Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 13:35:06 -0400 Collin wrote: "I picked up an Achiever flash with Ricoh module. Is it the same as Pentax?"
I can't recall whether Achiever is another brand of my Ritz Quantaray 9500, which uses brand-specific modules, too. For the Quantaray, I investigated this very question about two years ago, when I wanted to use the Quantaray on a Ricoh XR-P, which supports TTL flash. Ritz's national tech support line tried to answer my question, by email and phone, but they seemed unable to grasp the subtleties of the question. Here are the facts: - Ritz sells (or sold) both a Pentax manual-focus module (PX) and a Ricoh module (RC). - I never owned the Ritz Ricoh module, because, as I recall, there was something confusing about the Ritz part numbers or the box. Either both modules bore the same part number, or both used the same box, which may have said "Pentax manual focus" or "Pentax/Ricoh manual focus". - I later bought two Ricoh-specific (RC) modules in the Promaster line (Penn Camera's line). I have the box in front of me: FTM 5000 module for Ricoh, no. 2659, made in Hong Kong. In the ProMaster line, both the box and the module are labeled as Ricoh only. - When I informed Ritz that Promaster's line had separate part numbers, so why did Ritz have one (or something like that), they became as confused as I was. Before my XR-P failed, I do remember using it with the ProMaster Ricoh module, without problems. I didn't have the courage to try the PX module; I was afraid I might short something out. This question is very timely, for just today I removed the Quantaray flash from my Super Program, swapped out my Pentax module for the Ricoh module, set the Ricoh module to Automatic and f/5.6, and mounted the rig on my Sears KS Auto (Ricoh XR-2s). Lo and behold, a red LED illuminates in the viewfinder! The Pentax and Ricoh modules look identical, in their controls and their contact pins. I can't wait to use my Sears bodies with autoflash. In a dim auditorium, I find it much easier to focus the Sears than my Super Program. The only reason I kept the Super Program was for the TTL flash, but autoflash (non-TTL) isn't that hard at all. I may soon be down to zero Pentax bodies and my one remaining Pentax lens SMC 35/2K). I hope I'm not kicked off the list... Paul Stregevsky
