AF540FGZ now in the UK

I saw this flashgun on the Pentax stand at Focus on Imaging and was told it would be available around the middle of April.

Yesterday I was told it was in Jessops stores but searching their web produced nothing. Today I phoned Jessops main order line and they also said they have no record of this unit.

Back To Pentax where i was put through to a very helpful chap, Ian Rose, who gave me the Pentax order code 30425 and, importantly, Pentax UK have them in stock but no dealers are, as yet, asking for them.

Ian Rose said if I asked for Carl Watton on the Jessops mail order line he would put the order through.

I'm sure that fellow members can now start kick starting their own favorite dealers!

P.S. I never asked for the price, as this started as a general enquiry

Hi,

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/165894/art/pentax/af540fgz-flash.html

Cheers

Liam

No need to ask the price. Just look at any US website. The dollar price there will be the sterling price here. Take off VAT, and we're still paying a third too much.

G

PS: It's going for $340 at B&H, and £313 at Pixmania. Pretty close.

Pixmania have had the AF540FGZ listed on their site for some time . . . but no physical stock even now. Beware buying Pentax at Pixmania. Their terms and conditions state that Pentax items do not ship with English manuals.

The following is an extract of their T's & C's

Quote - - -
Also please note that you should be aware that for all Canon, Epson and Pentax products instruction manuals do not come in English.
However you can download all the softwares and manuals in English from the respective internet sites of Canon, Epson and Pentax. Just click on the following manufacturer link to download your instruction manual :
- Canon
http://www.canon-asia.com/supports/techsupports.html
http://www.canon.ca/english/index-customersupport.asp
http://www.canonusa.com/html/conCprTSIndex.jsp?app=download
- Pentax
- Epson
- Panasonic
- Konica Minolta
Unquote - - -

You can read the whole thing, Section 5 - Product Information at http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/conditions.html#5

If the AF540FGZ is anything like as complicated as the AF360FGZ . . . I'd prefer an english manual.

SRS Microsystems on ebay have had them for a little while - in stock and in the UK. ( http://stores.ebay.co.uk/SRS-Camera-and-Image-Solutions ) They don't have any listed at the moment.

I've had one for a few days - it's about to go through it's paces this weekend! Progress report to follow...

Matt

Ok - (another) quick report!

The AF540FGZ performed absolutely flawlessly over the weekend. A real joy to work with this beauty.

The controls and functions are identical to the AF360FGZ. Pentax have improved some of the buttons and dials - for instance the selector dial is now much easier to rotate. Of course, the swivel and bounce is there too.

One excellent feature is the inclusion of a 5P connector on the side (unfortunately on the left hand side of the gun - which means the cable has to go behind or in front of the gun. Only advantage is that the coiled cable is kept out of the way.) Thankfully I didn't get rid of my 5P hot shoe adapter, cable, and flash hotshoe.

I rigged up an old Pentax grip (4pin type) which needed a little modification to enable the autofocus to work. The AF pin shorted out to the ground plane on the bracket, so I had to insulate it with a piece of negative film (analogue helps digital ). Having mounted the AF540FGZ I ditched the 4P cable and used the coiled 5P connector to link the flash to the camera hotshoe.

Now this is a really comfortable arrangement! Much much lighter than the Metz 50MZ-5, and easier to grip. I used bounce flash, direct flash (using the diffusion panel), and catch light, as well as wireless AF mode. Mostly on high speed sync. Results were superb!

The catch light worked great even outdoors in fading light. The manual's not entirely clear, but you put the flash pointing straight up (so it'll bounce on nothing outside), and pull out the two panels. Then, holding the catch light panel, you push the diffusion panel back inside. As this flash has oodles of power, you get a soft light reflected off the catchlight panel which makes very nice highlights in the eyes, and does actually illuminate the subject too.

I've got some more work for it (along with the AF360FGZ in contrast control mode) this coming weekend - I'll let you know how it goes

Matt

Matt how would the new flash work with th 500ftz in contrast mode?
anybody try that?

hi guys, has anybody tried connecting the ftz 500 to 540fgz with a dedicated cable for contrast control flash? ie one unit on the camera and the other off camera?

Sorry Don - forgot to reply

I only have the AF360 + AF540 (plus a Metz 50MZ5). I do have the extension cabling gear to try out the AF360 on the hotshoe with the AF540 cabled... can't remember if I tried it or not...

I rigged up a modified old Pentax grip (designed for 4P systems) and cabled the AF540 to the hotshoe of the *ist-D. It was extremely comfortable to use. In the end I mostly used the AF540 with the catch light (and pointing straight up). Even outdoors this gave enough light to give a soft diffused glow to portraits about 1.5 to 2m away, plus a really great catch light. (But outdoors the AF540 discharged almost completely.) The results were fab

I do know that wireless contrast control works well Outdoors I rigged up the AF360 with a brolly triggered off the AF540 (which was in catchlight mode). I didn't have too much time to play, but with the catchlight up the AF360 didn't always trigger (too much sun and shielded a bit by the brolly). But this is a setup I definitely will try more - but probably more complex indoors (AF540 on stand+brolly, AF360 providing snooted lighting, and pop-up flash triggering/filling).

If I could get some time... I'd do an article on it.

Hope that helps a bit.
Matt

Hi.

Does anyone know which omni-bounce fits the AF540FGZ?

Thanks

I doubt there is one that fits "properly". It didn't take them too long to make the AF360 when it came out... maybe the "Universal" one will fit?
I could get dimensions if you need them.
Matt