What old flash unit?

Hi,I'm very new to digital photography and I've never used a flash of any kind.I'm looking for a cheapish flash for my K200d to get me started and I came across a Pentax AF200s on Ebay.Would this old unit be compatible for the 200?Is there any chance that it could damage the camera?Have you guys any advice to offer as to what would be a half decent flash for as keen beginner?Thanks in anticipation

It will only work in full power mode because the K200D only supports P-TTL. The only DSLR's from Pentax with TTL support were the *ist-D and *ist-DS.

It might work in Auto mode in which the flash unit decides how much light is needed, but I am not sure that it will.

I would strongly consider off camera lighting from the beginning. www.strobist.com

Oh no not the strobist.com
Bouncing the flash already make a lot of difference and that's just what most here would need/want.

Well, I hold a different view. To learn how to use light is the most important part of photography and this is what using off camera lighting is about. Bouncing is fine, but it is just a small part of it... I know strobist.com is not so popular here, but not clear, why...

I can't understand why strobist would be unpopular. It's nearly as friendly as here and has resource in depth for anyone who wants to learn. I've never actually formed the impression that strobist is unpopular but maybe I have missed some posts.

Off camera lighting has it's place and can give great results but it isn't allways practical... You must have the time and possibilities to test the lighting setup before shooting. You can't build up a off camera lighting setup if you have to shoot quickly.

Of course in some circumstances you are correct but something I learnt from strobist very quickly is how you can use one flash off camera to get very effective lighting for a head and shoulders. Mind you I have never had to do it!

Also I use an old Vivitar unit mostly that would fry my electrics so I always use wireless adapters and just hold the flash in one hand away from the camera and the camera in the other.

Mike

It's just the amount of chatter on it that does not appeal to me, you need to dig for the useful information, at least that's my experience and personal view about the site.
There is for the rest nothing wrong with it but just not mine site.

I see why using off camera flash is important but it just is too advance for most type of shooting, you also need to have quite a lot of understanding about flash set-up and one flash is not sufficient most of the time or without the use of an reflector but that's far to difficult for the click and be happy family photos. Just aim the flash to the ceiling and you get quite natural light and it's easy to use and not time consuming.

Stefan - you haven't been reading strobist - or at least the right bits!

In the Hungarian language photography means "painting by light". How to use light is the essence of photography (or just it is photography itself). And strobist is about how to use light. Not just flash light, all kinds of light. At 99% of my shooting I do not use flash at all. But at 100% I use the knowledge about light that I gained with playing with my at the beginning 1, later 2, 3, 4 cheap and second hand manual flashes in my small home studio. This knowledge may not be gained by using a TTL or P-TTL hot-shoe flash. So it is not about flash, it is about painting by light, either flash light or ambient or whatever. It is about the essence of photography.

Well put - I wish I could say the same.

Mike

The Pentax AF200s Flash Gun has a trigger volage of around 7.7 volts. According to internet sources.

This Flash will not dedicate to a Pentax K200D in either TTL or PTTL Modes.
This Flash appears to have 2 built in Auto Modes which will compute exposure for 2 apertures. IE f5.6 and f2.8 at 100 ISO. it also has a Manual mode with a calculator scale on the back. As flash guns go, this is fairly low powered, having a guide number of 20. Auto Modes on flashguns usually work quite well and result in decent exposures.
The AF200s is not sophisticated and I don't think it has either red eye reduction or bounce capability (unless you take it off camera with leads.

I have a similar specified Pentax 200T which seems to be ok with my K10D and K20D.

Mike, hat might be the problem, have been reading the main page and have rad the 101 and that was decent but the main page is mostly talk like on most blogs

KZ, photography are the Greeks words φῶς (phos) "light" and γραφή (graphê) "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light".
And from what I understand what strobist means it's about how you use a flashgun, so saying that it includes every kind of light is a stretch.

Beside that point.
I'm just saying that off camera lighting is just too advance for some uses/types of photography, nothing more nothing less. Certainly when you will only use the flash 2 times a year, I find it too much to say that you must learn how the flash works and that you must use it off camera.

ps. What's the definition of the word strobist?
The only one giving some insight is the urbandictonary but that one isn't even official link

Stefan ,

Minor correction ,

graphios actually means to write [ well as we understand it in the UK ]