Customer Reviews

Bower Digital Automatic Flash for Sony (SFD296S)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I used this flash with my Sony A200 camera on my last vacation and at the last two weddings I attended; I have been very impressed with the flash. It is very easy to use and it carries light exceptionally well. In fact, when I went to print my photos the photo place refused to print some of my pictures because they claimed they were professional shots. This flash is a Great buy for the money and I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

The build quality was not an issue for me. I have read reviews where concern was over the battery door. I found no issues with it. However, I had one issue that almost made me return it. When I put it on my camera the pop up flash would still pop up. I put my Sony flash on it and the pop up flash would stay down. I called Ritz Camera and explained what was happening and the lady on the phone told me to turn of my flash on the camera. I did what she said and the pop up flash stayed down. The Bower flash worked.

The Bower flash will not display information in the view finder. I have to depend on the ready light built on to the flash. The only other thing that I noticed is that Bower flash seemed to fit more tightly on the hot shot than my Sony flash. The Sony flash came off smooth compared to the slight friction taking the Bower flash off.

Great flash for the sony A100. It is easy to use and very flexible. The flash arrived before the expected date in good condition. I highly recommend!

Despite its being advertised as an automatic flash, it did not synchronize with my Sony a330. The built-flash still pops up and, if you compensate by turning the built-in flash off, the shutter speed does not adjust to the use of a flash. I'm hopeful of finding an automatic flash for this camera that is less expensive than the Sony model, but this isn't it.

The "economical" description is accurate. The flash is really inexpensive, but seemed to work well for a direct blast of flash as well as bounce. The construction is cheap feeling and one gets the immediate impression that the device is not a long term product - but, who really knows. I took several test pictures with the flash and most seemed to be just fine. It seemed to synch well with the camera. The battery compartment is just aggravating as one cannot tell where the positive and negative ends of the batteries are to be placed. The door to the battery compartment is cheap and could probably become loose with some use - especially since the flash is a battery eater.

All in all, for a very inexpensive swivel shoe flash, it can be recommended......but, price is a huge factor in the recommendation.

I chose to return the item as the compact and more expensive Sony compact bounce flash permitted me to keep the flash in the shoe even fitting in a holster case. The Sony is not as powerful but is better made and less bang for the buck.

the battery compartment wasn't an issue with me. the flash worked great for me. u just have to disable your internal flash cause it will try to pop up even with the flash cord attached to it. i read the negs about it only working after a few shots but that's probably cause ppl didn't follow the instructions on how to maintain this flash. it says to wait 6-8 secs before taking the next shot so that it will be fully charged and this will help to prolong the life of flash tube. guess this was meant for portrait shots and not for multiple shots one after the other. i will get a chance to test its range and durability next month in a wedding. i'm on a tight budget and i'm just getting into external flashes so this flash is perfect for me till i can afford the HVL-F58AM for my a55. so far i've taken over 20 shots and its still working. its only $38 so its not a high risk. will keep up to date as far as battery life and how many shots before it stops working.

I heard that these products break in a couple of months, but my wife just got into photography and and was asking for a flash. After looking around I found that the good flashes (and lenses) are the same amount that I paid for the DSLR. This flash was perfect for her to learn about how to use different techniques. If it breaks in a couple of months and she wants to spend a couple hundred on a better than Ill say this was worth it.

The brightness is very good. Really good value for the money. A great value for startup flash for amateur photographers.

Bower Economical Dedicated Digital Zoom / Bounce / Swivel Shoe Mount Flash for Sony DSLR Cameras

I was surprised that my photos turned out really good when using the Bower Flash. This flash works just as good as the expensive ones. Less shadows shows up on photos and easy to use flash. The flash is very adjustable for direct and indirect flash. Like some people always say "you get what you pay for", but for this flash I got more than what a pay for and I'm very happy with this flash......

Build quality is not below par. The battery door is as solid as I would expect, I don't think it will be breaking any time soon. There are instructions for the direction the batteries go on the inside of the battery compartment, if you can not see them turn on a light. Two go facing up and two go facing down +-/-+