K10D with AF280T flash off-camera?

Hello all,

I am having trouble working out how best to enable my AF280T flash to work off-camera with my K10D.
The information I have found online so far seems to give me three options:

1 - To purchase a Pentax sync cord plus hot shoe bits. But which cord and which pieces will be compatible with both the camera and the flash? (I know I can't do P-TTL/TTL modes; that's fine.)

2 - To use a wireless system. But is there a system with a 'sender' that can sit on the camera's hotshoe, instead of relying on the pop-up flash, as the frontal light from the pop-up flash would largely defy the point of going off-camera. I'm also concerned about the reliability of wireless systems, with the sensors needing to be more or less pointing towards each other.

3 - To track down a UK stockist for this three-in-one cord, which would appear to do exactly what I need: ProMaster Off Camera TTL Cord Pentax (8179). Has anyone tried this? And is it really as straightforward as it seems (and as it should be ) And if it is indeed compatible with both the K10D and the AF280T, would anyone out there know where to find a supplier in the UK?

Many thanks for any help with this!

With regards,

Wanderlust

It depends what your subject is

If you want a wired connection, then just a simple 2-wire PC cable is sufficient to run the remote flash in "A" or "M" mode. (like on camera, on the flash, and to wire them together)
You can often get the parts from small second hand camera shops for next to nothing
(Essentially you want a PC-to-hotshoe adapter for the camera, the cable, and the reverse for the flashgun.)

If you want a flash triggered solution then your best bet is probably an AF160 (dinky little Pentax flash) or some other small flashgun as a sender, plus a "magic-eye" cube (like one of these).

I reckon a cheap PC-cord solution will get you started for next to nothing, and you can then decide how to progress
Matt

I used to use a set up just like the one described by Mat and it worked well for my with a Pentax Program A and a Vivita flash. The flash had a build in meter to control flash output. I sill have the cables, so when I get my main flash unit I can experiment again.

Thank you, MattMatic and beakynet, for your very fast and helpful replies! I had not come across the pc lead method yet, and it seems very much worth trying that as well as the 'magic eye cube', which seems very easy to use too. Could this cube also be triggered by a somewhat diffused pop-up flash?
Anyway, your info has been greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

The problem, unless you are totally manual, your popup flash will issue a pre-flash that will likely trigger the cube. The only way I have fould to disable the pre-flash is to use an old lens with an a setting on the apature control, set the apature with the ring and have the camera on manual, that way no pre-flash and the pop-up flash will operate the cube properly. I dont know if it will when defused, however you can experiment by turning down the pop-up flash power output and see what happens. I have a remote flash (pentax slave flash) and it was still triggered at -2.0 power out put from the pop-up flash.

Oh yes, I do remember reading something about this pre-flash setting off slave flashes prematurely. Good to be made aware of this again, thank you. I do use an old portrait lens, which I focus manually, but it has no A setting... Might that still work for disabling the pre-flash?

Also, do I presume correctly - from putting two and two together - that attaching a small flashgun like the AF160 to the camera, as mentioned by Matt, will prevent the pre-flash problem as well?

Cheers again!

W

Yes it should.

I don't know if the AF160 will, if this is a PTTL unit then it would need to be set to manual for this theory to work.

There are only three Pentax P-TTL flashguns: 360, 540, and the new one whose designation I forget.

But it's not the AF160 or AF160S.

G

Thank you. Well, I am at the moment bidding on a "magic eye cube" that has a port for a pc lead as well, so that could then work for either method.

Have also noticed a light sensitive slave flash trigger that can apparently tell the difference between a pre-flash and a proper flash, so that it will activate the flash at the correct time!

And there's radio and IR gadgets too.....


A lot of wood and a lot of trees............