The flash burst profile concept can be boiled down to a single number by measuring the total potential area of flash coverage. The following list shows this area relative to that covered by the Pentax AF360FGZ. Since this incorporates all of the published numbers for each flash, the value is less susceptible to rounding errors or other unintentional inaccuracies than the other charts.
Keep in mind several things when looking at these numbers. First, the data is entirely based on manufacturer-stated numbers which may be faulty in multiple ways: the guide number could be overstated, and the angle of coverage at a given zoom position could be not completely adequate. Second, this particular number is not a measure of raw flash power. It's a partial indicator of the versatility which a certain amount of power can give you in combination with the zoom reflector of a particular flash.
- Pentax AF540FGZ = 2.3×
- Metz 58 AF-1 = 2.2×
- Metz 54 MZ-4i = 2.0×
- Sigma EF-530 DG = 1.9×
- Metz 48 AF-1 = 1.5×
- Promaster 7500EDF = 1.3×
- Promaster 5750DX = 1.1×
- Pentax AF360FGZ = 1.0× (Of course.)
- Promaster 7400EDF = 1.0×
- Promaster 7200EDF = 0.93×
- Promaster 5550DX = 0.93×
- Metz 36 AF-4 = 0.88×
- Promaster 5250DX = 0.60×
- Pentax AF200FG = 0.41×
- K20D/K200D/K-7 built-in = 0.18×
- K100D/K10D/K2000 built-in = 0.13×
Again, since Sakar does not provide complete guide number data, their flash cannot be included in this comparison. However, if we extract from the one number the do give, the coverage value would be about 1.4×. If we instead use a less-trusting estimate (based on actual tests), it's only about 0.8×.
If you need more power than this in a single flash, the non-hot-shoe mount Metz flashes which can use the Pentax P-TTL SCA module come in at 1.7× for the 45 CL-4 (with a much higher guide number at 35mm than any of the above), and an impressive 3.9× for the 76 MZ-5.
