Flash Reviews

This flash has a problem with the bottom slide to set Ft. I have been trying and trying and trying to get a hold of cust service at Vivitar for help. Good luck. I have tried e mail, the phone, the e box thing. I will probably send it back and get a speedlight.

I have been very happy with my Vivitar 285HV since I bought it 2 years ago. What a great inexpensive flash that gives reliable and accurate results time after time. It is being used on my manual focus Nikon FE. I've been using the 4 auto settings most of the time.

Strengths:
Powerful output.
cost only a fraction of a Nikon SB16.
Lots of accessories available; (some are expensive, though!)
Good zoom head.

Weaknesses:
Big and heavy.
No swivel head

Similar Products Used:
Vivitar 550
Achiver

Let's get to the bad stuff first:

1) no swivel
2) printed numbers on calculator dial may wear off or get scratched off
3) plastic foot may break
4) sync cord, battery holder and AC adapter are hard to find in stores
5) of course, no TTL, but we already knew that

OK, the good stuff (really good)
1) very powerful, big grins on subjects after they hear the loud pop and see the light. This is one big gun.
2) meter is surprisingly accurate
3) zoom head and wide angle adapter
4) generous auto range of 4 apertures, variable power settings of 1/2, 1/4 and 1/16
5) if you use flash as main source of light, don't shoot closeups with flash and have no need for TTL, this is all the flash you need
6) did I say this flash is so affordable?

I've been using Vivitar 283 and 285's for years now. I was introduced to the 285 when my backlight died on a Glamour shoot. The style my client wanted was an over exposed background to ad a haze around the subject through the softener1 filter. This required a powerful flash. The only store near the salon was a Carmen's camera and all they had in their used department was this old 285, the man in the store, a professional photographer himself, assured me that with a slave unit on the manual setting this flash would be powerful enough to do the job. He even had an SB-4 power supply and this little plastic display unit, which made a perfect little backlight stand!

Not only did this flash recycle in time, it was powerful enough to do the job. This little flash even replaced my Metz for wedding work because of its compact size!

I also noticed at the time that many other press photographers were leaving their Metz's at home too! For travelling and backpacking I bring my 283, which is very light and also has the remote sensor feature so handy for close-up work.

The 283 also sits nicer on the hot shoe being lighter, making the camera less top-heavy. Which brings me to the only complaint I have with these two flashes.... or many hot shoe flashes for that matter. Shooting at crowded concerts or busy news scrums the vulnerability of the hot shoe is always on my mind, on more than one occasion I have broken this hot shoe and had to order a new one which requires a bit of assembly and downtime. To make up for this -the remote sensor makes it possible to use these flashes off camera even with the broken hot shoe and with the amount of used 283's and 285's out there at good prices, they are still the best darn portable mini flashes I've come across!

With an on camera 283 fill light, reflected, a slaved 285 with a reflector on a stand next to the camera and a 283 slaved for a back light and you have yourself a portable studio, but watch out your subject doesn't step on the backlight!

Having played around with photography for 20 years now I am baffled by Vivitar.They produce the 283 flashgun (a good product). Then they produce the 285 with almost the same specs.Except the 283 trigger voltage is over 300 volts and the 285 is 8 volts. Ok if used on the old SLR`s.But what about digital cameras? There are users asking what flashgun can I use on my Fuji 4900 and 6900? I go faint at the thought of putting a 283 on my Fuji 4900. No information is given in the instruction book. So i must conclude with the old saying "Buyer beware"

I've been using Vivitar 283 and 285's for years now. I was introduced to the 285 when my backlight died on a Glamour shoot. The style my client wanted was an over exposed background to ad a haze around the subject through the softener1 filter. This required a powerful flash. The only store near the salon was a Carmen's camera and all they had in their used department was this old 285, the man in the store, a professional photographer himself, assured me that with a slave unit on the manual setting this flash would be powerful enough to do the job. He even had an SB-4 power supply and this little plastic display unit, which made a perfect little backlight stand!

Not only did this flash recycle in time, it was powerful enough to do the job. This little flash even replaced my Metz for wedding work because of its compact size!

I also noticed at the time that many other press photographers were leaving their Metz's at home too! For travelling and backpacking I bring my 283, which is very light and also has the remote sensor feature so handy for close-up work.

The 283 also sits nicer on the hot shoe being lighter, making the camera less top-heavy. Which brings me to the only complaint I have with these two flashes.... or many hot shoe flashes for that matter. Shooting at crowded concerts or busy news scrums the vulnerability of the hot shoe is always on my mind, on more than one occasion I have broken this hot shoe and had to order a new one which requires a bit of assembly and downtime. To make up for this -the remote sensor makes it possible to use these flashes off camera even with the broken hot shoe and with the amount of used 283's and 285's out there at good prices, they are still the best darn portable mini flashes I've come across!

With an on camera 283 fill light, reflected, a slaved 285 with a reflector on a stand next to the camera and a 283 slaved for a back light and you have yourself a portable studio, but watch out your subject doesn't step on the backlight!

Vivitar 283s made from the late 1990's onward will work fine with Digital Cameras. Only older units from the 1980's and early 1990's have a trigger voltage that sometimes exceeds 300v. Newer units will may function just fine depending on what voltage your camera can handle (again, research). You can test the trigger voltage of the unit by using a multimeter on the shoe pins and triggering the flash with the test button. Much more information can be found via a web search.

I purchased the Vivitar Auto flash when i ordered my camera last year. It is a great accessory! My pictures come out very clear indoor and at night. I love it!

A good little inexpensive flash for general use at a good price. It is a vast inprovement over those under powered pop-ups. It works well with digital cameras (Fuji FinePix 6900z). If you are considering a digital camera, an external flash is a must! The improvement in picture quality is stunning.

This is a good starter flash and definately cheaper than the previous two I have purchased. The problem is that there is no way to clamp it down to the camera and it easily slides on/off. This makes it easy to remove when I need to store the camera but I have to remember to always make sure to push the flash back into place before taking a picture or it won't flash. It is also much slower to "recharge" between pictures. I have to wait at least a minute between pictures which is next to impossible when photographing children finally doing something cute!

This is an excellent flash for beginners but, be warned that you will need to get a more sophisticated flash as you gain experience as a photographer. The flash comes with a "PC" cord so you don't have to use it in the hot shoe when you turn the camera on it's side for a vertical. That way you can have the flash over the camera so the light is coming down from above to create a more pleasing photo. I like it well enough that I bought two, one for each of my cameras.