[Confused]

I picked up a fascinating piece of information today regarding the Pentax AF 540FGZ flashgun and it's Samsung SEF-54PZF cousin. If correct it would appear that they are in fact both manufactured by Sunpak and are identical in all but brand name ! Has anyone managed to purchase the cheaper Samsung version and use it on a K10D, as it currently appears to be unavailable except via Amazon (on a 4-6 week waiting list !)

[Entropy]

As I understand it, Pentax and Samsung have some sort of agreement that they will not market their versions of a given product where the other markets it.

i.e. if Pentax bodies and flashes are available, Samsung will not sell bodies and flashes in that market. Likewise, if Samsung sells bodies and flashes in a given market, Pentax won't.

[Timbuctoo]

Even more interesting has someone tried the top of the range Sunpak Flash with the K10D because it would be heaps cheaper than the Pentax one?

[stewart_photo]

Since Sunpak doesn't manufacturer most of their own flash units (purchased from various Chinese and other manufacturers instead), it's a little hard to believe they manufacturer the Pentax and Samsung flash units. More likely all of them (Pentax, Samsung, and Sunpak) purchase from similar manufacturers throughout Asia. The discount Asian manufacturers build a wide variety of items, some budget oriented (puchased & sold by companies like Sunpak) and others more high end (purchased & marketed by brand name camera companies, like Pentax, Canon, etc).

stewart

[Alvin]

IIRC, it was mentioned somewhere in these forums that the Samsung cameras do not work with Pentax flashes. I don't know if it is the same case vice-versa.