Reviews
Versatile, Powerful, ‘quality’ feel & build, Easy to use both on- and off-camera
Summary: versatile; powerful; ‘quality’ feel & build; easy to use both on- and off-camera – high-capacity NiMh batteries last well – zoom a bit noisy – highly recommended, especially at the price.Arrived on-time, well-presented in high-quality packaging with a decent carry case (not rain proof), diffuser hood (additional to the built-in screens) and a really useful plastic mount for off-camera work. The manual isn't too bad! An ‘electronics’ smell when unwrapped took a while to disperse.On-camera: bulky but still OK for handheld. Talks happily to my Canon 70D which can access its internal settings. Powerful, easily lit 15m+ distance @ wide 18mm/ISO400 and I had to reduce output by 3 stops for a 20m daylight fill-in! Flexible tilt/swivel for bounce = softer indoor portraits. A bit noisy following the camera’s zoom lens.Off-camera: good for side- and back-lit shots and great fun! Set to E-TTL Wireless Slave, it triggers from the camera’s flash (ignores focus-assist flashes). The supplied plastic stand works well on its own, and can be tripod-mounted which is really useful. The trigger sensor is pretty sensitive, I got 20m+ from the camera on a dull day (point the front sensor at the camera and tilt/swivel the flash head towards the subject) and 10m+ when out of sight of the camera’s flash (behind the subject for back-lighting) - I find the confirmation beep and front LED helpful. My compact cameras also happily trigger it in S1 mode.It has the usual modes and options (high-speed sync, rear curtain, bracketing, etc.), a respectable 3s recycle time with upto 12fps at 1/16th power (I could only test to 70D’s max 7fps) and a really fast (upto 199Hz) strobe mode to capture fast-moving subjects (I used 50Hz to capture images of a falling die in a single exposure).I can’t fault K&F’s KF-882, it compares well with the much more expensive Canon 580EX and is great to use – it’s solid, powerful enough for anything I’ll ever need and works great off-camera with its really useful stand.I normally shoot outdoor/wildlife so wasn't sure I’d be able to make good use of a flash unit but this baby is a brilliant piece of kit - I took these night-time shots (off-camera) within minutes of opening the box, beautiful textures and colours like sunlight through the window... (See Images)
29.03.2016