third Party Flashes


Status
Not open for further replies.

romeo

New Member
May 7, 2002
269
0
0
42
Lost
Visit site
I was reading through some of the previous threads of speedlights and flashes..

Was wondering if anybody here has experience with a third party flash?

Am considering some of the cheaper models of flashes by third party manufacturers namely:

- Vivitar 285HV ( but has no TTL :( )
- Achiever 630AF

Another concern that I had was that some say that third party flashes might cause problems, mainly with the high voltage that it might cause to the camera.

Should I go for the Achiever or should I save money for a SB-22?

Thanks for the advice.
 

do a search, this has been discussed many times before. I use a $55 Achiever with my F70 and CP995, no problems. Tho' I would also recommend Sigma 500 at $230.

Buy Buy Buy
 

Originally posted by romeo
I was reading through some of the previous threads of speedlights and flashes..

Was wondering if anybody here has experience with a third party flash?

Am considering some of the cheaper models of flashes by third party manufacturers namely:

- Vivitar 285HV ( but has no TTL :( )
- Achiever 630AF

Another concern that I had was that some say that third party flashes might cause problems, mainly with the high voltage that it might cause to the camera.

Should I go for the Achiever or should I save money for a SB-22?

Thanks for the advice.

Save the money for a used SB22S. Used ones go for $100++. Nikon's TTL is excellent when you use their Speedlights. ;)

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by ckiang


Save the money for a used SB22S. Used ones go for $100++. Nikon's TTL is excellent when you use their Speedlights. ;)

Regards
CK

You must be fast to grab it... at $100. Good luck to those hunting for it. :cool:
 

Originally posted by extreme2


You must be fast to grab it... at $100. Good luck to those hunting for it. :cool:

Richard was selling at that price, but obviously it sold very fast. Another guy was selling the same on Singnet, but it lasted longer.
:cool:

Regards
CK
 

within the guide number limits, can u really tell the difference between an SB-22s and a $55 achiever? I think the $55 achiever has sufficient amount of 'steps' from full power.. (my guess is 1/1 to 1/8) to make full used of daylight balanced fill flash.

I've used the SB-22 before, and the lack of true 'tilting head' making it more difficult to use white card and other bounce accessories.


Originally posted by ckiang


Save the money for a used SB22S. Used ones go for $100++. Nikon's TTL is excellent when you use their Speedlights. ;)

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by erwinx
within the guide number limits, can u really tell the difference between an SB-22s and a $55 achiever? I think the $55 achiever has sufficient amount of 'steps' from full power.. (my guess is 1/1 to 1/8) to make full used of daylight balanced fill flash.

I've used the SB-22 before, and the lack of true 'tilting head' making it more difficult to use white card and other bounce accessories.


I am not too sure, but does the Achiever do the 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash, or just regular TTL? Regular TTL will probaby not have the same effect.

Yeah, you're right about the SB22S not having a true tilting head. Which is a disadvantage.

Regards
CK
 

the Achiever 630AF should have a low trigger voltage (when in doubt, bring a multimeter to the shop!). It should cost around $97 if I have the right quote.
 

What is the difference between 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash and TTL? Both tell the speedlight to stop when theres enough light. Looking at the SB-22s stats on nikon.com.sg, it doesn't preflash unlike the SB-28, so I'm not sure what exactly the difference is.... need a nikon expert to explain :)

p.s. the Sigma 500 explicitly supports 3d-balanced multi sensor etc fill flash according to website...

Originally posted by ckiang


I am not too sure, but does the Achiever do the 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash, or just regular TTL? Regular TTL will probaby not have the same effect.

Yeah, you're right about the SB22S not having a true tilting head. Which is a disadvantage.

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by erwinx
What is the difference between 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash and TTL? Both tell the speedlight to stop when theres enough light.
Looking at the SB-22s stats on nikon.com.sg, it doesn't preflash unlike the SB-28, so I'm not sure what exactly the difference is.... need a nikon expert to explain :)

What TTL does (whether it's Canon, Minolta or Nikon) is purely to tell the flash when to turn on and when to turn off. That's it. With the 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash, the flash exposure and ambient exposure will be properly balanced. This results in a very nice lighting effect, which most of the time, there isn't a very obvious "flash" look. The Distance information from the lens (Nikkor D-lens and compatible only) is also taken into account for flash exposure calculations. So you don't get the white-out effects of regular flash as well.

I've got pictures taken where the flash and the warm light from the setting sun is balanced pretty well.

Regards
CK
 

that has got to do with the D lens and the matrix meter. What special hardware does the flash need? I don't see why an Achiever flash would cause the exposure to be different (except compared to the speedlites that pre-flash, and the Sb-22 doesn't)

Originally posted by ckiang


What TTL does (whether it's Canon, Minolta or Nikon) is purely to tell the flash when to turn on and when to turn off. That's it. With the 3D Matrix Balanced Fill Flash, the flash exposure and ambient exposure will be properly balanced. This results in a very nice lighting effect, which most of the time, there isn't a very obvious "flash" look. The Distance information from the lens (Nikkor D-lens and compatible only) is also taken into account for flash exposure calculations. So you don't get the white-out effects of regular flash as well.

I've got pictures taken where the flash and the warm light from the setting sun is balanced pretty well.

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by erwinx
that has got to do with the D lens and the matrix meter. What special hardware does the flash need? I don't see why an Achiever flash would cause the exposure to be different (except compared to the speedlites that pre-flash, and the Sb-22 doesn't)


The flash itself has to support the 3D Matrix Balanced fill flash as well. I got the SB28, and it can also be set to regular TTL mode. My guess is that the Achievers, Vivitars, etc are all operating in only regular TTL mode.

Or maybe I am too used to what the SB28 does. :D

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by mpenza
the Achiever 630AF should have a low trigger voltage (when in doubt, bring a multimeter to the shop!). It should cost around $97 if I have the right quote.

Any website for the details of achiever flashes?
 

Originally posted by KeiHiN
then FM2 uses wat flash good???

SB80DX. Then when you upgrade to the likes of F5, F100, D1-series, D100, etc, you can use it's full functionaility. :)

Otherwise, just get a cheap auto-thyristor flash unit with sufficient power. e.g. Vivitar 285.

Regards
CK
 

Originally posted by azone


Thanks! One question. The 630AF looks fine and is cheaper. How is it compared to Vivitar 285?

it can swivel but is weaker. dunno much about other features of the flash though.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.