Question regarding 360 flash unit

Now I got the flash and having read the manual between patients I seem to be getting to grips with it. However, I have a question ... using with a K200D, can you use the 360 flash in a wireless set up, but only have the 360 fire and not the camera pop-up - say for side lighting. I may have misread, but it seems that you have to have the pop-up fire as well in a wireless environment.

Thanks for the help thus far.

Wireless is a bad name for the Pentax remote flash triggering system. It doesn't work by radio, as the name implies, but by sending out short pulses of light from the camera-mounted flash to the remote flash.

That means you have to have a camera-mounted flashgun as well as a remote. If you turn off the flash on the camera, you won't be able to fire the remote.

G

As an experiment, it might be worth taping an infrared filter over the pop-up flash to see what happens. I seem to remember that slave flashes are generally triggered by IR rather than visible light, so this set-up might trigger the 360 without upsetting your lighting. You can buy sheet filter material through this link and presumably at many other outlets: link

Best of luck

Al

On second thoughts, if the pop-up flash doesn't emit visible light, the camera won't be able to calculate the exposure information it needs to pass on to the 360. More to this problem than meets the eye. Oh well

Al

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You are confusing flash triggers, for use with studio lighting, and wireless flash technology. The former use IR, the latter use proper light.

G

I believe it does need IR though but it still needs the pop-flash to reliably trigger the external flash.
Over the IR signal goes the flash output information and such I believe.

Here is a demo video from Pentax link

Why would it need IR when it is using visible light to communicate?

G

[pedant] Actually although "wireless" is generally associated with radio frequency electromagnetic transmission it actually means what it says - no wires. It could equally refer to infra red, ultrasonic or other transmission of a signal or data using energy. It would be applicable to visible light. [/pedant]

Quite so, but I suspect you are a trifle younger than me. In my day, the wireless was the radio. We didn't have a gogglebox.

G

Now I could be wrong (often am) but if the 200D is the same as the 20D you will have two options in the custom function menu, "fire built in flash as MASTER" or "fire built in flash as CONTROLER" firing as MASTER will add the built in flash output to the subject while firing as CONTROLER will make the built in flash emit just enough light to set off the slave, in this case the 360FGZ.....simples

Seems my video in the first one doesn't work.
Click on DEMO on the left side link

George I'm going to quote what they say in the video okay.

- shutter button is pressed
- controller flash emits "control flash burst"
- Wireless unit flash emits "Preflash" so that the camera can determine the amount of flash needed
- Controller flash emits "control flash burst"
- Wireless unit "fires"

and you're quite right they don't talk about IR so quite amazing they can sent all the info needed in such a small time.

The BBC, until recently, still referred to it's 'record collection' as the Gramophone Library.

About the wireless flash trigerring - I find it very useful in white or brigt painted rooms (not too large, at most approx. 7x7x4 meters)with bright ceiling. Quite often I shoot at ISO 200 with the wireless AF360FGZ lying on a desk flashing toward the ceiling or a wall. Unexpectedly nice and sharp pictures, almost no ghosting. Only slightly red eyes but this can be removed.
Btw wireless doesn't seem to support high speed sync even when ISO is fixed (not auto ISO, then the high speed sync doesn't work anyway), am I wrong?

I believe it works when you use a external flash as master flash on your camera regardless the ISO.