Using a flash designed for Pentax on a Nikon... will a converter work?

Richdog · 19 Dec 2012 at 07:04

Sorry if this is a silly question but I have no experience here...

I have a Metz 58 AF-1 designed for Pentax cameras, and rather than selling such a nice flash and having to buy a new one, I want to use it on my Nikon D7000. Can I simply use a converter like this one to do the job without losing any functionality? http://www.pixelhk.com/Proshow.aspx?id=83

Cheers,

Rich.

AHarvey · 19 Dec 2012 at 14:55

Personally I'd sell it, add a little cash and get an SB700.

The convertor does work and does support TTL as well according the description but to me it's something else to go wrong or get lost. I'd also be concerned with it carrying the weight.

Not sure if the Metz also supports Commander mode which the SB700 will.

Might get better advice over on TalkPhotography as well, much more knowledge there.

Richdog · 26 Dec 2012 at 17:30

Hmm thanks for the advice mate. I may get the SB-400 though as it's so small and light and gets very good reviews. Im sure the size would make me use it a lot more than if I bought a larger flash.

An Exception · 27 Dec 2012 at 10:30

Can you bounce it? If not it's a waste of money and you may as well stick to the camera flash.

Richdog · 27 Dec 2012 at 14:03

An Exception said:
Can you bounce it? If not it's a waste of money and you may as well stick to the camera flash.

if you mean the SB400 then yes you can bounce it (though not sideways in portrait mode), as a 2-second google would show.

An Exception · 27 Dec 2012 at 15:03

Firstly if your bouncing and want the flash to look natural, you don't want any part of the flash head to be visible by the subject, otherwise you get ugly specular highlights. Next if your using flash on a D7000 your probably going to want AF-Assist. Sure the D7000 has an AF assist lamp, but it only works with the centre focus point.

AHarvey · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:35

just read up on the sb400 over on Ken Rockwell's site, had no idea about it. It seems like a nice little flash if all you want is on board flash and trust the camera settings for i-TTL. lack of manual settings might be limiting in the future if you start to expand but for now I can't see any issues with it.

Richdog · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:59

AHarvey said:
just read up on the sb400 over on Ken Rockwell's site, had no idea about it. It seems like a nice little flash if all you want is on board flash and trust the camera settings for i-TTL. lack of manual settings might be limiting in the future if you start to expand but for now I can't see any issues with it.

Agreed, I read the reviews too and they are all overwhelmingly positive with the only flaws being lack of sideways bounce for portraits, so you have to bound it off the wall. Otherwise, it cycles very fast and has enough oomph for the majority of cases where I will need it.