continuous flash shooting

hi
I am by no means an experienced photographer - I have a K7 and AF-540FGZ flash. I use it to take indoor sports photos. I often see other photographers with professional-looking equipment take several flash photos in quick succession - 2 or 3 per second.

How do I do this - I've tried all kinds of settings and can't make this happen. Maybe I need to manually set the flash to a very low output so that the recyle time is very short?

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Some photogs use Quantum Turbo flash with an external battery pack. Very efficient and more expensive than what the casual photographer can afford. Here is a link: http://www.quantum-flash.ca/generic.htm?ECINFO=QUANTUM-QFLASH-NEW-TRIO

also try higher iso combined with wider apertures in aperture priority mode, camera set to continuos shooting in the fn menu.

Unfortunately Quantum dont support current Pentax cameras and flashes which is why I use the old Pentax AF400t flashguns with a Quantum battery. They really do keep up with continuous shooting and you get 1000 flashes per charge. The battery packs are very well made in leather cases and its basically a small lead acid car battery inside.

Lower the flash output off the lens.

The capacitor has a charge to deliver one flash at 1/1 power so at 1/2 power you can get 2 flashes after each other, ect.

If you shoot with p-ttl then use a wider aperture or higher ISO.

::: What on earth is this supposed to mean Stefan :::

If you mean "use a wider/larger aperture", why not say so?

Although MikeS hasn't been back since his original post, he did say he was not an experienced photographer and 'geek speak' isn't going to help him very much.

What it means Peter.

I don't know what your problem is, flash output is quite understandable.
flash = burst of light
output = (something that comes out) production, energy, power, ect.

I don't think the OP is retarded

That's not what i mean at all with that sentence.

Just for you i'll "explain" my other two sentences to make it clear for you.


(Peter this is what I mean with lowering the flash output)

The flash hold a charge for one full power flash so if the flash fires at half the power you can take two flashes instead of one and if you use 1/4th of the power you can have four flashes.

P-TTL is an automatic mode and is controlled by the camera so if you allow more flash light to reach the sensor by either using a lower f-number or higher sensor sensitivity (ISO) the flash will fire at a lower power because it doesn't need to fire at full power.
Also shortening the distance between the flash and the subject reduce the flash output that's needed

With A mode it's the same but you need to input the numbers manual (f-number and ISO)

With Manual mode you've a simple scale that you can control; 1/1 is full power, 1/2 is half power, 1/4 is fourth power, ect.
Of course you need to compensate the lost of flash light/power with either the f-number or the ISO.

Changing the shutterspeed won't work because a flash only takes 1/100.000 of a second (if not less) so with the shutterspeed you control solely the amount of ambient light that falls on the sensor.

Well - you did ask Peter.

I'm sure that clarified things nicely

Stefan I think part of the problem is that you said "Lower the flash output off the lens.". That's gotta be confusing to a newcomer.

It might surprise you to learn Stefan, that I do know what 'lower the flash output means'. I also know that it has nothing to do with the lens unless the flash is set to fully auto and TTL/P-TTL control is influenced by the lens's aperture to increase/decrease the flash output.

To write "Lower the flash output off the lens." for a person new to flash photography is misleading and unhelpful because it is an inaccurate/incomplete statement.

Your verbose explanation is also completely unnecessary for me because I was probably taking flash pictures before your parents even met. I know how a flash works, and how to use it properly. The OP however, needs some uncomplicated information to help him.

Yeah now i see it
I meant the flash not lens

I know but you asked for a better explanation for the OP not for yourself.

BTW: only on a battery powered flash will reducing the power reduce the flash time... but that's also what it does, rather than reduce power as such.

to be honest, if you need to take 2 shots / sec, you either need to be running at 1/64 with good batteries or you ought to be not using flash. Those are the "cheap" answers.

Bret

With good batteries you don't mean Nickel Zinc batteries right? link
With those you should be able to run at higher powers.

With extra battery pack link
You probably burn out the flash quite fast that way...

Also normal rechargeable are faster with recharging then normal alkaline batteries.

I've been using NiMH and can't get them to recycle fast enough, even at 1/64 on an EF-500 to keep up with the continuous shooting. And I really did get them hot on the same set of batteries once. Now I would use the big strobes for that work, set to low power.

Bret