In the PP review of the Sigma EF-530 DG Super flash (Nov), the writer
makes two heavy attacks on it having a plastic hot shoe 'not metal like
most most flash units in this price range offer'.

Er?

On what planet?

The idea of a metal flash base and hot shoe (the reviewer appears to
mean the whole bottom of flash assembly) is maybe unfamiliar to me since
I never come across one of these superior units! Yes, some flashguns had
a metal shoe plate fitting 30 years ago, and no hotshoe contact. As far
as I know pretty much every current flash unit has a plastic hotshoe,
and on rare occasions when a flash has been knocked or a camera dropped,
it's the shoe which breaks rather than the camera. Yet the writer
actually gives that as a negative point:

'slightly worrying that the hotshoe mount is made of plastic rather than
metal, which means that one hard knock might break the bottom of the
flashgun'.

They then box out this negative feature for a special comment at the end
of the report!

David