buying a used flash?

[back alley]

i have no problem buying used cameras and lenses but hesitate when it comes to buying a used flash...perhaps because i rarely use them and checking for a good one is beyond my comfort level...
have you bought used and how did it go?

 

[helen.HH]

oh Good Thread Idea...

I have been wanting to get a Flash for my M Body 😱😱
but have no Idea
What to look for and Buy
get some crazy 'Gilden-nesque' flash shots... lol ... 😛

 

[huntjump]

got an sb900 on ebay 6 months ago for the price of a used sb800, and it has been solid. It looked practically new, but i wouldnt know for sure. Saved me $200.

seems like with most electronics, theres some risk but when weighing the savings against the chance of failure, you roll the dice...

 

[charjohncarter]

I have bought many, everyone has worked. Get one that can be exchanged, just in case. If I were buying my first I would get one that is powerful, and one that has variable power control, also get one with a couple of auto settings, I like flashes with movable heads both vertically and horizontally. I like my Minolta 320x flashes, but there are many, many others that are just as good. Look up the 320x on Butkus and then use those parameters for your search.

I think I never paid over $26 for my 320x, all good flashes are big. So if you don't want big Vivitar make many. I use a Wein safe sync an all my cameras, I know you have a digital camera and it is important.

 

[excellent]

You can find a lot of small flashes online or at pawn shops for relatively cheap. Even all the old ones I see still work great. I've never really had a problem with a flash except for an sb25 that fires full power on its own. Got popped in the eye looking right into it haha. Maybe try something small and cheap just in case something does happen though.

These look great
Sunpak pf20xd

good luck!

 

[JayM]

A manual flash? Sure!

Seems like something like a 285HV is solid enough to warrant buying used. I use a YN560 for strobing people's eyeballs out and would probably not but a used one since they don't have the same tank like reputation.

Lumopro 160 for best of both worlds?

edit: Only talking about flashes with pc-sync ports since I can't imagine using a flash any other way

 

[mdarnton]

Supposedly, capacitors can go bad over time. The flash sits there and whistles, but never reaches charge. If you know what to do, the capacitor can be replaced.

Now here's the funny part: the only capacitor I've seen go was one in a flash I owned,
a Vivitar 283, when I didn't use it for a few years. Since then I've inherited an 80s-vintage Vivitar flash, and it was fine, had two 80s-vintage Nikon flashes come with cameras I've bought, and they were fine, and bought one other Nikon one because it was cheap, and it was fine. Another Vivitar 285 I bought 15 years or so ago is fine.

At this point, I'm up to my ears in flashes that I mostly don't use, and I'm inclined to say that the risk of buying a used one isn't too bad.

I'm with charjohncarter on choice: the only one I actually use, I use it because it has a head that tilts not only vertically, but horizontally. Essential for on-camera bouncing for both vertical and horizontal, or off walls in both orientations, which are, IMO, the only ways to use flash if you aren't going to take it off the camera. Also, get one for which there's a Stofen diffuser available, since that's another handy accessory if you use wide, wide, angle lenses and can't bounce.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have never bought a new flash, only used.

Flashes either work or they don't. It is easy to tell which.

Flashes that are perfectly functional but requiring you to dial in iso, set shutter speed and aperture yourself are available for about 20% or less of the price of the new fully automatic ones.

For me it has always been a no brainer to buy used since I know how to use a flash and I use them only to provide controllable light.

Personally, I am sold on the Vivitar 283 and 285 models for portables. Cheap used, high light output when needed and very controllable.

 

[PatrickCheung]

My father bought a flash in the 80s and he gave it to me for my first flash. It worked perfectly. I wouldn't be too worried about buying flashes and having their bulbs go bad. The only thing that stopped the flash from working was when it fell from a light stand set about 2m high.

If you're not looking to get a system of flashes, it might be smart to buy a slighly cheaper flash. The only reason why I bought the Nikon SB-900 and 600 flashes were because I wanted to make use of the CLS wireless trigger system. I've also picked up the cheaper Yong Nuo flashes and slightly cheaper Nissin flashes while I was on a trip back to Hong Kong. They worked well and held up well. Felt a little cheaper, but I didn't mind as I rarely ever used a flash.

If cheap china-made flashes don't appeal to you, old film-era flashes can usually be had for cheap. I picked up a cheap vivitar (forgot the model) flash for $10 at the local camera store. It had variable power and a little diffuser attached to it. It lasted for about a year before it fell. Again, had no problems until the fall.

 

[gb hill]

oh Good Thread Idea...

I have been wanting to get a Flash for my M Body 😱😱
but have no Idea
What to look for and Buy
get some crazy 'Gilden-nesque' flash shots... lol ... 😛

Helen you could probably get away with sticking a flash in someones face.😀 Wait a minute! Didn't you have to go to court for shooting a cop😉(with camera of course)

 

[gb hill]

Depending who you buy from. I think buying used is the way to go. Small flash units probably don't see a whole lot of use. I've bought 2 & both still work great.

 

[helen.HH]

Helen you could probably get away with sticking a flash in someones face.😀 Wait a minute! Didn't you have to go to court for shooting a cop😉(with camera of course)

hahaha...😀

 

[CVickery]

I don't use flash a lot, after a bit of research I picked up a Nikon SB-20. It seems to work great on my M8 as well as my Nikon bodies. It's a clever design, with lots of options that are easy to understand and use. I think I paid about $30Cdn.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

i have had good success with buying flash from keh.com

for classic flash (non-ttl), the old ones are quite cheap and relatively easy to use, especially if you are into manual cameras.

I bought a metz 45 flash, which is a hand-held flash gun with a L bracket to hold the camera, cameras i have tried include the m4p, rolleicord. The head is tiltable and really powerful. It has an exposure meter, so by setting your iso and the aperture on the flash and on the camera, the flash will release the right amount of light.

I have also bought a sunpak 120j from keh.com, this is a mudder-of-all camera mount flash, but too big to use on a camera: it has a bulb and a reflector. Instead i use it off-camera as a location flash with battery pack. Both works great.

If you do not use flash often, i can recommend a leica CF flash, which is like <$20. This is a simple but very small flash with 3 settings, f2.8, f4 (assuming 100 or 400 i think) and manual. This was originally meant for the minilux zoom but works great.


raytoei

 

[back alley]

part of my concern is with these newgangled flashes that are built for certain cameras...the d90 and d200 have nikon flashes they can use and they seem pretty foolproof...my concern is that they are so complicated and computerized that they might fire ok but if the computer is out of whack there goes all the foolproof stuff.

 

[maddoc]

I have a vintage National Panasonic flash that came with Nikon SP. Swivel- and swing head, zoom diffuser and a second weaker direct light. Works on auto and manual (has meter-cell) and power can be adjusted.

Only drawback of National flashes, they can have up to 300 V or more trigger voltage at the PC-Sync (hot-shoe) and electronics of most modern camera might be toast when using this flash ...

 

[nikon_sam]

Every flash I've ever bought was used...most are Vivitar brand 283's (x3), 125, 215, 91 & 200...all work just fine...I also have a Nikon SB-15 & 2 SB-25's


Joe...as long as they power up and if they use a hot shoe and fire with the camera shutter you should be fine...the more complicated ones you might want to fire at all the different power ranges...
If it's been sitting for a long time you might have to switch it "On" several times to get it to power up...also check the battery terminals for any leakage from old batteries...anything real ugly would be a deal breaker...

 

[Ronald_H]

Bought a big AGFA sensotronic flash at a fair recently for 5 euros to complete a beginners kit for a friend. I thought it was manual but it actually had a built in sensor! There were even batteries in it that weren't dead. It works very well.

Btw, I use a small Nikon SB-30 on my M2.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

part of my concern is with these newgangled flashes that are built for certain cameras...the d90 and d200 have nikon flashes they can use and they seem pretty foolproof...my concern is that they are so complicated and computerized that they might fire ok but if the computer is out of whack there goes all the foolproof stuff.

If you want to use it with the D90, get the Nikon flash. I have an SB800 my son uses now with his D70, and the TTL auto with it is very precise. It also does a very good job of auto balanced fill flash. An old film-era flash like the Vivitars are cheap, but some older ones will damage the camera because the sync signal voltage is too high for modern cameras, and even if it doesn't have that issue, you get NO autoexposure functions on the D90. Not even with older Nikon flashes like the SB25 (I have one I bought new withmy F4 beck in 1994! Still works, but not with the digital cameras). Nikon changed how TTL auto worked when they came out with the d-slrs, so you need a flash made for what Nikon calls "iTTL". SB600 and SB800 are older models that work for it and may be available used for less than the current model that costs $400 or more.

 

[rommelgc]

i bought a used Canon 540EZ before ... just made sure i read the user manual from the Net before i met the seller face to face and tested the flash ... i made sure the flash fired more than once, and the capacitors charged up properly (you would hear the capacitors whine as they charge up)

i recently modified the flash for more conventional uses ... i disconnected the other contacts on the base of the flash since i now use it most of the time with my non-Canon/non-*TTL film camera.