K5 built in flash

Hi all. I'm a bit of a newbie to the K5 and thought i'd ask my first dumb question. When I compare the flash on the K5 to a friends' EOS 7D it seems 'slower' i.e. when I take pictures of our cats or the children, their eyes are closed or half closed with the K5 but the 7D seems to catch them open. Anything I might do to improve this? Thanks lots in advance.

Is the flash set for red eye reduction? this will slow it down some.

Hi Don. No, it's on standard auto setting. Just seems as though the flash has an earlier fire point compared to the shutter opening which gives the subject time to react? Exposurs and colours are fine.

Everything else about the camera is spot on - size, feel, colours (tested against 7D even with std jpegs straight from the camera) etc. It's not like i'll be using for loads of indoor snap shots but I could do to improve it a bit, if there's a way.

It is impossible for the flash to 'be slower' or fire later or earlier, so something else is happening and they are anticipating the flash firing.

I dread brides who do this.

Welcome to the forum Mike.

Even if the flash was slower it would not be that slow that subjects would have the time to half close their eyes, Don mentions red eye reduction but that too should be far too fast to give the subject time to blink.

I'm sure your problems lies somewhere else,

Eliminate user error:
ask your friend to try your K5 and see if he gets the same problem

Eliminate Subject error:
Try shooting someone else

Eliminate Equipment error:
Try the same shots with your friends 7D

If all else fails just get rid of the cats and kids

Just had a play with my K5, I put it on the green mode and checked the flash, there are 2 settings A and A+ red eye, in A the flash fires instantly and in A+ there is a delay as the flash pre fires for red eye reduction
Hope this helps

ARGHHHH!

Ken beat me to it, serves me right for making coffee halfway through a reply

If red eye reduction gives time for the subject's iris to close (and reduce red eye), then it sure gives time to let them blink.
How long is the delay for the pre-flash for PTTL exposure? Probably instantaneous, so that's unlikely.

Thanks all for the input. It's definitely on A not on A+ redeye. I'm sat here with the K5 and 7D testing and every time I take a photo of the now very annoyed cats with the K5 they have time to shut their eyes and with the 7D they're open every time.

I've just asked my wife to take photos of me (aint pretty - me, not the wife!) and there 'seems' to be a longer flash duration on the K5, like it fires earlier and for longer. The exposures aren't incorrect. It just seems to be a timing issue.

Reminded me of a Maseratti I saw the other day with the number plate 505LOW!

Just another thought! may be the 7D has a faster focusing lens?

I'm sorry but I think it is impossible for anyone to discern the difference in flash duration. We are talking about miniscule differences of tens of thousandths of a second. Could the Pentax have a louder shutter?

Another possibility, there are so many audio and visual clues that you are about to take a photograph that I'm sure this is where your problem arises. Interesting though...

I used to have exactly the same problem when I photographed my daughter. Never had the problem with my 2 sons, wife, cat, dog, horse, sheep, or even the chickens - so by a process of illumination () I decided that the problem was my daughter and stopped photographing her (with flash) - haven't had a problem since

Carl

Ok, let's clear this up

We are not talking about the duration of the flash, but the interval between the preflash P-TTL exposure and the main flash

It works like this:
1. Camera leaves mirror down, fires flash and takes exposure
2. A fraction of a second later the camera lifts the mirror, and triggers the main flash

It's the gap between 1 & 2 that makes the difference.
I suspect the main issue is down to flash protocol. AFAIK, the Canon does not support wireless (optical) flash - you have to pay a hefty sum for their transmitter. Pentax, on the other hand, allows for remote control of slave flashes through a morse-code-like high speed signalling of the pop-up.

So, yes, there can be an annoying gap between the preflash and main flash where the subject has closed their eyes If you use the red-eye mode then they should have opened them again before the main flash

But, for some people the only way is to resort to good 'ol fashioned "A" mode flash with a cheapy external flash (I've had to use the hulking great Metz 50MZ5 for a wedding where the bride blinked every time - thankfully I tried it out pre-wedding).

HTH,
Matt