written by Niladri Kar. on 09/02/2001
Good Points
Cheap, easy to use, moderate GN.
Bad Points
Rather heavy, weak foot.
General Comments
Vivitar 283 is perhaps the best non-TTL autoflash available. I have two of these wonderful flashes. They are highly reliable for indoor as well as outdoor flash photography. For some time I was forced to use built-in flash of my first compact SLR, Pentax zx-50. It was a very sad experience. Soon I discovered that this flash is virtually of no use except for use as fill-in flash in daylight. After I got Vivitar 283 the quality of night photography changed dramatically. No more underexposure or sharp, flat light. You can buy a new one below $70.00 from B & H Photovideo or you can pick one from ebay half of that price. But in case you are planning to buy a second-hand Vivitar 283, make sure to check two things: 1. the quality of the foot (which is rather weak and shows the first sign of misuse); 2. the discharge voltage (some old flashes have very high discharge voltage that may burn the electronic circuit of modern camera, I was told). Go to photographyreview.com for more reviews.