Which flashes are wirless with *istD?

Howdy,

there have been a lot of posts about wireless flashes for the *istD and, frankly, I'm a bit confused.

Which flashes have true wireless capability with the *istD (as opposed to slave functionality)?

Do these need multiple flashes or do you only need one remote flash which can work wirelessly off the pop-up?

Thanks

Jimmy

Jimmy,
Of the Pentax guns, only the AF360FGZ is wireless capable. (Though the new AF540FGZ will almost certainly be. Available mid October they say.)

As far as I know, of the third-party flashes, only the Sigma EF 500 DG Super (not the ST) has wireless.

For the *ist-D, you just need the popup flash for wireless. You can, like the *ist-Ds use a second AF360 as a master controller too. That way you can do contrast controlled flash with two devices. With the pop-up flash you have little control - the custom menu allows you to specify whether the popup is used as just a controller, or whether it fires along with the slave (but you have no exposure control for the popup).

Hope that helps!
Matt

Quick question on the Sigma EF 500 DG Super - I see them listed on ebay, and in different listings it lists different cameras that they are compatible with.

I've had a trawl through the Sigma website but can't tell whether one particular model of EF 500 is only suitable for one make of camera - or whether they are all compatible with all

anyone know?

According to the manual on the sigma website http://www.sigmaphoto.com/flashes/manuals/F14PA.pdf (english starts on Page 17!)

"Thank you very much for purchasing the Sigma EF-500 DG SUPER PA Electronic Flash. This product is
specifically developed for the PENTAX AF series autofocus SLR cameras."

The compatibilty table http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/english/flash/comp_500dg_sup.htm#05
also mentions PA-PTTL, so it looks like you need the PA model for Pentax cameras.

Just to confirm I emailed Sigma with the same question (although didn't expect a repy) they tell me the flashes are different internally so it has to be one specifically designed for the camera.