Wireles remote and sync speed on K10D?

OK, having some trouble with the sync speed on my K10D and wondering if I'm doing something wrong or is the camera having problems?

I had picked up a Cactus II and it would barely sync over 1/100s. (black bar creeping in from the bottom of the frame).

I picked up the Skyport wireless remotes from Elinchrom. They are supposed to have great sync speeds, but again, I have to sync below 1/160th. At 1/160 I start to see slight darkening of th bottom of the frame.
At 1/180, the bottom is definitely black.

I tried Manual and X-sync modes.

Yet with wire less PTTL between theK10 and the 540/360 flashes, I get no such effect at 1/180 second. (not in high speed mode)

It sounds like some people are seeing similar issues with other brand cameras, but since their sync speed goes to 1/500s, they are seeing issues until they drop to 1/250s.

Is this just an accepted shortcoming of this type of shutter system when used with remote flashes?

Images are nearly acceptable at 1/160s and certainly higher than the CactusII at 1/125. Plus I get about 50m outdoor range (shorter than the 120m advertised, but better than the 9m I got with the CactusII).


Anyway, any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Have you read pages 49 and 50 of the 360 manual concerning slave mode 2?

G

he, he, been reading more about these. Why couldn't any of these web sites appear on my searches before I bought the darned things?

Anyway, it seems the sync speed is a bit slower than a lot of people like.
I have seen some say to stay below 1/160s.
I'm just surprised because quite a few people are also getting 1/250 with good results.
The demo camera used when I first used these was working at 1/250s so I (foolishly?) expected the device would work well with the K10D's slower sync speed.

I can live with 1/160. But is anyone else out there getting better results with them? Don?

Maybe I'll try replacing the transmitter battery. Range seems a bit short, so perhaps the battery is a dud?

Regarding what aspect? I often go between slave modes 1 and 2 for various tasks. I'm not sure to what, exactly, you are referring.

I just looked up those pages anyway. I checked both printed manual pages 49-50, and the PDF pages 49-50 (i.e. manual pages 48-49) I don't see anything regarding sync speeds.

Of course my PDF is all tilted and looks like a third grader photocopied it.
(I did not keep the original manual since have the PDF).
But perhaps something is missing from the "high quality" PDF?

I don't know, but I presume that there may be a different delay between slave 1 and slave 2, and that one may therefore be better than the other in certain situations.

G

Maybe... I'll have to try again.
I have often used a dumb flash on the hotshoe and put the 360/540s in slave 2 mode before getting remote triggers. I'll have to check again, but I am pretty sure I've used x-sync in the past.

Still, without being in slave mode to begin with, the one flash connected via hotshoe to the remote trigger should fire without added delay.

also check for second curtian sync on your flash.
I tend to use flash indoors and at night mostly so I'll have to go experiment some, to see if I can replicate your problem....
is it possible, that you have your camera set up to only fire when the flash is fully charged? what settings are you using for flash and camera? using full power pops would in practice slow down things.....
but as far as I know 1/160 or 1/180 (I can't remember which) should be doable........


a quick look in aperture shows many studio shots at 1/160 mostly at f8, with studio strobes...and no black stripes...all shot in manual mode.....

you do know that the slaves won't go faster than your camera's fastest synch speed right?
if the fastest (normal not hs sync) is 1/160 then the slave won't make your flash go any faster than that.
my understanding is that the elinchrom slave will go to 1/1000 sec on certian cameras (read medium format, compact/rangefinder, or very high end slrs that can reach those speeds.)
(interesting read on strobist, about that issue re canon g9 today)......

Yeah, the K10D goes to 1/180.
Therefore I thought if the remote can handle a camera that has a sync speed of 1/250 or higher, it should handle the slower K10D speed. I understand the physical shutter mechanism just isn't capable of moving any faster, thus the need to do funky games in order to reach exposure times of 1/4000, etc... (i.e. shutter speed != exposure time)

The x-sync speed of 1/180 seems to work well with the 360/540 flashes (in hotshoe as well as wireless) and with a non-PTTL dumb flash used in the hotshoe. So it seems that the remote trigger is causing some sort of delay and I'm not sure how it keeps up with cameras capable of reaching higher shutter speeds.

I would think if it were a camera issue with the shutter mis-timing or being slowed down for some reason, that I would see similar issues with the flashes when used without the remote.


BTW, saw the G9 Strobist entry earlier this morning. Pretty cool what those electronic shutters will do.

where are you getting 1/180 sec?
try as I might, I'm not getting anything between 1/160 sec and 1/200 sec(as in I can't set 1/180 sec, only the p-ttl flash sets that speed).
(I'm using first curtian sync and manual mode and no black band at the bottom of the frame.) (also 1/160 in trailing curtian sync).
to get 1/180 sec you'd have to have a p-ttl flash set to green first curtian sync, and to go higher, set to hs high speed sync mode.....

list all your camera settings? I'd like to try to replicate the problem, but so far, haven't had any luck.

as for range, I'll try some tests tomorrow....but so far had no problems.
I live in a rural area, in wide open, flat (think mars) prairie. not too likely to get much in the way of interference here..... So I should be able to get the maximum range, and would be very surprised if I came up as short as what you're getting!

Set the dial to "X". This is the Flash X-Sync mode. Highest flash sync.
See Page 160 of the K10D manual.

If a PTTL flash is in the hotshoe, I believe you can also get this value in manual mode.

You can get to 1/180 in manual and TV mode. It is also possible in other modes where the shutter speed might otherwise reach above 1/160 on its own. The camera sensing a flash limits the shutter speed to 1/180.

I just hooked up a dumb flash (Promaster with Pentax TTL module) So not totally dumb, but certainly not capable of doing anything funky like high speed sync, etc... It has modes 1/16, full and ttl. I leave it in 1/16 most of the time. It will work fine at 1/180 when connected in the hotshoe.



Flash - normal shooting modes. (standard first curtain mode, if any available)
Camera - AV, TV, or manual. Lets choose manual.
Aperture, varies, as it should.
Shutter speed - set to 1/180 if available, or set to X-Sync mode to force 1/180.
Let me know if you need other camera settings, if they might affect anything.

ok I have had some coffee.
hey look there IS a little red x on the dial!javascript:emoticon('')
Damn! Who knew? I've had my k10 on manual for sooooooo long, I never ever used that!
ok will test! back in ten minutes!

Yeah, funny! For quite a while I thought that was just the dumbest thing to have on the dial. I now find it helpful, although I'm not sure it is really the best place for it or makes the best use of the dial's real estate.

there it is, a dark stripe!
not present at 1/160 but visible at 1/180.
definately caused by the shutter.
it would obviously show up more on shots where you are using more powerful flash pops, (f22 in my cases was near black, f2.8 imperceptable).
perhaps the radio slave causes a delay when used as it encrypts the signal?
perhaps the pentax flash is just faster?
most likely the speeds on the elinchrom ads, applies to using the rx recievers with the rx flash units.....

all this time I've been using 1/160 with no probs.....

see? there's the fatal flaw in Darwins Theory..... sometimes luck favors the dumb. And with millions of years of evolution behind us, we've had plenty of time to weed out the dumb ones..... so next time somebody pulls out into a busy intersection, pulls accross three lanes, with no signal, cutting off several cars just to slow down to a crawl in front of you.... just remember this idoit is Gods Idea of a joke, and laugh it off!

I do get a minor darkness (more of a thin line of haze) at 1/160, but I'll have to wait for my DLites to get back from repair to see how they fare at that speed. Currently using off camera flashes. So maybe some issues there as well? I'll try replacing the transmitter battery as well and see if that helps.

Anyway, glad it isn't just me. I'd hate to have to send this stuff in for another repair. It seems like I'm without my camera, lens, flash or some other piece of equipment at some point for most of the past two years. Argh...
I am just waiting for things to stabilize... yeah, and for enough time, and for enough money, etc...

Thanks for checking the behavior on your end.
I'm not going to worry much about it for now. 1/160 is not far from 1/180.
I'll probably complain to Elinchrom... sort of pissed to begin with that my strobes went out in under 50 shots anyway. I'll give me something to do when those get back.