question about Pentax flashes

ive got mz-3 and im interested in investing in a flash. im new to this and wonder if people ahve any recomendations.

for instance does all pentax flashes have the ability to turn horisontalyl and vertically? (is this called bounce and swivel?)

Here's a source of information:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

The AF360FGZ and AF500FTZ are expensive, new or second-hand. If price is important, the AF400FTZ is good and sells for much less than the other two.

Hi Anikgol

I'd agree with George on this one, the 400FTZ seems to be a lot cheaper. I paid around £100 for mine second hand, it works really well with my MZ-3, the exposures are always spot on.

However, fill flash is a nightmare, the 360FGZ has flash comp control built in to let you set the ratio you require (usually 1 and 1/2 stops under, if memory serves me correctly) This would be a particular bonus as you can only effectively specify fill flash from the body of the MZ-3 if you shoot in manual mode where the exposure comp switch 'converts' to flash comp. The PZ-1p lets you control flash comp outside of your ambient light control, a great feature which has sadly never appeared on any other Pentax camera I've used*. The 360FGZ gets around all of this by having flash exposure controls built-in. However, it doesn't have swivel - I don't know what wireless is or what it does, perhaps it lets you shoot with flash off-hotshoe with suitable camera, alleviating problem of no swivel?

I've heard the 360FGZ is very capable flash, but aside from fill flash problems the 400FTZ works well with the MZ-3 and is quite a bit cheaper than the others.

Hope this helps

Matt

* I've not used *ist or *istD

I bought and tried both the 360 and 500 Pentax flashes and was dissapointed with both. I liked the features of the 360 but its not powerful enough for me (i like to bounce the flash). I finally tried a Metz 54 MZ-3 and loved it. SO I bought a second one. They support every feature possible (except I think high-speed sync). The interface is great, very powerful and flexible. Has TTL, Auto, Manual, Strobe modes. You can dial in any compensation and with the dedicated module ( a must) it communicates with the Pentax body just as any dedicated Pentax flash would.

The other cool feature the Metz offers is the remote functions with other companion flashes - but I was dissapointed when I realized it uses IR rather than radio waves so its not as useful as I thought. It does offer TTL wireless but you cant dial in any compensation into each flash head which is a must for me. So its wireless functions are limited.

thanx for your advise! why didn´t you like the Pentax 500?

...I ON THE OTHER HAND LOVE MY 360!

should have bought it ages ago. Wireless means you can shoot with it off the camera up to 1/4000 sec. It is compatible with the MZs, *istD and *ist cameras. Not sure about the *istDs.

I made a diffuser for mine similar to the Stofen Omnibounce. Below is an image showing the difference between a shot with normal flash mounted on the camera and using wireless with the diffuser on. I just shot a wedding almost entirely using wireless flash and the results were fantastic.

here's the link: http://www.philtaylorphotography.com/ONP/diffuser.jpg

As for not having enough light, I shot with this up to about 10 metres away with good results. For anything past 15 metres I would shoot without the diffuser (this is all at ISO200). For those images I was still very happy.

Good luck. I used all sorts of other brand flases for years because they were cheaper. I finally bought the genuine Pentax and it's been going strong for a long tme now. The others were very unreliable. Let alone not as compatible.

Sorry, just realised you are using the MZ-3. The flash works well on my MZ5n which I assume will be similar. Beautiful light everytime.

G'day.
I use a AF400ftz with a 5P cable attached to a hot shoe adaptor FG. This allows the popup flash to be used as fill flash and the 400 used as a bounce flash on a hotshoe grip. This is hooked up to my MZ-6 or MZ-7.
Results are great.
The other alternative is to use the AF330ftz with 5p cable handheld with the contrast control set on the 330 with the popup flash for fill. this works great with the MZ-6 fitted to a tripod for portrait work.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Australia

I have to agree with Philip... the AF360FGZ is amazing
Bought one to use with my Z1, which worked a dream. Also bought a Stofen Omnibounce which gives a lovely result.
Now I have the *ist-D and use wireless, as well as tethered, remote flash. Delicious and definitely worth the money

Matt

if i only had read your posts..i bought a 500 flash used and im using it now. how can i turn on the giant red light to make it focus?

Hi,

I got my af400ftz flashgun this morning. But found out the bounce head got freeplay.

Any instruction on how to fix this problem? Is this a serious problem?

Regards,
Tommy

This is an AF assist light, it should fire automatically when there is insufficient light or contrast for the camera to focus correctly.
If your camera also has an assist light, only one of them will be required and I think the camera light will have priority.

.......actually, it's the other way around - light on flashgun illuminates the subject (at least in the case of my Centon FH80 flash, when mounted on my Z1-P).