Recommend me a flash gun?

Looking for a flash gun to use with my Pentax K10d.
I rarely use the on camera flash, preferring available light photography.

However, I want a flash gun for odd occasions where it would be useful..
portraits of family, weddings and other events..

what I want is something 'cheap and cheerful' with ability to swivel head
for bounced flash...
Ideally looking for something second hand on ebay [UK marketplace]... but
dont know what to look for..
does not need to be recent model..

any suggestions?

SS

"simon steel" <simon@srsteel.co.uk> wrote in message
news:SaadncOHi-fQQZzVnZ2dnUVZ8vidnZ2d@pipex.net...
> Looking for a flash gun to use with my Pentax K10d.
> I rarely use the on camera flash, preferring available light photography.
>
> However, I want a flash gun for odd occasions where it would be useful..
> portraits of family, weddings and other events..
>
> what I want is something 'cheap and cheerful' with ability to swivel head
> for bounced flash...
> Ideally looking for something second hand on ebay [UK marketplace]... but
> dont know what to look for..
> does not need to be recent model..
>
> any suggestions?
>
> SS
>
New Pentax flashes are pricey and their £150 or so one (360) doesn't swivel,
the £300 (540) one does, so forgetting them.....................

Any cheap 'Auto' (or auto thyristor) flash would work but you would have to
get used to it, i.e. what manual aperture settings work with it on different
auto power levels. It's not as hard as it sounds and once you know what
you're doing it will get consistent exposures without you having to
'fiddle'. An auto flash measures reflected light by itself and doesn't
involve the camera at all in judging how bright to flash. 2nd hand could be
good, but check that the trigger voltage is under about 10 volts at
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html and that the flash has been
used recently, the capacitors fail in all of them if not used for several
years. Makes like Vivitar 283 come to mind, but I've used a 25+yr old Nissin
360TW on a K100D no problem. You should be able to get something 2nd hand
for under £30.

Otherwise, you're looking at more expensive P-TTL capable flashes like the
Sigma EF-500 (or more recent EF-530). There's an all singing & dancing one,
the Super version, and a more basic one, the ST which will still do what you
want and have an auto focus assist light as well. There's also a Metz 58
AF-1 with P-TTL that has good performance. I don't think the cheaper Auto
flashes will have AF assist lights, although an old Pentax flash (non-P-TTL)
.. I got a new Sigma EF-500 Super for £150, the ST was £100 at the time.
One problem with Sigma flashes is that they may not work properly with
cameras released after their manufacture, the flash has to be re-chipped.
The K10D was affected by this I remember, wireless operation needing a new
chip. The Metz 58 has a USB socket for reflashing the firmware yourself
rather than having to send it back to Metz.