Going dedicated or strobist?

I was thinking of getting a flash unit for my hobby, have done the research and came up with a 3rd party brand of dedicated flash on ebay. Cost half the price when compared that against the Pentax original flash or a good brand like Metz.

The 3rd party flash has dedicated P-TTL, with power zoom and LED readout. Means I can use auto function as well as manual mode. Cost comes to nearly $180. Then I itchy backside go and research on studio strobe flash. The minimum for starter is recommended at 300 ws (watts/sec), but if you are starting really small I guess you can also start off at 160/180 ws unit and the best part is that this lower end model cost less than $100, only thing is that the studio strobe flash need to be set off either as slave mode or by sync cable. Putting together the accessories the strobe flash, you'll get more powerful lighting source, no TTL metering, and if with wireless triggering modules, it still cost you less than $180. The disadvantge is that you can't bring around with you since you need 220v power source, then again if I'm going to do portrait, this would be the ideal investment for me...hiaz...now predicament.. don't know what to get!

Perhaps, I can get the strobe flash and if any of you guys wanna shoot your Hari Raya family portrait at home, I should start charging to recover my initial investment and I can also rent out the equipment to the other photographers as well, putting to good use the equipment and at the same time minimizing my outlay....

u shd get a Metz flash light for portrait....it shd cost around 100+ for low end. it will be good enuff for time being

Captivian_Major wrote:u shd get a Metz flash light for portrait....it shd cost around 100+ for low end. it will be good enuff for time being

Whoa where to get that kind of flash? You got lobang bro must share here, I got quoted the Metz 48AF at $400.

Ikon wrote:

Captivian_Major wrote:u shd get a Metz flash light for portrait....it shd cost around 100+ for low end. it will be good enuff for time being

Whoa where to get that kind of flash? You got lobang bro must share here, I got quoted the Metz 48AF at $400.

hehe...i am long din play photography hobby liao...if u want i can chk for u...

It's okay la bro, don't need to trouble yourself. Nowadays the technology is such, things change very fast and in photography they come up with many new things and idea. Good example would be filters, last time that's what you need yo special effects, nowadays they not only use filters but they also have "flash modifier" to create special effects...

Bro, go for dedicated as you'll be using this more often. A studio set up is good but to complete the picture you'll need a flash meter to get the right exposure. This will set you back $300 or so. If not you'll need to bracket your shots and finally choose the good ones. Also it's not portable enough for you to bring along in your outings, not ot mention the need for a power source. Practically, I'll just go for a dedicated flash but if you really want to try out studio set up, can just rent and test. The simple dedicated flash i'm eyeing costs $350 new. If at all possible, get the same brand as your camera so there's no issues on compatibility and TTL works. Don't trust those pre-owned ones as you don't really know the condition of the flash tube. Good luck in your search.

As much as I would like to go original, unfortunately $300 to $400 is a bit too much for my unskilled flash know how. Anyway for the Pentax range, the mid range Af360 cost about $380, got lots of limitation such as can swivel cannot twist, so bouncing off flash gives you little room. The high end Af560 cost around $600, can do lots of things including power zoom but user have complaint about this flash quality, so I'm going to set myself a budget of not nore than $250 for a flash setup to include the accessories such as soft box, beauty dish and etc and see if I can improve my low end skill, if no improvement I just totally give up on flash photography and if people ask me to take indoor event just give excuses like cramp finger or what la...