Can anyone give me an update status on the Nikon AS-17? I understand Vivitar has a similar product..could I get an opinion on it? Thank you.

-- Brandon (brandon_999@yahoo.com), March 08, 2000

Answers

Hi Brandon, I got my AS-17 several days ago after ordering it from a local shop (in Hong Kong) over a month ago. Cost: about USD 100. First impression: "What a big piece of thing!" (as compared to the compact non-TTL adaptor AS-4, which is about a fifth the price of the AS-17), and unlike the AS-7, you have to remove the AS-17 to access the film rewind crank. I haven't had the chance to try it out yet so I can't say anything about its performance, but it had better be good for USD 100!! Vivitar indeed has a TTL-adaptor, but, as far as I know, it works only with Vivitar flashes, and with Nikon Speedlights; for details, see here: http://www.ma th.uio.no/~fredrigl/f3/f3.html#SEC62.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), March 10, 2000.

Thanks for your response Hoyin. I didn't realise it would be so expensive..I might look into a second hand speedlight instead.

-- brandon (brandon_999@yahoo.com), March 10, 2000.

Update:- I first tried the Metz 34 AF3, an all-auto TTL flash, with a FE2 and wasn't pleased with the result; it was terrible--it overexposed subject at close distance and underexposed at longer distances. I checked with Metz and they e-mailed me saying that the flash is designed to work only on Nikon AF cameras. Now I have the flash with the AS-17 on my F3HP, and the result is wonderful, which means that the TTL flash is working the way it should be on the F3HP.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), April 30, 2000.