What external flash units would work well with the Kodak DC260 camera? The "shoe-mount" units would appear to be unsuitable and those are what I mostly see available for sale on the Web. Where can I find some good cable-connect units, in the price range of $100-200 or so?

-- Robert S. Duran (bkd@icok.net), February 17, 1999

Answers

I just got a Kalimar TW3600 twin flash for my DC260. This is a shoe-mount flash but can be triggered by a "PC" sync cable (which is included). The cable is only 12" long or so, but certainly good enough to reach to the sync socket on the side of the DC260. You'll probably want to buy a flash bracket too, since there's no shoe on the camera itself. I got a cheap one ($15 at Ritz Camera) which works well... it's actually designed for mounting a light on a video camera, but the tripod screw fits cameras too. People have used the well-known Vivitar 283 flashes with success on the DC260. I also considered buying a Quantaray bounce flash (Ritz Camera) but eventually got the Kalimar. Note that it's extremely cheap, definitely low-end equipment, but inexpensive and fully featured. It's available at Porter's (www.porters.com) for $48.95. But hey, I'm new at this and just wanted something to play around with. Most of these flashes take 4xAA batteries. I bought 4 NiMH AA from Thomas Distributing, I figure I'll use them as a second set for the camera (when the flash is not in use). Good luck.

-- Ryan Baucom (ryan.baucom@ieee.org), February 18, 1999.

Great answer from Ryan - Thanks! Just to add to that, you can get a hot shoe/PC cord adapter gadget at most camera stores for $10-15 or so. This will let you use any hot shoe flash with the DC260. (You do want an "auto" unit though, but I think everything is auto these days.)Ryan's suggestion of the mounting bracket is an excellent one - they're well worth the few bucks!

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), February 21, 1999.