Size and Shape
Although all flash makers list the height, width, and thickness of their flash units in the manuals, the fact that flashes are not actually cubical makes these numbers not particularly useful on their own. All of the flashes bulge in different directions, and there's different degrees of narrowing near the base. The Metz 48 AF-1 is nominally smaller than the Sigma EF530-DG, but it's fatter, so it doesn't necessarily take up less space in practice. Plus, some companies seem to give the dimensions in the tilted-forward configuration, and others with the flash straight up.
The important thing is: only the very basic Pentax AF200FG is really small. The Pentax AF360FGZ and Metz AF 36 AF-4 might qualify as compact, but the others range from large (Metz 48 AF-1) to quite large (Pentax AF540FGZ, Metz 58 AF-1).
Weight
This list shows weight with four NiMH rechargeable batteries. The manuals list the weight without, but since they all use the same batteries and since a flash without power isn't much good, this is more useful. The values also include any required modules.
- Pentax AF200FG: 300g
- Metz 36 AF-4: 315g
- Promaster 5250DX: 330g
- Promaster 5550DX: 360g
- Promaster 5750DX: 360g
- Promaster 7200EDF: 365g
- Pentax AF360FGZ: 380g
- Sakar 952AF/PEN: 380g
- Promaster 7400EDF: 395g
- Sigma EF-530 DG ST: 415g
- Sigma EF-530 DG Super: 445g
- Metz 48 AF-1:450g¹
- Metz 58 AF-1: 465g
- Promaster 7500EDF: 490g
- Pentax AF540FGZ: 490g
- Metz 54 MZ-4i: 550g²
1 The higher weight published in the manual is in error.
2 This is with the Pentax-specific SCA 3702 module. With the generic SCA 301 module, total weight is about 20g less.
These flashes can be broken into several groups in terms of flash power for the weight. All six Promaster models and the Metz 36 AF-4 produce about the same flash coverage per gram as the Pentax AF360, with the Promaster 5250DX trailing behind a bit. The AF200FG covers considerably less — about half. The Metz 48 AF-1 and Metz 54 MZ-4i weigh noticably more than the AF360FGZ, but do produce a little more light for the weight. And the Metz 58 AF-1, the Pentax AF540FGZ, and the Sigma flashes do much better — not quite twice the light per gram.
As the chart shows, though, especially when batteries are considered, there's not really a huge range in the entire lineup.
