graywolf wrote: > I would recommend Vivitar 283's, or the equivalent Sunpak (383 I > believe). They give you the most bang for the buck. > > Me? I use a pair of Norman 200B's for that. I also have an old 283 I use > as a background or backlight when needed. Really ought to get another to > use as a hair light, but I hardly do any studio type stuff these days. >
The Vivitar 283's are decent little units (used to have one myself), but these days you can do much better for similar money going with a used 1st party flash. Tilt/swivel heads, PC sync, zoom heads, more power, LCD based interface, all are available. While I do have a preference for Nikon flashes (As Nikon offers the most non-TTL capability on their better flashes of all of the 1st party manufacturers), there are a number of good options. The death of plain TTL flash due to Digital has made good TTL flashes dirt cheap on the used market, especially the common Nikon SB-24/5/6's and Canon EZ series. And both are good manual flashes, the Nikon's are better specified, offering Auto Thyristor mode, PC Sync and an optical slave on the 26. The best manual/auto flash out there right now is the Nikon SB-800. It's got Auto Thyristor, GN and manual flash capability, enhanced recharge times with the 5th battery, Optical Slave and Optical TTL slave (the latter should work correctly with any non-preflash TTL system) as well as the usual specs for a similar flash. But they're pricey. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
