Customer Reviews

Vivitar DF383 Digital TTL Shoe Mount Power Zoom /Swivel /Bounce Auto-Focus Flash for Nikon TTL, Guide Number 45m (147')

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am quite pleased with this flash. Integrates well with my Nikon D90. It does not function with Nikon's Creative Lighting System, but then it costs 1/4 the price of a NIKON SB-900. Plenty of power to bounce off walls and ceilings or use with a additional diffuser. The quality of your photos will improve significantly with almost any flash other than the small direct flash built into your camera. The manual and/or slave capabilities will allow off camera flash shots that will further improve your photography. That said, the slave funtion does not work well in outdoor situations where the ambient lighting is high. This is were the much more expensive NIKON SB series flash units will out perform this flash unit - remote wireless TTL flash control - I just can't understand why a flash unit SB-900) should cost more than half the cost of my D90 body. The D90 has significantly more electronic and mechanical technology than the SB900 and I'm sure the mfg'ing cost of the D90 is many times that of the SB900.

It's not a bad flash unit, I don't think it is as solidly built as the Nikon SB-600, but it is half the cost. I am an amateur, so I can afford the compromises.

It worked well in slave mode, iTTL, and in manual with my Cactus V4 wireless triggers.

Other reviews have mentioned the way the unit turns off after a few minutes to save batteries. Yes it does, and yes it is a huge pain. I was shooting product shots for a friend's chocolate shop with this unit up on a stand pointing down. At one point I had to have her stand on a chair and make sure the flash was on before each series of shots. A pain for an amateur, a deal breaker for a professional.

I purchased the DF-383-NIK for the Nikon system. I was hesitant as others had comments regarding built quality and out of the box performance mostly DOA units. I can't comment on that as the unit we received has performed perfectly. The TTL and fill flash work as a Vivitar should. I've used Vivitar Flash units for 20 years and they are robust.
Power zoom is abit louder than expected and the internal light is of little value in most cases as its lit only from one side of the LCD screen, unit goes to sleep by itself requiring reset. But other than that it works as advertise. TTL metering. Works as a slave (S-switch on the rear) and can be triggered. Its a big unit and after using it for 2 separate jobs I can rate it a solid 4 Stars. Minus (-1) one as it not built as well as the old Vivitar's or anywhere near as solid as Nikon SL SB's units (which I have 600/800). Battery access door is cheaply made, Oh yea order some rechargeable AA batteries,I use Energizers 2,450's and Sanyo's.

Excellent value for photographers using there 1st ext flash and pro's alike.
Used on a D90/300 and D700 bodies for reference.

The VIVITAR DF-383 DSLR Auto Focus Flash for Nikon has great specs and a long list of features and I thought it would be perfect for on camera as well as some studio work. However, what I found was a broken promise.The build quality is poor,the controls are difficult to see and the buttons are mushy. Although exposures were pretty good on this "dedicated" flash when used on camera, it produced extreme overexposure when swiveled to bounce off the ceiling.The motorized flash tube to adjust for different zoom settings worked but was very noisy and clunky. The auto shut off was annoying as it shut off too fast and couldn't be overidden.The Foot to connect the flash to a camera hot shoe seemed "soft" and I think it would wear out in short order.I'll never know because after three uses of this flash, the plastic slide away diffuser came off its track and would't go back in.I am returning it.Oh,the ability of it to be a "slave" triggered by another flash did work well.DO NOT BUY THIS. Its really a shame becaaue I remember the good old days when I had a couple of Vivitar 283's that you could practically drive nails with.In fact I was on the boardwalk during the bad days at Coney Island NY when someone tried to grab my camera bag,I swung my Nikon FE at him, but he took the Vivitar 283 square on the nose.He ran off screeming and bleeding. I still used that 283 for another 20 years.

Bought this after doing a lot of reviews and searching other flashes. This one seemed to be a pretty decent work horse (just for a slave) And is loaded with manual settings. Havent used it TOO much yet. but when i have its been prefect. It also works pretty flawlessly with my remote trigger i bought with it.

Im very happy with my purchase.

I have had this flash for over a year, and it has been brilliant.

The iTTL metering performs very well, and it is great to use in automatic mode. The head tilts and swivels, which is very useful. It allows bouncing the flash when the camera is in portrait orientation, and allows bouncing of side or rear surfaces, which is invaluable. This makes it far better in terms of usability than the SB-400, which practically costs the same.

It provides sufficient manual control, and I have used it with several manual focus/manual exposure lenses to great effect. The built in optical trigger is also very useful for off camera use. But using it as an off camera slave means you have to manually set the power level and adjust your exposure accordingly. A small issue at this price point. The flash also fires on the cheap radio remote triggers, giving you enough options to expand.

The build is not too bad. The only flimsy part is the battery compartment door, but shouldn't be a problem if you are careful. It hasn't broken yet on mine. Recycle times are not a problem for normal use: at full power, it recycles in under 5 seconds (regular Duracell batteries). Typical iTTL uses much less power. At 1/4 power I could get a couple of continuous shots before it needed to recycle for 2-3 seconds. At 1/8 power, I was able to fire it fairly continuously (.5 seconds).

A few months ago, I had an accident and fell with the flash on the camera. The foot mount of the flash broke (it is designed to break easily, so that the camera hot shoe does not get damaged). I contacted Vivitar, and they sent me a replacement flash through warranty. So I have had a good experience with this flash and this company.

This is a great flash for the price, with great flexibility for automatic and manual use and for experimenting with strobist techniques. Unless you want to spend over $300 on an SB700. I would also rate this flash as a much better value than the equally priced SB400.

I use this flash only in manual. It is excellent for any aspiring or experienced strobist. Its buttons and layout is easy to understand, the flash is powerful and the lowest power setting is 1/16. No point wasting your money buying a Nikon sb or Canon, unless you are uncomfortable shooting in manual. You will yield much better results shooting manual anyhow. Build quality is good, zoom from 24-85. Flash does go into sleep mode after a few minutes of no use, but just press any button on the back on the flash and its back on, not a big deal at all, saves batteries which I am fine with. All in all, this is an excellent value and a great flash. Again, no reason to spend 500 or more on a Nikon if you shoot manual, you could get 4 of these for that price and light just about anything with that many flashes. Great product, get one.

Good built, solid, i-TTL works perfect, even as slave of the SB-800, only one thing when you turn it off and then turn it on does not save the settings, you have settings that were using again, I recommend 100%, good price for the value of this unit vivitar.

THose lights are very good, are TTL compatible, can be trigger via a Flash slave, have manual setting, can be used with the cactus wireless trigger. The only thing is that after a while, does not matter if you are using it continously, it goes off (standby), you have to reset it manually. I do not like that feature.

update Dec, 14 2010
1 of the 2 flash I have purchase stop working. It started with a problem with the head and zoom function. The other one in having some sort the same. I hope it didn't fail. Not happy with it, I wish i could return them...

I bought this flash seven months ago, and used almost 200 hundread times, and yesterday when the light flashed made a strong noise, and never more flashed. It seems to work, the display and the internal zoom are OK, but the flash bulb is dead. I should have bought the Nikon SB600...