Very confused..

Oh dear - if one wants to be pedantic about definitions then my setup is not wireless, at least not as per George's terms. To me it is, because I can trigger my external flash without cables (= wireless).

So what if it's not 21st century technology. What is wrong using one's brains to do some calculations? You soon get the hang of it, so there will be less trial as experience grows. This reminds me of the youngsters in supermarket cash points, who are unable to give back the correct change unless the cash register does the calculation for them. Guess I'm getting old...

And, Mannesty, it is controllable, i.e. the results are the same every time. It is just a question of guide numbers and distance, right?

There are several advantages having an original flash like the AF360. Used on the camera, which I suspect is the majority of occasions, one has the benefit of full P-TTL control. For the few cases one wants to do something different, one can detach the flash and use the dumb slave mode without searcing for that little light sensor (which seems to have disappeared when you really need it).

IMHO the K100D/AF360 combination is a good compromise from both a financial and practical point of view.

This concludes my contribution to this thread, I just want to thank you, gentlemen, for an interesting discussion.

Nobody is being pedantic. "Wireless" is not my term, it is Pentax's, and it has a precise meaning.

But you are quite right to say that you can trigger the 360's light sensor with the K100D's pop-up flash. I do the same with my K10D and two remote AF-500FTZs, although I use an AF-240Z on the camera, pointing vertically, rather than use the pop-up.

Works more reliably than P-TTL.

G

George,

Your 240Z surely elliminates the preflash that you would get from the pop-up PTTL flash. Would that preflash not trigger your slaves to fully discharge (assuming they are set to 100% power manually) rendering them inoperable at the time the pop-up fires as a main flash and the shutter is open?

I can understand that the slaves will not be fully discharged during preflash if they are set to auto and the flash to subject distance is not too great.

Terry,

your contribution to this thread is appreciated, thanks.

Regards,

You're quite right that the 240 does not do a pre-flash.

As I don't have a K100D, I can't comment on what is happening with Terry's camera. When I contradicted Terry, I meant that the K100D can't do wireless flash. What is actually happening, I don't know, but judging by his pictures it seems to work.

I have just tried using the RTF (retractable flash) on my K10D to trigger an AF-500FTZ. At normal flash sync speed it doesn't work, but at 1/50 it does. So perhaps Terry is using a slow shutter speed.

G

Hopefully I can clear this all up

The AF360/540 were designed with preflash in mind. When using the "dumb slave" mode you can successfully trigger off preflash and main flash as long as you don't need more than 50% total power
(I did mention this in my tome about digital flash!)

Consequently you can use "A" or "M" mode on the AF360. If you use "M" mode you should set 1/2 power or lower (1/1 power will fully discharge on the preflash and have nothing left for the main).

Incidentally, you can use the AF360 in "A" and "M" mode (with no preflash) on all digital bodies... I found out how at the weekend Just about to start a thread... EDIT: HERE

Matt

I don't want to start a controversy all over again, but...

I understand the point that is made that the preflash will fire off a slave prematurely. However..

With my old Chinon flash set to slave, as long as I have the camera pointing in roughly the same direction as the flashgun, I get much better pictures than with the inbuilt flash alone. If on the other hand I point the camera at the flash gun, as you would expect I get badly under exposed pictures.

I suspect the slave trigger on my flashgun is simply not sensitive enough to pick up the pre-flash under the former conditions. Anyway, I can't explain it, but it seems to work.

I don't do a lot of flash photography and I'm ignorant about the technicalities, but the inbuilt flash on the K100D - at least in P-TTL mode - seems to be one of the few truly disappointing things on the camera. It seems to consistently underexpose at short range, and illuminate only the centre of the picture at medium (across the room) range.