This tiny flash unit works with almost any camera thanks to a particularly clever trick
Amateur Photographer verdict
The Zeniko ZA12 might be the perfect mini on-camera flash unit for photographers who use a number of cameras of different brands, both film and digital, thanks to its clever auto-flash metering.
Pros
- Tiny size
- Clever auto metering
- Affordable price
Cons
- Really needs a working-distance indictor scale
- Doesn’t automatically power off
The Zeniko ZA12 is a small flash unit that’s designed to work on most cameras with a hot shoe, both film and digital. It offers a choice of either auto metering using a built-in light sensor, or manual control. There’s nothing remarkable about that, but where it stands out compared to similar units lies in the way you can adjust how it works in auto mode, to accommodate a much wider range of camera settings.
Zeniko ZA12 at a glance:
- Approx $50 / £50
- Guide number 6m at ISO 100
- Auto or manual control
- Built-in rechargeable battery
- 55 x 47 x 36mm
- Weighs just 60g
- zeniko.com
Key to the ZA 12’s abilities are the dual dials on top. By setting the right-hand dial to one of the positions marked in red, you can manually set the light output from full power down to 1/64 in whole-stop steps. However, it’s when you move away from manual operation that the real cleverness begins.
Most flash units with built-in auto metering force you to use specific exposure settings. With the popular Godox Lux Junior, for example, that’s f/2.8 at ISO 100 or equivalent (i.e. f/4 at ISO 200, f/5.6 at ISO 400, etc).
However, on the Zeniko ZA 12, you can specify your preferred settings using the two dials, with apertures from f/2 to f/11 and sensitivities from ISO 50-1600. Set these two dials to match your camera settings, and the unit will adapt its light output accordingly. That’s very clever, and very useful.
Zeniko ZA12 key features:
- Power: The internal battery is rated for 400 flashes and recharges via USB-C in about 70 minutes
- Hot shoe: A basic single-pin connection allows the unit to be used on any camera that has a hot shoe with a central contact
- Colours: Zeniko offers the ZA12 in two colours to match your camera, either black with silver dials, or two-tone silver and black
- Kit contents: A push-on diffuser, soft pouch, and charging cable are supplied in the box
I tested the flash on a number of cameras of different brands and vintages, including the OM System OM-3 with 12-45mm f/4 zoom; the Sony A6000 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8; and the Fujifilm X100VI. I found it metered pretty reliably in auto mode on all of them, and as the flash is doing the measurements itself, logically it should work on any other camera, too. The key is to stay within the workable distance range for your chosen settings, to avoid either underexposure or everything bleaching out.
However, the big catch is that there’s no indication of what the usable range might be on the unit itself. So you either have to consult a table in the manual, or do guide number calculations in your head. It’s crying out for some kind of indicator for the working distance range, perhaps like the distance scales displayed by recent Godox flash units.
Zeniko doesn’t actually specify a guide number, but it turns out to be 6m at ISO 100. Likewise, the manual neglects to mention a coverage angle, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’ll provide even illumination for lenses as wide as 24mm (or equivalent). That’s great, as it means this unit should work happily with almost all digital compact cameras, or mirrorless models with their kit lenses.
Build quality is very nice indeed, with a retro-inspired design and metal shell that looks great on similar two-tone cameras. There’s a power/test button on the back, and a small status LED on top. This lights up red when the flash is charging, and green when it’s ready to go. It blinks yellow during battery charging, and lights yellow if the unit gets too hot. One thing the flash won’t do, though, is auto-power off: instead, you have to switch if off manually.
Alternative mini flash options
If you’d like a tiny hot shoe flash unit like this but would prefer to have TTL metering, take a look at Godox iT20. It’s available in versions for Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Sony, or Olympus/OM System/Panasonic, and costs around £40. There’s also a cheaper manual-only option, the iM20, and a larger but more sophisticated TTL unit, the Godox iT30Pro.
Zeniko ZA12: Our Verdict
The Zeniko ZA 12 is a clever little flash that generally works well, and its small size means you can carry it around very easily. It could be a particularly good choice if you use multiple cameras, both digital and film, and don’t want to buy dedicated flash units for each.
