Looking for a flash for my A200

[Paul N]

Hi folks, as above really im looking for a flash for my A200, now im very new to photography and dont know much about them as yet!!
I know that i want to be able to use it off camera and that i am on a very tight budget as it wil be as a christmas present from a family member.

I have seen flashes on Fleabay from Hong kong for around the £30-£40 mark, i know 'you get what you pay for' but for a prezzy and as a first flash to get me going! what do you guys think??

Also any recomendations or advice greatly appreciated....

Thanks guys...

Paul...

[inkista]

You could probably use the flashes on fleabay, but you'll have to get a hotshoe adapter for the camera if you want to use the flash on-camera or with cheap radio triggers, since 3rd-party flashes/triggers use an ISO hotshoe. Sony uses Minolta's proprietary hotshoe. I'd use the search pattern "(Sony, Minolta) hot shoe adapter" on eBay to see what's out there.

You do need to know that you won't have any fancy/automatic function with most of these flashes, and some may be more difficult to use on the camera for bounce work (limited swivel/bounce). And you want to be sure that you have the ability to set the power level. The Cactus KF36/Vivitar 285HV, for example, doesn't swivel at all, and is missing the 1/8 power setting. The Yong Nuo YN-460 has...er.. copy variance and build quality issues. The LumoPro LP120 is good (and has a built-in optical slave), but is more expensive.