Happy New Year to you all. I have a Epson PC850Z and it has a shoe for an external flash. Epson tell me that I SHOULD BUY the METZ 32Z-2 now I am not about to ignore Epsons Experts,however I have heard that there is a Digi Slave Flash and as I have NOT YET bought a flash can someone please tell me what a Digi Slave Flash is and what is best for my camera.Thank you very much. Norman Howard Email: normanhoward@home.com

-- Norman John Howard (normanhoward@home.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

I'll assume the hot shoe is of standard design. I would bet that nearly any decent, modern flash will work well. Someone with more experience may jump in here - but nearly any flash should work fine.
Caution
There are some older flash units out their (mid-80's and earlier) that are very dangerious for you to use however. These flash units put the full potential to fire the Xenon tube into the hot shoe. On older 35mm cameras this only became a problem with a couple of years of usage. The contacts inside the camera would arc with each flash - eventually carbonizing them - and they would become unreliable. I know this well - as I owned a camera repair facility in Savannah in the 80's.
Placing one of these babies on your digital camera - well - I shudder to think about 5 to 6 hundred volts zapping around the innards of a digital camera! All modern flash units send only a trigger voltage to the hot shoe (3 volts or less).
Now - all this being said the experts who've recommended the METZ 32Z- 2 recommend it most likely because they've tried it. That, my friend, counts for a lot. It doesn't mean it's the only one that will work - and probably many others will indeed work fine.
Go to your local camera store (Ritz, etc) show them your camera and tell them you would like to try a flash right there in the store. Try a few pix and buy one that works. Unless they're ogres they'll be happy to let you try one in the store.
One hint: Buy a unit that physically sets the flash as far from the lens as possible. I know this makes it larger and more clunky - but the result is less red-eye, and more natural looking lighting.
The Digi-Slave unit you mention is typically a unit designed for digital cameras that have no hot-shoe or PC connection (yes they call the flash connector on a camera a PC connector - which has nothing to do with a Personal Computer). You apparently have a hot-shoe so your choice of flashes can extend into a better category of units. (i.e. the METZ is an excellent unit)

Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), January 08, 2000.

Howard, Here is a response I got from Epson when I asked whether I could use my Sunpak 433D (which I already had before i bought the 850Z and which has a feed back voltage of 6-7 volts according to Sunpak):

"Harvey,

The PhotoPC 850Z does provide TTL metering at the CCD. The hot shoe will handle up to 300 volts feedback through your flash. In the automatic modes of the camera, it will relay distance/ focus info to the flash. However, if you are running the camera in manual mode, you will also have to set the flash manually. Epson chose the Metz flash strictly for aesthetic reasons and your SunPak flash should work fine.

EPSON Connection"

I use the Sunpak in manual mode (and the adjustable power freature from full to 1/16power) and the camera in manual mode manual exposure.

Hope this helps...Harvey

-- harvey chun (ltdedorc@reathlink.net), January 11, 2000.