Cheap reliable and fast FLASH

As the title says: I am looking a reliable fast flash with a-mode!
Budget is 50-100gbp so I will probably go for a used one!
Do you know what could be out there for me and what's your opinion about it?

Whats A mode??

I assume that it can operate in auto PTTL/TTL modes as opposed to M/manual.

I was offered a Sigma EF 510 DG Super. It's on evilBay with a BIN/MAO. The vendor offered it to me for £75.00 delivered. Why not make an offer for it as this price if it's what you're looking for (seems like a competent gun to me). Item: 261178758446

There are others such as the Polaroid models on Amazon (UK) for under £100.00 as well as others (used/new), but I don't know enough them to make a recommendation, though it seems you get what you pay for, so maybe Sigma and Metz might be the way to go (there is also a Sigma EF 500 ST in the URL below) but I think you would be better served with the SUPER models. There are budget brands such as Viltrox, Yongnuo and Aputure listed on evilBay as well as Triopo and Cobra. Jessops also had their own 360AFD tilt/swivel TTL flashgun which used to be £40.00 new, though I understand it was a re-brand of the Tumax DPT386AFZ. Reviews are varied, but it's a great bang for buck buy. Looks like a couple of decent examples on the evilBay link.

Hope it's of some help.

A-mode is an auto mode where the flash meters and controls the exposure. Both the AF360FGZ and AF540FGZ have it in addition to P-TTL.

Andrew

The auto feature on flash's from my experience is far more reliable than P-TTL. You just dial in the aperture on the flash and match it on the camera and as if by magic everything works in a consistent way. Worth a try if P-TTL lets you down when you are doing things on the fly.

Thanks, I never knew that.

Also you must set the body to fixed ISO too!
(Not a problem if the body is in M mode)

FWIW, the Metz 50MZ5 with SCA3702 tracks the camera aperture, so Av mode with fixed ISO works very well indeed with the Metz on "A"

Matt

Anything else?

I picked up a couple of AF500ftz flashes recently on ebay for £50 ish each. Very adjustable and can be used as slaves too.

Be careful in slave mode. It times out and shuts down quite a bit
and doesn't seem to go the full 3 minutes that it should do. On the
camera, the shutter release wakes it up, but not in slave mode.
There is another position on the on/off switch which bypasses the
timeout and is better for slave mode, but you only have access
to the power settings. Powerful gun though at a very cheap price.

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