The AF500FTZ is by far the best flash for the money. If you spend the little extra for it, you will not be dissapointed. I remember seeing someone on the list selling their's for about $210 if I'm not mistaken in the last few days. But to be fair, the first flash that I had for my pz1p was the older af280t. It worked okay for most of what I needed. The 500 has more than double the power of the 280 though and sometimes I cannot see how I got along without it. Also, after my 280t bit the dust (parts are apparently hard to come by, something to keep in mind), I bought an af330ftz out of necessity. I could not afford that 500 at that time, I knew that I did not want another 280t since I could not get them repaired, and I had shoots rapidly approaching. The 330 is also a good flash. While it is close to the same power rating as the 280t, that zoom head really makes a difference. I now still have my 330 as backup and for use when I need a second light.
Here's a short list of reasons of why I personally like the 500ftz: 1... more power. It eats batteries (I've switched to NiMH, works great), but the extra power is ~definetly~ worth it. 2... bounce and swivel head. I avoid direct on-camera flash whenever possible. This is one of the shortcomings of the 330. 3... more manual settings, and display of distance data in manual mode. The 330 only has two manual settings (1/1, and 1/32, i think), the 500 has half power increments from 1/1 down to 1/32. Also, an incredibly useful feature that I only recently managed to discover is that the flash will display the correct exposure distance based on your power setting, zoom position, and given aperature (obviously only works with A lenses or newer). I'm often shooting wrecks and fires at night and the reflective tape on the firemen's uniforms would always throw the TTL exposure off. I tried everything; plus one stop flash exposure compensation, setting the iso lower than the given film speed... it always underexposed. So I decided that the only option was to memorize some guide numbers and work the math out in my head, although with my math skills and being under pressure "on scene" I was not too hopeful. So I respond to a fire about two weeks ago at about 3am... I hop out, mounting my Tokina 80-200/2.8 my 500ftz flash. As I'm walking to the scene I switch the flash to manual mode and to my surprise a distance figure pops up on the display of the flash. I play with the power, zoom, and aperature settings and watch the distance read-out change. Needless to say all the photos from that fire came out well exposed. :) 4... Slave flash. I honestly never thought I'd use thie feature much. Anyway, I got really tired of taking simple, boring mug shots of people for feature stories (ie- soccer all-area team and mvps, etc). So I started caring a small lightstand with one of those adapters on top to fit a shoe mount flash and umbrella. I use the flash on my pz1p turning the flash comp all the way down (-3 stops?) to trigger the 500. I've done two assignments for the paper in this manner and the photos have been very well received (specially by parents). I can post a couple of examples later if anyone's interested. There you have it. If you need the features, the 500 can't be beat. -- Nick Wright http://www.wrightfoto.com/ ---------- >From: "Michelle Schrag, Tim Goering" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Flash for PZ-1p >Date: Sun, Apr 28, 2002, 6:58 PM > > Looking for recommendations for a general purpose flash for PZ-1p. > > I guess AF500FTZ would be best but I wouldn't mind spending less. > Is there something wrong with the 400FTZ ? I see several for sale at KEH. > 3rd party units? Sunpak, Sigma? > > Thanks > Tim > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
