BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Choosing the Right Camera Flashes

Flash attachments which fit the hotshoe top of cam

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June 06, 2002

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June 06, 2002

Sunpak is a decent non-OEM flash maker. It ranks with Vivitar as a "second tier" maker of flash equipment for both non-professionals and professionals. By comparison, among the "first tier" are companies such as Metz, which cater more to purely professionals. For whatever reason, I seem to have accumulated quite a number of flash units over the years, including several dedicated OEM models for my camera system, plus a few Vivitar, Sunpak and Metz (shoe and handle mounted).

Three similar flash units fall into the Sunpak 383 class. The other two are the Vivitar 283 and Vivitar 285HV. All three are higher powered (GN approx. 120) shoe mounted "auto" flashes with bounce feature. None have an AF assist, nor do any have an "auto zoom" feature to zoom the flash head automatically when you change focal length on a zoom lens. IMO, the auto-zoom feature is more than compensated for by their sheer flash power for a shoe mounted unit and are among the most powerful (shoe mount). To get higher GN's requires a handle-mount flash that can handle more/larger batteries. These are all automatically controlled by a sensor on the flash itself, not by your camera's metering. In "auto" mode, you set the film speed on the flash and select from a number of lens apertures to use for that film speed. You must be able to manually set your camera to it's flash X-Sync shutter speed and manually set the lens aperture to the one selected on the flash. In general use, the auto sensors on the flash units work fine. There are a few situations in which TTL flash control by the camera works better, and yet a few more which can fool both systems. If you're considering the Sunpak 383, also consider the Vivitar 285HV. It has more aperture settings available for a given film speed than either the Sunpak 383 Super or the Vivitar 283. One of my Sunpak units is a 383 Super, and it's a reliable workhorse. I just wish it had more options with aperture settings in "Auto" mode. It would have made using it for fill outdoors easier. It's now a backup to a shoe mounted Metz with about the same GN rating.

An observation about the pricing of the Vivitar 283 and 285HV: By the time a couple of accessories are added to a 283 to give it some features built into the 285, the total cost 283 plus accessories is about the same as for a 285HV. Because of this, IMO again, the 285HV is the better buy between the two. It has also been one of the most popular flashes of all time for photojournalists! It's one of the reasons after being around for at least two decades, Vivitar still makes them.

I assume you mean the PZ5000AF (not PZ500AF). This one is comparatively slightly less powerful than the 383 Super, 283 or 285HV (if you add a zoom head to the first two). At the 35mm focal length at which the the 383, 283 and 285HV have their GN ratings, the PZ5000AF has a GN of about 105-110. It does allow TTL control which is fooled less often and has an auto-zoom that tracks with your camera (if your lens also supports communicating this to the body) which increases the effective GN at longer focal lengths. It also appears to have an AF assist lamp (which can help your AF in dark situations, but also consumes batteries faster). In short, it's more sophisticated than the 383 Super, but if one understands basic flash settings and works the 383 by manually setting the camera, either are just as capable. The additional features (rear curtain sync, etc.) are things most would rarely use, but they're still there nevertheless. The additional money is paying for the dedicated TTL control, power zoom and AF. The one downside: as a dedicated flash its TTL control and other special features which require flash communication with the camera body make it unusable with other camera systems. This means you wouldn't be able to use it on a Nikon, Canon or Pentax if you changed camera systems later. I own several different camera systems, so flexibility to use any one flash on any system is important to me (but that's not the norm either).

Any one of the four I've discussed should have more than sufficient flash power for general photography around the home (non-pro). Longer distances (25 feet or so) at narrower apertures (f/8) with ISO 160 pro portrait films using a softbox or bounce card over the flash head, all of which are things pros typically want to do at wedding receptions in large halls, and their flash power is at the minimum end of what can be used. Their limit under those conditions is flash power and recovery time to recharge for the next shot.

Hope this helps a little . . .
-- John

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June 10, 2002