[Waj K Maj]

Hello guys,

Need some advice from someone who owns or knows anything about thePENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash, I have read reviews on how great it is on macro photography, but what I really wanted to know was what about how useful or suited is it as a flash for wedding photography or street photography, basically is it only worth getting for macro photography?

I can not seem to find anyone comment on it other than "awesome macro flash" since I do wedding photography I wanted a new flash, anyone got any useful information on this flash for me, or first hand experience, seems like very few people have had this since it is very expensive!

Kind Regards

[blackcloudbrew]

I own and have owned the ring flash since 2009. I do not do wedding photography and only a little street photography. That said, I cannot imagine how or why you would want to use the ring flash for wedding use. It's really intended for macro work and as it's rated lower in power than most other Pentax flashes, it just doesn't seem useful for weddings and / or street photography. Ring flashes are for close up work. Also, given the inside diameter of the flash, I think you are limited to...about 62mm (might be 67mm) of maximum lens diameter. Honestly, it's really designed to work best with the DFA 100 macro. It can mount lenses down to 49mm though. I think you need to look elsewhere for your new flash.

[detritus]

I have it... But I use it only for macro.

Even for macro, I feel mixed abt it. Its a very efficient setup but flat light isn't very appealing sometimes and it's hard to light up the background for macro as I'll be shooting f8-f11 and with high shutter speed. A flashgun with a creative diy diffuser might be more versatile.

It might be more useful for a studio shoot than an event shoot cos its really not very powerful? Its GN 18 think...

I can imagine that the ability to fire off just 1 tube might allow for some creative effects but I really haven't tried it on subjects with less than 6 legs before.

[cali92rs]

I wouldnt use it for that, you would have very flat looking pics with the light source coming from the dead center line axis of the lens.

[detritus]

I wouldnt use it for that, you would have very flat looking pics with the light source coming from the dead center line axis of the lens.

Lol... Isn't that how it is with mug shots? Or more generically, dental shots, which was what ring flashes were used for in the old days :P

[cali92rs]

Lol... Isn't that how it is with mug shots? Or more generically, dental shots, which was what ring flashes were used for in the old days :P

Yea...
If the bride doesn't mind loking like a criminal, it shouldn't be a problem
lol

[manntax]

I have this flash and mainly use it for macro BUT let me tell you this - it CAN be used very creatively for portraits and even fast snaps with directional light - since base sits on the camera and cable is long enough to direct the light around - similar to what you would do with an off camera flash. The difference is that this one can give you very nice shadowless effect - depends on how fast the background is. Good for some creative light usage! I might later find some of shots I took with this combo (other than macro ) and give them quick PP to post here - sadly I take loads of shots which are then sitting on an external drives as unprocessed RAW's waiting for my retirement I guess :P

[bmw]

Hello guys,

Need some advice from someone who owns or knows anything about thePENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash, I have read reviews on how great it is on macro photography, but what I really wanted to know was what about how useful or suited is it as a flash for wedding photography or street photography, basically is it only worth getting for macro photography?

I can not seem to find anyone comment on it other than "awesome macro flash" since I do wedding photography I wanted a new flash, anyone got any useful information on this flash for me, or first hand experience, seems like very few people have had this since it is very expensive!

Kind Regards

Waj, I have one. It's great for specific kinds of macro photography, but it's not well suited to anything else. Plus it's very expensive so it's not really a good candidate for clever hacks either.

Wedding shooting generally calls for lots of power and the ability to throw it all over the place. The AF160 can't do either of those.

Street photography? Well I know of only one photographer in New York who uses flash for that and he handholds a small flash and jumps up in front of and blasts folks in the face with it. If you do that with the AF160 and somebody clobbers you -- a likely outcome -- you'll end up with a broken $800 flash; and camera, and lens too. Maybe even your nose.

Short answer: get something else.

[Waj K Maj]

Thank you to everyone that posted (blackcloudbrew, detritus, manntax) very useful to hear from you all, and thank you bmw I think you are right along with the other guys, in that case any recommendations?

The thing is I got myself a Sigma EF 610 DG Super about 2 years ago and it is so un-user friendly and complicated to use and doesn't save the settings, it broke only last month I sent it to Sigma they said they can not fix it so I have to buy a new flash now and I am totally lost, all I want it for is simplicity but yet powerful enough!

[manntax]

Thank you to everyone that posted (blackcloudbrew, detritus, manntax) very useful to hear from you all, and thank you bmw I think you are right along with the other guys, in that case any recommendations? The thing is I got myself a Sigma EF 610 DG Super about 2 years ago and it is so un-user friendly and complicated to use and doesn't save the settings, it broke only last month I sent it to Sigma they said they can not fix it so I have to buy a new flash now and I am totally lost, all I want it for is simplicity but yet powerful enough!

Firstly sorry to hear that your flash broke - It is a pain , especially considering the price of these flashes ! My Pentax AF 160C flash I bought back in 2012 I think and since then it has been a faithful companion. Although I do not use it a lot - it is comforting to know that it is there and I can use it any time I need/want to. I used it in the field few times - also with film cameras (Z1p ) and of course on digital. And I can assure you that there is probably no way that things could get any simpler ! Flash has only essential settings and works flawlessly. It is very robust, the cable is a bit stiff - but then I prefer that for the extra sturdiness ( on many occasions I let the flash go hang lose not worried whether cable is strong enough ! ).

Flash is very versatile - with several manual settings, full auto setting, compensation and ability to adjust the way the flash discharges - it really offers simplicity and loads of features at the same time. You need to ask yourself whether spending this much money is going to benefit you considerably or not - that depends how do you plan on using it, whether it could be substituted with something different ( cheaper ) or not, etc..

PS: The only glitch that I should mention is that this flash is NOT working well with my K-01. Camera is usually overexposing a lot in P-TTL mode and so I use it rather only on manual setting with this camera. I saw somewhere complaints about the way the K-01 is working ( or rather NOT) with some flashes. It works perfect with my K10D so I guess that it is a fault of the camera, not flash.

[bmw]

[...] any recommendations?

The thing is I got myself a Sigma EF 610 DG Super about 2 years ago and it is so un-user friendly and complicated to use and doesn't save the settings, it broke only last month I sent it to Sigma they said they can not fix it so I have to buy a new flash now and I am totally lost, all I want it for is simplicity but yet powerful enough!

How do you use your flash for weddings: on-camera or off-camera (eg on a stand or held by assistant) ?

If on-camera, I'd recommend you think about an AF540-FGZ, new or used. It's a workhorse, it's (obviously) designed for the Pentax camera, it's very powerful, it will accept modifiers that a lot of wedding shooters use, like the Gary Fong thing or the Sto-Fen diffuser, and it's fairly easy to use. It does P-TTL which you will appreciate for gun and run work.

If off-camera, then that opens a whole other range of possibilities.

[clackers]

You dodged a bullet, there, Waj, thanks to all the good advice from the forum members!

The ring flash eliminates texture/shape/shadows, and I've always thought videos taken with those continuous LED panels above the camcorder look a bit weird no matter how soft the light.

For portraits you want to avoid the caught-in-headlights look. You want to swivel a naked flash to get a wall or ceiling, or lift it up above the subject with a diffuser.

[Waj K Maj]

Thank you so much guys, thanks manntax, clackers and again bmw. I use flash on camera, I am currently looking at your suggestions!

[manntax]

Thank you so much guys, thanks manntax, clackers and again bmw. I use flash on camera, I am currently looking at your suggestions!

I consider that AF160FC flash is very versatile and of high quality, however, with recent reports of problems with communication in P-TTL of some units with newer cameras ( K-01, K5, K3 ) - I would be sure that I can actually return this flash ( should you decide to go for it ) in case of any issues. It might be worth subscribing to this thread where few users of this flash ( including myself) are trying to figure out what is going on : Af160fc problem

I agree getting this flash just for portraits is quite a misunderstanding - but it can be used as such with no problems, with light configured and directed in appropriate way,. For portraits I would go for an off camera P-TTL cord + AF360FGZ + a diffuser / small head.

[RAART]

I just got myself Godox AD180 with powerpack 960... If you look for power then this should be more than enough, I guess but remember this is pure manual flash ;-)

EDIT: when I used my Nikon F5 back in the days sometimes I used ring flash for portraits, like fill in flash with HSS and it worked very well but then those flashes did not have LED lights, they had flash bulb...