak, but I never had a problem. Some other brands have metal feet which are probably stronger. But the downside of a stronger flash foot is that if you drop the camera+flash combo, I'd rather have the weaker flash foot break as compared to having a strong flash foot break the prism cover of the camera. Probably a bigger concern is the locking pin getting stuck in the hot shoe. I also never had a problem, and it seems to be more common with the 540.

[lesmore49]

Thank you for the information...it sounds like the 360 will meet my needs.