Originally posted by JoepLX3 Dear All,
For informal indoor portraits I want to buy a flash with bounce functionality. Who can guide / advice me which flash to buy?
Here are two basic principles.
First, look for a hot-shoe flash with a head that can both tilt (up/down, or if you prefer to think of it this way, back/forward) AND swivel (left/right). Some less expensive flashes can only tilt and this makes them MUCH less useful for bouncing. I probably bounce off walls as often as I bounce off ceilings.
Second, make sure that the flash you buy supports Pentax's P-TTL wireless optical triggering system. This will make it possible to place the flash somewhere off the camera, and trigger it using your camera's pop-up flash as a controller. (The pop-up emits a control pulse that triggers the remote flash.) This is VERY useful.
Quote: At B.H. I noticed the following Metz flashes (cheaper than Pentax and still solic brand, according to so some people maybe I might also consider Sigma and Vivitar but that would even complicate the decision even more...):
- 36 AF - 110 USD
- 48 AF - 225 USD
- 58 AF - 405 USD
The 58 is terrific—the best flash unit available for the Pentax DSLRs, I think. Certainly the most powerful. But the 48 is supposed to be quite good too and is almost half the price. Never used it myself but I've read about it. Don't know anything about the 36 at all.
Quote: I am aware bigger and more expensive also brings the potential to light a target further away (and potentially recharge faster), but the chances I bring / use a flash will be reversely depending on the size & weight.
Not sure but I think there are several possible confusions here.
The relationship between size and weight, on the one hand, to power or reach, on the other, is a rough one. Nearly all of these flashes weigh about the same thing, because the most significant part of the weight of a flash is the batteries, and they pretty much all take 4 AAs. There may be differences in size, but once again, if you want to bounce, then having a flash that can both tilt AND swivel will be very useful, and that means you probably cannot get one of the very small units.
Quote: For indoor usage, < 10 m away, is the 36 AF strong / good enough?
Check out its guide number and see if you can figure out how to interpret that.
And remember that the distance that matters isn't the distance of the camera to the subject: it's the distance that the light from the flash has to travel to reach and illuminate the subject. You might be 3 meters from the subject, but if you're bouncing off a ceiling, the light has to travel 5 meters, or 6, or whatever it might be.
Moreover, it's not a simple matter of distance. More power is almost always a good thing. You can dial it down, but you can't dial it up beyond its capabilities. I've had to bounce of barn ceilings at wedding receptions: I was glad then to be using the Metz 58 AF because I needed that extra power.
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Now, the truth is, you really won't know what you need for sure until you buy something, work with it, and find out if it works okay for you. With the caveat stated, my advice would be as follows.
Buy Metz (48 or 58) or Pentax (360 or 540). The only other brand I'd consider is Sigma, which a number of folks here have said good things about.
I'd buy as much flash as I could afford, that is, if you can afford the Pentax 540, get that rather than the 360. (I don't think the 360 can swivel but I might be wrong.)
I will warn you also that a fairly significant number of people (including me) have had problems with the build quality of the Pentax 540. I've had TWO of them get stuck in the hot shoe on me. It's not a common problem, but it's not exactly rare, either. (Check out Google.) I don't plan to buy any more flashes from Pentax, at least not until they release a new model.
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I just checked the guide number for the Metz 48. It's 48m at ISO 100 and a focal length of 50mm. This tells you the distance the flash can reach, at that ISO and that focal length or field of view. The Sigma 530 is a little more powerful and costs a little less. (I'm looking at prices on Amazon.) I am pretty sure that both of these models can tilt AND swivel and both also support P-TTL. The Pentax 360's guide number is about the same as the Metz 48, but the Pentax is more expensive AND it doesn't swivel.
So, if I were making the choice for myself, I'd go with the Sigma 530 or the Metz 48. How do you decide between those two? Somebody else might weigh in here in a way that will help you out. I will say that the one drawback of the Metz 58 AF is that the UI is, well, downright odd. I've practiced with my Metz 58 so much that I'm able to get it to do what I want effectively when I'm working, but I had to STUDY the users guide and I had to practice. If the UI on the 48 is the same as the UI on the 58, and if somebody here is able to say that the Sigma flash UI is more user-friendly, then that might be a good reason to go with Sigma.
Will