Yes. The main advantage of auto thyristor/external-sensor flash is that it does not need dedicated camera-to-flash TTL communication. That makes it useful when mixing camera and flash brands, using older flashes, or triggering a flash off-camera with simple manual radio triggers while still getting automatic flash cutoff.

TTL’s strength is that it meters through the lens, so in principle it can be more accurate because it measures the light as seen by the camera. But TTL usually requires a compatible camera/flash system and often uses a pre-flash.

So the tradeoff is:

• TTL: potentially more accurate and integrated, but requires system compatibility and often a pre-flash.
• Auto flash mode: more universal, works across brands and in some off-camera setups, and avoids the pre-flash.

In practice, like any exposure method, the best choice depends on the setup and the result you want.