Which flashgun

I need to take some indoor photos at a wedding using a ist DL camera with 18-55 kit lens. I don`t use flash very often, so would prefer not to spend too much on equipment that I will not make good use of.

Any advice much appreciated

Regards

Rick

vivitar has brought back the 285hv.
Best bang for the buck, with several "Auto" modes and several manual modes.
does not offer ttl, pttl, or any other camera control, but for decades this unit has been the wedding photographers weapon of choice for cheap, controllable, powerful light.

Thanks for the advice Don. Did`nt realise you could still get these guns!

Will I notice a lot of difference between a non TTL gun and a dedicated gun in terms of image quality?

If so then might it be better to purchase a Pentax dedicated gun, and spend the extra cash?

Image quality? Probably not much difference.
You just have to do the work that the camera and flash would otherwise do for you. Once you've worked out the math and set up the power, a TTL, PTTL and manual flash should give quite the same look.

Hi All!

Just a bit more on the topic of non TTL flashes on the new DSLR's.

One thing I used to love was to mount my flash on an L shaped flash bracket so that the light source was higher and to the side of the lens.

No red eye, and pleasing shadow - which added some depth to the shot.

I don't think the DSLRs even have a simple PC connection any more, and the newer flashes don't have the wire. I have a bunch of older manual and auto flashes which I won't easily be able to use unless there is a hot shoe adapter with a female PC connection of some sort?

Come to think of it, a lot of the more recent film cameras suffer the same lack. (Ever since TTL flash?)

Pentax retained backward compatibility with it's lenses. Did they ever make a wired PC flash unit?

There's my grump for the day.....

Cheers!

Mac,
Pentax make the 5P connectors and 5P curly cable that will link the hotshoe to the flash.
In fact, the AF540-FGZ includes the 5P connector in the side so you only need the adaptor for the camera

(There's a thread on here where I, and I think Mannesty, have hacked the old Pentax 4P flash bracket for use with the AF540. Works an absolutely treat. And what's more it supports high-speed sync which is ideal for fill-in flash )

Matt

EDIT: Here are some pictures of the adaptor and cable you need for the AF540:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-Hotshoe-Adaptor-attaches-hotshoe/dp/B00005AB9Y
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-5P-Extension-Cord-1m/dp/B00009UTDF/ref=pd_sim_ce_1/202-2354967-4908604

There's a corresponding adaptor that the flash sits on too (if it's not the AF500 FTZ or AF540 FGZ)...

The full set is here: http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/flashes/index.html
(under "Flash Mounting Adapters"

there are several adaptors that slide into the hotsho and have a pc connector, (mines a Nikon) but vivitar also has an off shoe adapto, you remove the "Auto Eye" from the flash and plug the cable in then plug the "Auto Eye" into the hotshoe mount on the cable.

Thanks Guys,

I KNEW there'd be a solution here!

Have a great day/evening.

If you do opt for the Vivitar, make sure you get a version which has HV in it's name. Older versions are extremely high voltage and highly likely to fry your beloved DL.

The 5P cables and connectors are very expensive for what they do.