A Reasonably Priced and Powerful Flash

This is the first flash that I have owned. I own the Pentax ist* DL, which by the way is a great camera! It takes amazing pictures, but anyway now for the flash. The AF-360FGZ is one of two flashes that Pentax makes available to customers. It features a bounce head, auto zoom head, wireless operation(with another compatible flash), and contrast control sync flash. The flash modes are, P-TTL auto flash, TTL auto flash, Auto flash, Manual flash, Trailing-Curtain Sync Flash, Slow-Speed Sync Flash, High Speed Sync, and an AF-assist beam. The other, is the AF-540FGZ which is bigger, has more range, and has a twist, tilt, and bounce head. I believe it may have more modes as well? Anyway, this flash really makes pictures look great. Especially at night, or in dark areas. Now, I don't think I could go back to using a built-in flash! Basically, you slide the flash into the cameras hot-shoe and slide the locking lever tot the right. Then turn on the both the camera then the flash, and you are ready to go. A nice feature, just like the camera is that if the unit is on for 3 minutes without being used, the powersaving feature kicks in and turns the flash off. To turn it back on you can either slide the switch back to off and then to on, or press the shutter button on the camera half-way down and it will turn back on. I am extremely pleased with the performance of this flash and I am very glad I purchased it. If you act fast, Pentax has been offering a rebate since October 12 that lasts until January 12. $25.00 off is available when you purchase the AF-360FGZ alone, but if you purchase it with a Pentax K110/K100 DSLR, you get $50.00 off. The rebates are also available on a number of lenses and range from $50.00 to $100.00. This is a great flash, and one thing to remember is that this can be used as a slave if you later decide to upgrade to the AF-540.