Customer Reviews

Vivitar DF200 Digital Flash 200

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

 

 

Digital cameras seem to be all-or-nothing in the flash department. Either they accept full-featured dedicated flash units, or you're stuck with the built-in flash.

I recently bought the lovely Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 with the outstanding 12X f/2.8 Leica zoom lens. It's a truly wonderful camera, but it's saddled with a wimpy pop-up flash. It has a non-dedicated flash shoe, but you can't use an auxiliary flash along with the pop-up flash. This is a pity, since the pop-up flash has as much built-in intelligence as most serious dedicated flashes - it's just not very powerful.

The DF200 is an almost perfect match for the FZ20! Although it mounts using a shoe, it's really a slave flash. You attach the included flash bracket to the camera base and slip the DF200 into the shoe. You then either tell it, or let it learn by itself whether your camera uses preflash and, if so, how many pulses. Having done this, you're ready to go. As a slave, it obediently flashes for exactly the same length of time as the pop-up flash, only with significantly more power. This not only buys you greater flash range, but also increases the charge life of the camera's battery. As with most competent flashes, it adjusts in two axes, enabling easy bounce flash.

Is it perfect? Of course not! It's mildly annoying, after owning a 35 mm system with a dedicated zoom flash, to have to adjust the flash angle manually. I also have to agree, it fairly screams "cheap plastic!" Still, it works as advertised at a very attractive price point (certainly a better deal than Panasonic's wimpy and overpriced companion flash!) Ignoring cosmetics, it's a uniquely useful and ingenious solution to a problem facing many digital camera owners. My rating is 5 stars minus one for the build quality.

I purchased this flash in November. It worked fine for the first two weeks. Then it began to fire randomly, even without a triggering flash. Finally by January the slave circuitry failed and it no longer detects the flash from any of three cameras that I have used it with.

When it worked, it appeared to a pretty good flash but it did not last more than a couple of months of very light use (never even left the home).

Pro: I like the fact that you can mount this one with the camera and then on to a tripod. I don't think others can do that. Cycles fast. Works well with the powershot s230 that I have when set to "2 flash" trigger. The training mode seems to work as well.

Con: Does not have a working hotshoe contact - works only by seeing a flash. So don't expect to use it on a camera with a hotshoe. Cannot be triggered manually. I was hoping to trigger it manually during long shutters without using the camera's own flash. It is also quite bulky. Cannot mount on tripod by itself without mounting it to the bracket first - making it look strange and un-balanced if you want to set it away from the camera.

If you're serious about getting good indoor flash pictures, then something like the DF200 is a must.

Use it to *properly* light up subjects at medium to longer distances (something dinky built-in flashes don't have the power for) or use bounce flash at closer distances. I absolutely love how bounced flash evenly lights the people in my photos. You can also turn down the ISO setting, allowing for less grainy photos.

The hold button is handy when there are other cameras around you snapping away, but I do wish it was in the form of a switch, which would have been more durable then the small springy button it is currently. Also, the battery door can be a little bit difficult to open and close.

Edit: By the way, it works perfectly fine on my Rebel XT/350D & Powershot A70

As a previous reviewer noted the flash is definitely NOT compatible with the Canon EOS 300D (Digital Rebel). The Vivitar manual claims compatibility with all digital cameras with a built-in flash. The information in the manual is WRONG. No setting on the flash works and it does not 'learn' the flash of the EOS camera. The Vivitar flash will always fire before the built-in flash or an external 420EX and the result is always UNDEREXPOSURE. There is no way to overide anything to make the DF200 usuable with the Digital Rebel.

The flash does work with a Canon A85, which is what I primarily bought it for. The quality is not great but it isn't that bad either. I wouldn't want to pay more than the $70.00 I got it for, otherwise I would feel cheated.

This flash works nicely with my Sony DSC-P72 as a slave flash. The one limitation with all slave flashes is that they trigger off other cameras' flashes also. You can use the standy button to partially eliminate this, but if there are lots of other flashes going off, it can be a problem. Also, it would be nice if Vivitar had a 1/2 power setting, as the jump from full power to 1/4 power is too much for a digital camera to handle. You can put the flash on 1/4 power and double the ISO or halve the aperture and effectively get 1/2 power, however.

The built-in flash on digital cameras leaves a lot to be desired. Mostly it is skimpy and limited in use. By adding the Vivitar DF200 digital flash, your camera takes on added capabilities. The flash is surprisingly powerful and thus gives the camera a greater range. Red-eye is greatly reduced or eliminated and the ability use bounce-flash can enhance many photographs. The flash syncronizes with several digital cameras that I have tried and should syncronize with yours as well. The flash unit is not built like a tank and thus should be handled carefully. All in all, considering its low price, it is a useful and well thought out and executed item.

This is an excellent product for the digital camera user. It virtually eliminates the harsh shadows so noticeable with these cameras when used as a bounce flash unit.

Contrary to the common statement that this flash will work with any camera, it's not true. I have the Canon Digital Rebel. The Rebel uses "flash assist" when focusing in dark settings, where it strobes the flash to light the subject to aid in exposure metering. This cannot be turned off.

Unfortunately, when the camera flash strobes to help focus, it triggers the DF200 slave flash, and when the shutter snaps a half-second later, the Vivitar DF200 is not recharged and cannot flash. The picture is under-exposed, because the DF200 lit the subject beyond what the Rebel was expecting during it's focusing phase, and then the DF200 doesn't light the subject at all during the actual image acquisition.

I'm returning the flash. It looks like a nice package for the money, but if it doesn't work, it's useless.

I don't know what got into Vivitar, but somehow they decided to put a red decorative panel on the front of this flash. They probably thought this would convince some buyers they were acquiring an Nikon Speedlight. The panel performs no obvious function, and is so flimsy my unit arrived with the panel already broken off. Turns out this panel also covers the innards of the flash unit, because I saw wires and transistors and stuff. Fortunately, I knew well enough not to poke into the innards of a flash unit, I could have been electroshocked. I had to glue back the panel.

When compared to my Vivitar 285HV, the DF200 isn't even close. The 285HV has only one weakness, the foot, but mine's still intact, and the rest of the flash has that tough, professional look. In contrast, the DF200 is plasticky, and is silver painted, too. The battery door is flimsy, as is the rest of the flash. Why Vivitar? Ironically, the DF200 costs as much as my 285HV when I acquired it some years ago.

To be honest, the learning mode seems able to profile my Coolpix, and the flash works within its limitations, but the poor build quality just disappoints.