A Review of the Zeniko ZA12 Compact On-Camera Flash

.. in which I put a tiny little flash through its paces. The ZA12 was given to me by Zeniko in exchange for an honest review. So how does it handle? Well, it's not very powerful. That's no surprise given the size of the thing but it does have a few cool features.

The most obvious of these is that it's tiny enough to fit in your pocket and just pull out at those times where you need to pop a bit of light into the photographic scene. But it's also automatic. The dials allow you to set your film speed and aperture and then just fire away and get perfectly exposed shots every time. Well, maybe not perfect.

The flash does tend to underexpose by about 1 stop but that helps protect the highlights and easily compensated for. The best part of all is that it works regardless of your camera brand. The optical sensor uses the light reflected off the flash to cut the power when you've had enough.

Overall, not a bad job, Zeniko. Just wish it had a PC Sync port so I could attach it to the cold shoe of my Leica but watch to the end for a simple hack for that.

Zeniko ZA12 (Black): https://amzn.to/4oLep2j
Zeniko ZA12 (Silver): https://amzn.to/446JPI0

Cameras: Nikon F80 | Nikon Z 6
Lenses: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM DG | Nikon Z 24-200m F/4-6.3 VR
Film: Harman Kentmere 100
Date: 15 November 2025
Developed with XTOL 1:1 and scanned with a Plustek OpticFilm 120

Music by: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: SVXGRLJOMNNNZAXD
Artist: : Benjamin Tissot

Видео A Review of the Zeniko ZA12 Compact On-Camera Flash канала Mark McMahon