Sunpak MZ440AF for Pentax 35mm and Flash usage

Greetings and Merry X'mas/Happy New Year all...........

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I hope someone can help me.

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I have a Pentax ZX/MZ-10 35mm SLR and I'm finding the built-in flash a tad too limited in ability at times. For example, when I took some indoor portraits recently, the background came out ok the way I wanted (well, maybe a little brighter would be nice) but the subject in the foreground was overexposed. I was trying to strike a balance between the subject and the background lighting. I used my consumer zoom set at 80mm and exposed for Aperture-priority mode at f/4.0. I was thinking perhaps the results could have improved significantly if I had an external TTL flash set at -ve 2f-stops. Am I right here or could I have improved the shots by using different internal built-in settings in the camera?

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Anyway, I'm seriously thinking of investing in a Sunpak MZ440AF flash unit soon. Anyone out there with experience in using the above flash with a Pentax SLR? Or has anyone heard any negative feedbacks on the flash?

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Thank you in advance for those who respond.

Antz

If you were using print film, get the pictures reprinted and tell them

to expose for the subject. To balance the brightness level between

subject and background set the shutter speed to 1/30 sec. Shutter

speed is used to control the amount of ambient light level recorded

with flash photography. With my ZX-5 this works fine. Even with using

an external flash you can't do flash exposure compensation, because

it's a body function and the ZX series doesn't have it.

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An external flash is useful for other reasons: longer camera battery

life, greater light output, bounce capability, AF assist light, less

tendency to get red eye and 2nd curtain sync. In addition to the above

features, Pentax flashes (AF330FTZ, AF400FTZ & AF500FTZ) also have

settings to turn on the AF assist light without the flash going off,

in low light levels. The Sunpack MZ440AF & Vivitar 840AF/Sigma 430EF

(same units) do not support 2nd curtain sync. There are Metz flashes

that do support this feature, but in the US Metz flashes are

expensive. If I haden't been able to find a used AF400FTZ, at a

reasonable price, I would have bought the Sunpack.