RK> -should be compatible with my current Pentax system.
RK> -should be compatible with my future Canon system (say Canon 20D or higher)
RK> -I do not understand flash technology well, so I need the one that needs few
RK> settings from me.
For serious photography using flash, you need one that has both tilt
and swivel. So you can bounce it off a ceiling or close wall. If it
has only tilt (upwards), you can't bounce it off ceiling in camera's portrait
orientation.
If you want to have TTL even in the Canon system (or any other), you
need a Metz flash. The newest Mecablitz 54 MZ-4 is a good bet, as it
has interchangeable modules for TTL with all current DSLRs including
Canon's E-TTL (maybe even e-TTL2) and Nikon's iTTL, and of course
Pentax's P-TTL. Older Metz flashes do not support the E-TTL or iTTL,
but they still work on Pentax's DSLRs in plain TTL (which according to
some doesn't work so well under some circumstances). Adorama lists it
exactly at 350$ :-)
It's Metz's most advanced shoemount flash.
Good light!
fra
