ART Vivitar 285hv discussion

[themolsen]

Discuss what you love and hate about it, favorite uses, etc.

It's a popular, inexpensive, reliable flash.

I love that it can be pretty darn powerful when you need it to be. It works great with Cactus V2s also.

I hate that it skips from 1/16 to 1/4 power. I think I would use 1/8 power a lot.

I usually just use it with a diffuser or mini softbox (something I can carry around and put in the front pocket of my bag)

 

[Bloke]

hate it takes ENOURMOUS amount of room in the bag
hate no built in slave mode
auto modes confusing if not used to it.
shoe feels cheaply made.

 

[1992 240SX]

I always thought the controls were prob. too confusing/annoying so I opted for Nikon used flashes. I think they're like $30-$50 more but I find that they're really easy to use.

 

[1.8]

I have one as my only flash. It's a PITA to use sometimes and it's gigantic, but it works pretty damn well once you figure out how to use it.

 

[1992 240SX]

Yeah, I'm not knocking it, light is light IMO. As long as you can control it, it doesn't matter what you use. But maybe for your next flash you could check out the SB's. Adorama had a lot of used stuff before. BH doesn't have as much but I lucked out with an SB-80X and SB-600 there for 150 and 130.

 

[turbodude]

540ez > 285hv

 

[EWhytsell]

I love the 285. Very simple design and I can repair/mod it easily.

Annoying that it skips 1/8th power. Anyone have a reason? hehe maybe I could mod it to have a 1/8th setting

 

[fukijama1]

its just works. and its cheap

 

[xconverge]

285hv/sb-xx/sunpak 383/sunpak 120j

One of these will be bought, I just need to find a deal

 

[themolsen]

I've used SB600 and 800 before. 285 was cheap and works great. I NEVER use it on anything other than manual settings so the auto metering bullshit being confusing isn't an issue to me

 

[EWhytsell]

I've used SB600 and 800 before. 285 was cheap and works great. I NEVER use it on anything other than manual settings so the auto metering bullshit being confusing isn't an issue to me

Exactly. I doubt I'd use any non canon/nikon flashes auto settings. No point if they can't talk TTL really.

 

[themolsen]

a 600 or 800 would be nice though if I still did event photography

 

[isaac86hatch]

Pros: Cheap, Powerful, Brainless

Cons: Kills Batteries quickly