Vivitar 283 Review

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Vivitar 283
3.6 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.6 out of 5

From 7 ratings and 4 reviews

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Niladri Kar.'s Review of Vivitar 283 Flash Gun

9th Feb 2001

Overall Rating

4.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4.5 stars
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.

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Members' Comments onNiladri Kar.'s Review

  • windcruzer. on 11th Sep 2002

    I burned out my 1980 Olympus OM-2 using the Vivitar 283.

  • Geoff Powers. on 4th Jul 2003

    I have used the Vivitar 283 with a Sto-fen diffuser on my Bronica ETRSi and have gotten spectacular results. It's a versatile flash that does a great job. You MUST read its documentation thoroughly to get the most out of it.