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Lighting

Quick Review: Vivitar 285HV Manual Flash

Chris Gampat
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06/14/2012
4 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Vivitar 285HV flash product photos (5 of 5)

Last Updated on 06/14/2012 by Chris Gampat

The Vivitar brand name has often been maligned with products that aren’t the highest of quality, or with those random film camera commercials you see targeted towards older, less tech savvy folk. However, for many years (and even still today) there are many that use one flash in particular: the Vivitar 285HV. As a full manual flash, it is also perhaps one of the best and easiest to use manual flashes available considering it’s very analog functionality.

Tech Specs

All information taken from the B&H Photo Video Listing

Mount Shoe
Guide No. 120′ (36.58 m) ISO100 at 50 mm position
Angle of Coverage 70° – 27°
Vari-Power 1/1 – 1/16
TTL Dedication No
Bounce Head Yes
Swivel Head None
Coverage 28 mm – 105 mm (Full frame)
Zoom Head Full frame: 28 mm – 105 mm
Off Camera Terminal PC
Recycle Time Approximately 4.8 seconds – 10.4
Power Source 4x AA Alkaline Batteries
Dimensions (WxHxD) 4.0 x 5.2 x 4.2″ / 10.16 x 13.21 x 10.67 cm
Weight 14.9 oz / 422 g

Build Quality

The first thing that you’ll notice about the Vivitar 285HV is that the build quality is really quite good. It feels extremely solid in the hand and there is almost no doubt in my mind that it could survive quite a bit of hell. Though my Canon 580 EX II has survived a 6 foot fall with need for repair, I wasn’t exactly willing to put the Vivitar through the same punishment.

On the front of the flash is a variable power adjustor.

It is color coded and also has full manual output control.

Yellow delivers the weakest flash output: which is great for when you’re shooting wide open or at a higher ISO

Red is a bit more powerful

Blue is even more powerful

Purple is very powerful

Then there is an M mode for full power, which I’ve never used. Beyond this there is 1/2 power, 1/4 power, and 1/16th.

On the side of the flash is a chart that will help you to determine what flash output you’ll need.

Here’s how this works: First, realize that there are two rings: an outer ring to control the ISO settings on the side and an inner ring that controls your aperture. One again, these actually control nothing with the flash, it only helps you to adjust your settings easier.

Let’s say that you’re shooting with a lens that opens up to F1.4 and you’ll be at ISO 400. First, turn the outer dial to ISO 400. Then, turn the inner dial so that f1.4 is lined up with the first color, which is yellow. At f1.4 and at ISO 400, you can set the flash power setting on the front of the flash to yellow. If you’re stopping down to f2.8, then you’ll need to switch to red (as shown in the graph above.)

On the other side of the flash is really just a plain surface with a slot for you to incorporate a battery pack.

The head is also expandable to a wide, normal or telephoto position.

The back of the camera is characterized by a couple of lights and switches that add to the functionality.

Ease of Use

I never really had much of a problem using the flash, but it did take a little bit of time to totally understand the color coding and dials. However, the manual does a fairly good job of explaining it once you have a bit of patience.

I used the flash almost religiously for three weeks and found that it really only works when you bounce off of a surface. With that said, it can only point forward, upward and in between. It cannot swivel around like other speedlights and speedlites. That essentially always means that you’ll be pointing your flash towards the ceiling.

Then I thought about using it with wireless triggers. I own two Phottix Odins, and the flash was easily able to be set off with the Odins, but was obviously not controllable because it is not a Canon flash.

I also used it on a film camera, and it is wonderful to know that when the camera is set to aperture priority, all that you’ll ever have to worry about setting is your aperture and the dial on this flash.

Conclusions

In the end, I recommend the Vivitar 285HV for any photographer looking to learn the basics of camera flashes and that will want a powerful and well built flash for their needs. My only major peeve with it was that it ate through my Duracell rechargable batteries too fast, but not my Pearstone or Enloop.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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