New to Flash - Help with purchase

I am taking delivery of a DA* 50 135 (from Jules) later next week. I will be using this lens and my K-5.

Whats the best flash for a decent price that will be good for portrait work and the odd inside job

Thanks in advance

QC

For P-TTL flash at a decent price, Sigma is probably the least expensive. The EF610DG Super is a full feature flash, but the user interface is not so hot. It takes some getting used to be able to get the best out of it.

For manual use, I think Yongnuo has decent flashes.

'Good for portrait' , probably not anything you can fit in your camera bag.

The premium offering would be Pentax - full featured but not budget. Sigma have the features, but in my experience the DG range are large and don't have a great build quality and 'feel' - not at all premium in that respect. I dropped one once, and that was that.

Metz often comes in as a middle road type of offering - they have a good choice of models, are fairly compact, and the top of range ones have all the features as well, for a not quite premium price.

The latest update to the Pentax 360 line should improve auto-flash performance on the latest bodies - can anyone with one vouch for this? So that's the best premium choice, and I'd look at Metz for the next down.

The main thing I think for a hotshoe flash is good manual power control (like 1/2, 1/4, 1/16 power) and a readout that tells you the distance / power to use for any fixed ISO & aperture combination.

Since moving to Pentax a new flashgun has not been a high priority for me - I am impressed with the versatility of the built-in flash, when used in manual mode and sometimes with a reflector panel. Also we are lucky indeed with our flagship models to have such sophistication's as trailing curtain flash with the pop-up One extra thing I would like though now in a flashgun is high-speed-sync, mainly for fill-flash situations in bright light.

What makes you an expert on flash? You admit flashes aren't a high priority on your list. You say you're impressed with the on-board flash, but that kind of flash is about the worst kind of lighting you can get.

You admit to dropping a Sigma flash and it broke. Do you think any other flash could survive a similar fall without damage?

As far as I know, they are as well built as any other flash. How do I know? I have three Sigma flashes, and never had any problems with any one of them. I carry them all over the place, and I don't "baby" them.

To be honest unless you are going to get a top of the range Pentax or Metz flash for p-ttl I just wouldn't bother. P-ttl is just so poorly implemented most users end up using the A mode for regular and correct exposure.

Your best bet is to learn how to use flash and get a Youngnuo 560 or get a top Metz or Pentax flash, anything else will just be frustrating to use in my experience.

I ended up learning how to use flash and used my metz in manual mode only...

Alister, from my experience PTTL never worked well on the K7'. K5, K5lls, so my advice would be to buy a manual flash as it will be cheaper and you unless you plan on using high speed sync PTTL will leave you frustrated.manual flashes will be a very good starting point, it will also enable you to learn how to control your flash effectively and at a lower cost, but don't buy the cheapest flash, go for a brand with a good reputation.

However the Pentax K3s flash does work well in PTTL mode and for flash on the go such as weddings it's a big improvement and is as reliable as canon or Nikon. Metz flashes are good price to performance wise, but the new Pentax flashes look very interesting read reviews and check the specs of flashes.

When you say flash for portraits are you also intending to mix flash with ambient light?
What light modifiers are you thinking of using and are you intending to shoot flash off camera? Do you own any radio triggers? There's lots of info about flash on the web, my suggestion would be start to think about what you will be doing flash wise now and in the future and then work out what you can afford now and how you can build to it in the future.

When you get into flash, you will no doubt want three and as a minimum two, the lighting 101 website has a whole host of info and Strobist is probably the most respected blog for everything to do with flash.

Fletcher

I'm not claiming to be some great expert, promise Just sounding like one You've had different experience with the Sigma's then - I had two DG500 Supers, the first one failed with some electrical fault and was replaced - and got dropped. I felt that other more expensive ones, with their tighter build, probably would have been OK on this particular fall onto grass. But of course I'll never know for sure. I didn't mean to diss Sigma, just point out that there thtis that price/quality equation to consider.

I do think you can get a lot from the pop-up, and there are some great accessories that reflect and diffuse the light, but yes of course a quality flashgun is the way to go.

For My two pence worth. I have a cheap Youngnuo 560 flash a medium range Sigma ef 610 and a high end Pentax AF540. The Youngnuo is by far the best value for money. The others are P-ttl. But this becomes redundant when using them off camera with a trigger. The pentax flash control is very poor compared to the other brands. So learning how to control a flash manually. Will save ££££'s Also I would advise a decent flash meter.

I agree with Cabstar and Fletcher8 - P-TTL is not worth bothering with on the K-5 as the implementation on this camera is so poor. If you had a K-3 it would be a different matter - the K-3 is spot-on for P-TTL flash exposures.

Buy a manual flash - Yongnuo are well liked and good VFM. For a cheaper alternative there is the Neewer 560 Speedlight - I have two of these and they are superb for the money (around £30 each, available from Amazon). They are well made, simple to operate, powerful and fast on the recharge. They also come with a soft pouch and a little 'foot' on which they can be used 'free standing', which can be useful if you can't attach them to a tripod.

Regards
David

Any TTL system is always going to be subject to the inconsistencies of the reflective light metering - and flash hotspots and bouncing light around just add to to uncertainties of how the system will deal with it.

What we need technology to do is help as much as possible to make manual flash easier. Manual keeps full control with the user, and removes the inconsistencies of the system taking power control. The camera deals with fixing ISO & aperture - if we don't want to carry around complex flash tables then we need the flash unit to quickly tell us the distance and/or power needed. That's the features I'd be seeking out on a flash unit display, plus easy intuitive flash power settings once the camera ISO / aperture have been input, ideally this would happen automatically.

Thanks guys great answers

This site has not been updated for 6 months, but might be useful?

link

For top quality portraits all you need is a single manual flashgun
(on camera) and a home-made black foamy thing....

http://neilvn.com/tangents/bounce-flash-photography-short-lighting/

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and a top quality model to practice with