Pentax AF201FG flash review

The nice thing about the K-1 not having a built in flash is it forces you to use something better or nothing at all. That's where the AF201FG comes in. It's definitely better than a pop-up flash, for reasons I'll get to in a bit, while still keeping pretty close to "pocketable".

I really like what Ricoh has done here. The took the rather awful AF201FG, made the head tilt, and changed it from using 4 AA to run on just 2 AAA batteries - in so doing going from no-hoper to must have accessory.

In addition to being small and light, it feels unusually well made for a flash gun, using a textured, non-grip plastic surface and offering full weather sealing. Pretty cheap too.



To me it's just about the perfect size. There is a good distance between the lens and the flash head, but it's not bulky or top-heavy. Matches the K-1 really nicely.

The rear panel has a stripped down, bare minimum interface. Not having any flash comp. adjustment could be seen as an important omission (you have to dig into the K-1 menu to dial in compensation), but there is quick access to rear curtain and 1/4 manual power instead.





The flash head locks into a -10 degree tilt for close up, and also flips backwards about 135 degrees. The are "soft click" detents at 0, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90. degrees. The head does not pan, which could be a minor irritation or a dealbreaker depending on how you use a flash.

Finally there's a pull-out diffuser to widen the light spread from 24 mm eq. to 20 mm equiv. FOV.



So, the main compromise is that the max power is relatively weak. The GN is 20, compared to about 36-38 for a typical end end speedlight, or 54 for the AF540FGZ II meaning full power on the AF201 is about the same as 1/4~1/8 setting on a the bigger units. So trying to fill in a group portrait under midday sun ... could get tricky. Actually in practice I found that yes, the low power made an impact in everyday but it's wan't difficult to work around it by increasing the aperture or ISO to compensate. Light is like buffer capacity: it doesn't matter how much you have until you run out of it.

The other two downsides relative to a more expensive and larger flash is that the energy storage is much smaller, and the charging current output is much smaller. So fewer shots before the flash runs out, and longer recycle times. Compared to my SB-800 the recycle times are almost comically long, 2-3 seconds, but outside of professional use this is not going going to be a problem for most people here I imagine. Apparently the batteries give about 100 flashes on max power, so you should be good for several hundred shots at moderate powers. The nice thing is that it doesn't drain the main camera batter, and AAA cells are easily enough replaced. (I use eneloops.)

I admit I'm a sucker for cute little tilting flashes. The Nikon SB-N5 for example, or the new SB-500 which is something of the bigger sister to the AF201FG. I want bounce flash, but I don't really need anything much more than that. The Pentax AF201FG is really well-designed flash, one which seems to go under the radar of a lot of Pentax users. Definitely worth picking up.

Sorry, I got called away after hitting post but before I had a chance to re-read it and fix the typos. Let me repost an clean version.



Pentax AF201FG Flash Review



The nice thing about the K-1 not having a built-in flash is it forces you to use something better or nothing at all. That's where the AF201FG comes in. It's definitely better than a pop-up flash, for reasons I'll get to in a bit, while still keeping pretty close to "pocketable".

I really like what Ricoh has done here. They took the rather awful AF201FG, made the head tilt, and changed it from using 4 AA to run on just 2 AAA batteries - and in so doing going from no-hoper to must-have accessory.

In addition to being small and light, it feels unusually well made for a flash gun, using a textured, non-grip plastic surface and offering full weather sealing. Pretty cheap too.



To me it's just about the perfect size. There is a good distance between the lens and the flash head, but it's not bulky or top-heavy. Matches the K-1 really nicely.

The rear panel has a stripped down, bare minimum interface. Not having any flash comp. adjustment could be seen as an important omission (you have to dig into the K-1 menu to dial in compensation), but there is quick access to rear curtain and 1/4 manual power instead. I would say the fault is with the K-1 for stripping out the flash options from the quick menu, rather than the flash.







The flash head locks into a -10 degree tilt for close up, and also flips backwards about 135 degrees. There are "soft click" detents at 0, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90. degrees. The head does not pan, which could be a minor irritation or a dealbreaker depending on how you use a flash.

Finally there's a pull-out diffuser to widen the light spread from 24 mm eq. to 20 mm equiv. FOV.



The main compromise of the small size is the weak max output. The GN is 20, compared to about 36-38 for a typical high-end speedlight, or 54 for the AF540FGZ II. Full power on the AF201 is therefore about the same as 1/4~1/8 setting on the bigger units. So trying to fill in a group portrait under midday sun ... could get tricky. Actually in practice I found that yes, the low power made an impact in everyday use but no it wasn't difficult to work around - by increasing the aperture or ISO for example.

The other two downsides relative to a more expensive and larger flash is that the energy storage is much smaller, and the charging current output is too. So fewer shots before the flash runs out, and longer recycle times. Compared to my SB-800 the recycle times are almost comically long, 2-3 seconds, but outside of professional use this is unlikely to be a huge problem for most people here I imagine. Apparently the batteries give about 100 flashes on max power, so you should be good for several hundred shots at moderate powers. It doesn't drain the main camera battery, which is nice, and AAA cells are easily enough replaced. (I use Eneloops.)

I'm a sucker for cute little tilting flashes. The Nikon SB-N5 for example, or the new SB-500 which is something of the bigger sister to the AF201FG. I want bounce fill light, but I don't really need anything much more than that. The Pentax AF201FG is really well-designed flash, one which seems to go under the radar of a lot of Pentax users. It’s definitely worth picking up.

Thanks for the review, Richard.

I happen to have this cute little flash. Unfortunately, it cannot act as wireless controller for other flashes, which is a bummer.

I use it sometimes for macro shots in the field, but without a cord, its use as main light is rather limited.

BarneyL said:

Thanks for the review, Richard.

I happen to have this cute little flash. Unfortunately, it cannot act as wireless controller for other flashes, which is a bummer.

Click to expand...

Actually ... that's where the M 1/4 power setting comes in handy though it's a bit of a kludge I can confirm it works fine: Set the AF201FG to 1/4 power and point the head away from the subject, set your external flashes to optical slave. It ain't Nikon Commander Mode, but you get to trigger your external lights without the on-camera flash interfering.

Member said:

I use it sometimes for macro shots in the field, but without a cord, its use as main light is rather limited.

Click to expand...

I find it works well indoors for social and informal people photos. "Have ceiling, have light." might be the motto for this flash.

BarneyL said:

Thanks for the review, Richard.

I happen to have this cute little flash. Unfortunately, it cannot act as wireless controller for other flashes, which is a bummer.

I use it sometimes for macro shots in the field, but without a cord, its use as main light is rather limited.

Click to expand...

For macro I find it good even mounted on camera at about 1:1 magnification and F9-F13 with the 1/4 manual output. Otherwise the P-TTL might underexpose, especially when I use a larger diffuser.