[mom2mny]

I've never used a flash other than the camera's regular flash. Most of my photos are taken outside, ex. birds, butterflies, flowers, landscapes I do take some pictures indoors like at Christmas, birthday parties, etc. Would a speedlight be helpful for any of those? The camera body I'm thinking about buying comes in different packages. One of those is with a free speedlight.

[Paul the Sunman]

That's Adorama's home-branding of the Godox V1. It's an excellent flash, and will allow much better results. Especially inside you can swivel it to bounce off ceilings and walls, which gives a much more pleasing image.

However, for occasional use it may be overkill. The much cheaper Godox or Flashpoint Flashpoint Zoom-Mini TTL R2 Flash With Integrated R2 Radio Transceiver - Pentax may be adequate.

[mom2mny]

That's Adorama's home-branding of the Godox V1. It's an excellent flash, and will allow much better results. Especially inside you can swivel it to bounce off ceilings and walls, which gives a much more pleasing image.

However, for occasional use it may be overkill. The much cheaper Godox or Flashpoint Flashpoint Zoom-Mini TTL R2 Flash With Integrated R2 Radio Transceiver - Pentax may be adequate.

It's actually free with the purchase of the camera. However, there are other packages available that have things like bags, tripod, etc. I have many of the things that are in those packages though. I could use another bag though. I thought if the I would use the flash that it would be a good deal but if not I would go for the package with the bag, etc. It's the same price either way. I'm leaning towards the flash.

[Wingincamera]

That's Adorama's home-branding of the Godox V1. It's an excellent flash, and will allow much better results. Especially inside you can swivel it to bounce off ceilings and walls, which gives a much more pleasing image.
However, for occasional use it may be overkill. The much cheaper Godox or Flashpoint Flashpoint Zoom-Mini TTL R2 Flash With Integrated R2 Radio Transceiver - Pentax may be adequate.

I purchased the Flashpoint version of the Godox flash because of the many comments about their customer service. I have the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on X R2 TTL Speedlight (Godox V1) and the Flashpoint R2 Pro II Wireless Trigger (Godox equivalent). I had to call Adorama customer support two different times because of setup problems (my errors) and within 30 seconds I was talking to someone who was very knowledgeable and walked me through the correct settings. It's the same flash as the Godox, just rebranded for Adorama.

[UncleVanya]

It's actually free with the purchase of the camera. However, there are other packages available that have things like bags, tripod, etc. I have many of the things that are in those packages though. I could use another bag though. I thought if the I would use the flash that it would be a good deal but if not I would go for the package with the bag, etc. It's the same price either way. I'm leaning towards the flash.

That’s the kit I got. If you don’t like the flash you can sell it. The bags and other kits they offer are not as valuable unless you need what’s in them.

[Paul the Sunman]

It's actually free with the purchase of the camera. However, there are other packages available that have things like bags, tripod, etc. I have many of the things that are in those packages though. I could use another bag though. I thought if the I would use the flash that it would be a good deal but if not I would go for the package with the bag, etc. It's the same price either way. I'm leaning towards the flash.

In that case, definitely go for the flash. Great deal! (It does show "On backorder" though, so you may have to wait a bit.)

[Sidney Porter]

That is a good flash. A good flash opens up lots of options. But there is a learning curve. google some uses: fill flash, freezing action, macro, bounce, modifiers,soft box, off camera and rear curtain such.

The flash that comes on the KP doesn't seem very strong compared to the k3

[ramseybuckeye]

I just got the black with the flash, but it is only showing with the silver now and the silver is still on backorder. I don't really need the flash as I don't use one that often. But it is a nice flash and maybe I will use it since it is better than what I have. Of all the freebies they are giving away, the flash is by far the best. The bags are OK, but you can do better. If you watch the daily sales on Adorama, and the Deal zone deals on B&H, they sometimes will run bags really cheap. I have a couple of spares I rarely use because they were so cheap. They make a nice place to store extra lenses, or are handy for car travel to take more than you usually do.

[Paul the Sunman]

I just got the black with the flash, but it is only showing with the silver now and the silver is still on backorder.

I don't have a KP, but if I were buying one, I think the silver is rather handsome.

[ramseybuckeye]

I don't have a KP, but if I were buying one, I think the silver is rather handsome.

I may have bought the silver had it not been on backorder, but I did not want to wait. So now I have two black ones. The only reason I possibly may not have bought the silver would have been sun reflecting off of the camera scaring birds and animals. Since it was not in stock I did not investigate that, but it probably is not really a concern anyway.

[JensE]

I bought the V1 flash separately (original Godox version) - it's a very good flash and can support P-TTL and HSS, i.e. sync at higher speeds than the X-sync speed of the camera. The real strength however is the rather complete Godox/Flashpint system, ranging from the small TT350 to powerful battery-powered and mains powered studio flashes, all at very reasonable prices and remotely controlled in one consistent system.

[Des]

I've never used a flash other than the camera's regular flash. Most of my photos are taken outside, ex. birds, butterflies, flowers, landscapes I do take some pictures indoors like at Christmas, birthday parties, etc. Would a speedlight be helpful for any of those?

Very helpful to all of those except landscape (and even with landscape it is possible to make creative use of flash, especially off-camera).

Flash is surprisingly useful outdoors. This was a revelation to me - I got this tip from a member here. The main use outdoors is for "fill" - that is, to supplement the ambient light - rather than as the main source. It helps to bring out detail and colour in birds ...






... animals




... flowers


... insects


... and spiders


The main thing here is not to overdo it. You can adjust the flash exposure; I generally set it so that the flash adds no more than say 0.7-1.5 stops to the exposure. The ideal is that you can't tell that the photo was taken with a flash, except perhaps for a nice catchlight in the eye of the subject.

Fill is helpful when shooting with backlighting, to even up the exposure ...


Of course you may need it for the main light, rather than fill, for nocturnal animals.

The key in this situation is to get the flash off the camera, to avoid the "deer-in-the-headlights" look. This was with the compact, lightweight and inexpensive Godox TT350P held at arm's length in my left hand, triggered by an on-camera Godox XPro-P (another TT350P or other Godox TTL flash like the V1 could also do this). (I used this technique for some of the photos above too, such as the insect shot and the flower shot, in which I also used a cheap diffuser to soften the flash beam.)

The TT350P has been mentioned earlier - it is also sold by Adorama rebranded as Flashpoint: https://www.adorama.com/fplfsmminip.html

With photos indoors, your shots can be transformed by good use of flash. This usually involves diffusing the flash - that is, using the flash on-camera and bouncing the beam off walls, ceilings, reflectors, etc or using it off-camera with the light spread by a softbox, flash umbrella or the like.

Starting with on-camera, there is a lot of information about how to use bounce flash effectively, but Neil van Niekerk is a good place to start:
Bounce flash photography tutorial
How to bounce your flash
You will see that he often uses a piece of black material (his home-made "black foamie thing") to direct the flash to bounce off a wall or something, so that no flash hits the subject directly:
Video tutorial - Using the 'black foamie thing'
This is not just for pros. "Flagging" a flash like this can work well in everyday domestic situations, as @mcgregni has shown here:
Indoor Exposure Mixing - PentaxForums.com
Little Fairy - PentaxForums.comFlashes, A Flag and Domestic Portraits
Flashes, A Flag and Domestic Portraits

[Paul the Sunman]

Flash is surprisingly useful outdoors. This was a revelation to me - I got this tip from a member here. The main use outdoors is for "fill" - that is, to supplement the ambient light - rather than as the main source. It helps to bring out detail and colour in birds ...

I miss seeing red wattle birds. They were always common in my area, and regular visitors to the Grevilleas and Callistemons in my garden, but the damned Noisy Miners have pushed them out this year.

[gatorguy]

In all the time I've been using speedlights I'd never really bothered with learning what references to "black foamy thing" meant or why I'd care. Frankly I'm embarrassed, proof of how much I still have to learn.

OMG, what a difference. It would simplify so many portrait setups for me, particularly those kinda fast-faced ones. Thank you to whoever it was that linked the video where it was explained and demoed.

EDIT: Thanks a million Des.

[Des]

I miss seeing red wattle birds. They were always common in my area, and regular visitors to the Grevilleas and Callistemons in my garden, but the damned Noisy Miners have pushed them out this year.

This seems to be happening in a lot of places Paul. There seem to be a lot of parks and reserves in the greater Melbourne area where Noisy Miners have taken over feeding and breeding sites from other honeyeaters, leading to calls for intervention: Native or not, it's time to cull noisy miners - Ockham's Razor - ABC Radio National

Fortunately we have a strong local group of red wattlebirds and little wattlebirds - I think they really help in keeping out Indian Mynas too

Thanks a million Des.

You're welcome! As Nigel has shown, you don't need a "black foamie thing" specifically - any of the cheap ebay flags with a velcro attachment can do the job.