lens or flash? please advise

Last night there were some Morris dancers performing at my local,so I thought it would be a good oppertunity for some practice. I used my 18-55 kit lens on my K20d. The light was getting dim and the shots were blurred as the lens was staying open for 1/4s, 1/8s. I tried upping the ISO through 400,800,1100 and tried SV, TV, AV & green(auto) and the in-camera flash but I am not satisfied with any of the shots.
Question; Do I need a faster lens (f1.8,28mm?)If so, can you reccomend? or do I need to get a good flash? again, any suggestions which? Or a combination? Or is it just me needing more experience?
Thank's in advance for any help you may think useful(apart from swapping my camera for golf clubs)

Generally speaking, slowing your shutter will not increase a flash exposure. Increasing the aperture and ISO will. How far away were you from the dancers? Can you post a photo?

It basically sounds like the flash isn't powerful enough for your needs.

My experience with the built-in flash of the K10D is that it is about as powerful as a spent match. I'd invest in an external flash and Mattmatic's flash "ebook". I tend to set my camera on manual when using flash as I find the fancy in-built flash modes more of a pain and less reliable than a bit of trial and error.

The main problem with using flash outdoors is there is nothing to bounce it off, and direct flash is unflattering.

Best wishes, Kris.

You may be able to pick up a cheap old powerful flash gun as I did from a charity shop for a fiver. Then invest in the radio trigger device from the shop on this site for 16 quid and you have an off camera flash for 21 quid which can't be bad.

Spend a bit more and get a Vivitar 283/285 and that's decently powerful but you must be very careful about mounting them on the camera hot shoe as they may well blow the circuits in the camera. Hence the radio trigger.

Mike

You're saying Morris dancers, I don't find a bit of blur movement a problem with that. You can even go to extremes with that. they surely shouldn't be pin-sharp, it will kill all movement. At least that's my view on the matter.

The 28mm 2.8 isn't expensive secondhand so you can give that a try and also get a flash. It's best in your case to have one with some creative options like trailcurtain and maybe even strobe. If I need to chose it would be the flash... atleast if you can use inderect flash... My experience with direct isn't so great, it will kill depth so you might need some accessories to help in that. Kris also say it's unflattering.

Thanks to all you kind people for taking the trouble to help,it is appreciated.
As for distance(greynolds999)aprx 3mts to 20/25mts.
Anvh suggests 28mmf2.8,is this preferable to 28.. f1.8?
Regards to all, Larry.

Dear kris,
Please explain 'Mattmatic's flash "ebook" '
Thank's Pal.

Sorry I thought you wrote f/2.8
But I don't believe there is a f/1.8 at least not a Pentax one.