Bower Digital Universal Automatic Flash for Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Samsung (SFD290)

by Bower

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.8 x 3 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001O81CAE
• Item model number: 636980504308
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 20, 2008

Product Description

The Digital Universal Automatic Flash is a powerful, compact, lightweight flash unit compatible with most Sony Alpha SLR cameras. It is effective at ranges over 50 feet and is designed to reduce shadow, add lighting depth and adjust with more power for telephoto shooting. This flashgun offers red-eye reduction, bounce and swivel zoom head and SafeSync Low Voltage Trigger Circuitry for extra DSLR protection.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice for building a cheap remote flash combo..., September 28, 2010

By 

Paul - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I had this flash for a Sony and now for my Nikon D300. I also have a SB-600 flash unit which is of course way better, but also way expensive - I guess nobody here should expect the same quality for 1/4 of the price.
The build is overall cheap but okay for the price, it will last a while when you take care of it. The major downside is that it's not really a TTL flash. The title says something about "automatic", I'm really unsure what they mean with that. Fact is, it produces a strong flash, you can swivel the head (even at the wall behind you) but it doesn't communicate with the camera. You can still use it on-camera though, but it's more like a manual flash gun, so operating the camera in auto-mode will most likely produce an overexposed photo. If you're unsure if you should buy it... it's an okay budget flash which will give you more options than the popup-flash, but if you're more like the I-use-my-SLR-only-in-auto-mode guy than better invest $100+ in a TTL flash which will get more information from and to the camera than: Fire flash now!

But here's the deal: Buy a remote FM-trigger (I use the "CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax Flashes Other products by cowboystudio") and use this flash as an off-camera remote unit. Again, manual mode operation of your camera is recommended, but you can achieve great results with this off-camera set for $70 (flash + trigger). Combine it with a lighting stand, camera bracket and umbrella, and you have a portable studio lighting set for about $100-$130. This flash does even fit better on the remote trigger than my SB-600 because it has a screw-ring (not shown in the product picture) to tighten it to the flash-shoe-mount.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bower SFD290 Digital Flashgun, April 20, 2011

By 

Julian G. Brunt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bower Digital Universal Automatic Flash for Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Samsung (SFD290) (Electronics)

I had pretty good results with this flash, but it died within two months of being purchased. It is cheaply built and I do not recommend it at all.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT!, December 26, 2010

By 

Beth Dvorak (Watertown, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bower Digital Universal Automatic Flash for Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Samsung (SFD290) (Electronics)

This flash was EXACTLY what I was looking for! It works great and is a great addition to any camera!