What are the good pentax flashes?
Hiya! I love shooting natural light, but I've quickly noticed shooting in doors without any kind of light aid is harrowing. Macro too if I get a lens for that. Consequently I want to get a nice flash (or two, for off-camera stuff), but the pentax hot shoe is not very popular in my region (only explicitly compatible flash I've found locally is a Godox V1 which is ~300$). What are some good (and cheaper) speedlights I should look out for?
(p.s. I know I can use any flash in full manual but that's my last resort)
My first one was a cheap ($38, now ~$50) Neewer TT560 manual flash. It really isn't bad at all. You don't have to do any math etc., just take a test shot first. At first it will take several shots, but eventually it will only take one or two. Zero if you're usually shooting in the same areas, as you'll just know what works already.
Aside from that, I really like my Pentax AF201FG. It is small and convenient to keep on hand. I use it mostly for macro photography. The head pivots for bounce flash, but it doesn't swivel left-and-right for bounce in portrait orientation. That's a real bummer for me as I shoot that way a lot. And of course being a smaller flash the recharge rate is slower, and it may not have enough power to properly light more distance subjects, or bounce off a very high ceiling.
I recently picked up a Pentax AF-540FGZ II which is amazing, but I haven't used it much. It does everything my budget manual flash does, but it has auto mode, is weathersealed, has an LED on the front which can be useful for autofocus, and recharges faster. It probably is more powerful also. I only got it because I found it for $80, which I think is an amazing deal. I would *not* recommend it for the new price, or the barely marked-down prices I'm seeing used right now. It's just not worth it IMO when a manual one can do so much for so much less.
I'm not sure if that's at all helpful, but those are the only three flashes I have experience with on Pentax. Also keep in mind I'm no flash expert. I think I am proficient at using one for macros and bounce flash indoors for portraits. But I have never used multiple flashes or lightboxes or anything fancy like that so I'm no pro by any means.
