Review: Vivitar 285 Flash

The Vivitar 285 is an older flash,it is a tough, super powerful and easy to use flash. I have dropped mine several times and its been fine, a little bit scratched up but they still work perfectly. Setting the power on the is super easy, there are no confusing menu's just a dial on the front to set the power. The guide number of the flash is 100 at the wide angle zoom, the guide number increases by 20 as you increase the zoom. I use this flash in bright sunlight and still get good results, therefore its super powerful. After talking to an employe at a local camera shop, he said that this flash is proably the lightest yet powerful flash, its a super good price for what you get. A couple of years ago another company that has since bought Vivitar introduced the classic as the Vivitar 285HV. The upside to the newer versian is you can use it on camera, the materials in the HV model are cheaper and flimser, if you can find one get the older version. I suggest searching for it first on your local classified if you can't find it there, get it here on Ebay for around $40. I own three of these right now, they are a great flash for anyone on a budget looking into getting a few off camera flashes!