Pentax AF360FGZ Auto Flash - Compare Digital Camera and Accessory Prices

pentax p-ttl automatic zoom flash

Strengths: p-ttl/af assist light/many functions/slave wireless/automatic zoom/convenient hinge/high speed sync

Weakness: NO SWIVEL

I'm mostly satisfied with what this little flash can do at this price. P-ttl is precise, though some people says it's not, but having too dark picture at f32 is not this flash's fault. It's GN is only 36 at 85mm. It's beyond this flash's ability to light up enough at f32. At f32, you better use it as fill up light. It may take some time to get used to all the features of this flash, since this...
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I'm mostly satisfied with what this little flash can do at this price. P-ttl is precise, though some people says it's not, but having too dark picture at f32 is not this flash's fault. It's GN is only 36 at 85mm. It's beyond this flash's ability to light up enough at f32. At f32, you better use it as fill up light.

It may take some time to get used to all the features of this flash, since this little flash has so many features. One thing I like most about this flash is wireless slave feature. I use pentax k10d and I needed to update firmware to above 1.10 (downloaded from pentax website). Once it is updated, the pop-up flash works as a signal transmitter and this flash works as slave in p-ttl mode. That's right, it controls the amount of light automatically at any angle. The pop-up flash do nothing but transmit exposure information in wireless mode. Clever, you don't need to buy an expensive extra wireless transmitter.

AF assistant light emits red grid pattern, helping camera to auto focus in low light condition. This flash can be used as a fill-in flash in daylight condition, since it support high speed sync. It works above x-sync (typically 1/180s in most Pentax DSLR). Combined with exposure compensation feature, when it is used as fill-in flash, you can get more natural filled-in photo.

Unfortunately, it does not swivel like af540fgz, so you cannot bounce the light in vertical position. It would have been really nice if it has swivel feature. Guide number is a bit small for this size of flash. GN 42 would have been really nice. Battery compartment cover seems flimsy as other noted, so I need to be gentle while replacing battery. I recommend eneloop Ni-MH battery from Sanyo for this flash. They are the best rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries recharge capacitor faster than Ni-MH batteries do, but they dry out very fast (Alikaline: less than 100 flashes vs. Eneloop: more than 400 flashes).

The general build quality is very good except battery compartment door hinge. One may note that the locking mechanism is different from general hot shoe flash, which just tighten up with the screw. When you rotate the lever, small metal pin protrudes from the flash to lock with hotshoe. It's very important to dismount flash after locking lever is completely in unlock position. It seems that the metal pin easily damage hotshoe or is easily breakable, if excess force is applied when the lever is still in locking position.

By min0603 - Oct 2, 2007

A concenient and small flash

Strengths: small, light, bright and wireless function available

Weakness: TTL is not very precise, head can not be turned around

I bought this flash after buying K10D, because the built-in flash is slow and not strong enough. This flash is small and light with a lot of functions. However, with the highly automatic K10D, usually only P-TTL is used. I like it very much, especially when taking portrait pictures. The biggest problem is after I load the flash, TTL in K10D is not very precise. Sometimes when I reduce the...
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By AstroLee - Jul 6, 2007

Small light flash

Strengths: small, light, large LCD for reading, versatile

Weakness: can only rotate up and down. lacking the ability to rotate left and right makes it difficult to bounce. a little bit expensive to my budget. battery cover isn't tight enough to hold it.

Well, I bought it because I need one flash, and fortunately it had a $25 rebate promotion at the same time. But the price is still a little bit too much for me. Good thing is, it works like a charm on my K100D. No extra settings are needed. Several things I don't like include: battery cover is too loose, hot shoe connector is too tight, always makes me worry about breaking it, also lacking the...
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By dire - Nov 9, 2006

Good flash for the price

Strengths: Lots of features and exposure modes

Weakness: A little cheaply made, plastic like. A little noisy in the flash head operation.

I purchased this for use with one of the schools cameras. I have used MANY flashes, including many high end from Nikon, as well as olders flashes like Vivitar 283, 285 and a whole bunch of other types and models. ALthough, I am unfamiliar with what else Pentax has to offer with their digital SLRs. The foot lock design is a nice change...although I wish they had used a metal foot. The only dislike...
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By lokerd - Dec 7, 2006

powerful and compact flash at a good price

Strengths: high guide number, small size and low weight

Weakness: attaching to and removing from camera are difficult and need to be done carefully, AF-spot beam does not help focus shiny objects

While using all-auto settings, this flash is convenient to use with the Pentax K110D. However, the flash has too many control buttons and gets confusing for manual operation. It seems like the built-in flash gives brighter photos than this flash! Positive exposure compensation (+0.5) seems to help. I need to experiment some more. Attaching the flash to the camera and then removing it are...
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By drmurali - Jan 21, 2007