Wireless flash

This might be a dumb question, but I risk it.

I know the pentax 540 flash is wireless - but what does that mean?? Can I fire the 540 off the camera wireless without any extra bits - or do I need something to fire it?

I have read the manual and tried to set the flash as master/wireless - same channel and all.

As far as I can see I can only fire the 540 if I use my pop up as well or another flash on the camera.

I want to fire the 540 off the camera without any other flash involved.....

Do I need some triggers? If yes - where can I find some cheap ones - that works? (or cables if that is the cheapest option)

Any help appriciated greatly.

Wireless is a poor choice of words, because it suggests that the system works using radio waves. In Britain, older people still call the radio the "wireless".

In fact it works using rapid pulses of light from the flash tube. The more advanced Pentax DSLRs can fire the "wireless" flashguns using the built-in flash.

So, provided you have a compatible body, you need nothing more to fire the 540 remotely.
G

See here: link for compatible K bodies. The only *ist body with wireless capability was the *ist D. (Still the best body for flash).

If you have a non-compatible body, you need to mount another wireless gun on the body.

G

A number of film cameras also have wireless flash capability. The ones I know of are MZ-6, MZ-S, & *ist.

So I have to use the pop up flash (I use a K10D)??

I just want to use the 540 off camera - not in combination with any other flash. Will this change your answer?

1: Make sure you have firmware version 1.30. Wireless flash control was not implemented in V1.00 of the firmware.
2: Go through the menu system and set the wireless mode of the onboard flash to Controller, not Master. Master = onboard contributes light to the scene, Controller = Onboard flash used only to control slaves.
3: Use Fn button to select wireless flash mode.
4: Turn camera and flash off, mount flash to camera, turn both on, then off again. This is necessary to synchronize the flash communication channel between the two items. There are 2 channels.
5: Set your flash to wireless slave, and your good to go.

Be warned: A very small amount of light from the onboard will illuminate your subject. Not much, but some. Test it in a mirror.

NOTE: I don't think you'll find anything about wireless flash in your paper manual. You could download the latest PDF manual, it may have been updated but I haven't checked. The wireless flash instructions were released with the appropriate firmware, version 1.10 I think.

In wireless mode you have to have a wireless flash of some sort to trigger the remote flash. You can use either the pop-up flash, or another wirelss flash (540, 360, or the new small flash (I forget the name)).

See above. If you don't want to use any other flash, you can use cable or, with the 500 on manual, an infra-red trigger (I think).

G

PS: Personally, in static situations I use a camera-mounted 240Z pointing at the ceiling to trigger two 500s.

In dynamic situations I use one or two 360s.

By "static situations", I mean situations such as a posed portrait session, where the ambient light is unchanging, and I can take the time to establish the best lighting with everything set to manual. This will invariably give the best results.

"Dynamic situations" are parties, receptions, etc., where everybody is wandering around and photos are taken as the opportunity arises. Here, manual is usually not feasible, but, if one is lucky, somebody will hold the second flashgun.

Ok thanks both for the detailed explanation.

What happens to the flash output of the 540 if I use the FN button to dial down the flash output of the pop up flash?

Will the power output from the 540 dial down as well? If that happens would I be albe to set it up manual to increase the power of the 540 while keeping the low output on the pop up?

With the pop-up in Controller mode, as opposed to Master, I'd hope its output is unchanged by what you do with the e-Dial in the flash Fn menu.

It's supposed not to contribute to the exposure. It does a bit, especially if you're very close*, but hopefully it would only put out enough to fire the slave.



_________
* I've used my finger to cover up 3/4 or so of the popup when very close to a subject to get round this problem

Good question, I don't know the answer. perhaps you'll tell us when you've tried it.

You'll need a flash meter to measure the flash output.

HEllo there

Right, I've had the same issues some time ago and solved them in a few different ways.

I have a Af360 - but this works the same for the Af540.

If you don't want to have the pop up flash triggering the wireless flash you have 2 options
- Wired trigger with hotshoe adapter and flash adapter and cable -
- Wireless radio triggers - one on the hotshoe, one under the flash.

- Wired solutions are many, the pentax bits are £30 each + £25/27 for the 3 mt cord = about £90 for a very reliable system.
- Other option is what I just bought, (don't know how to hotlink)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Flash-TTL-Extension-Cord-for-Pentax-AF-540-AF-360-FGZ_W0QQ...

Its £20 and it works perfectly - the cable is about 1 mt when streched.

- Wireless options are also many:
Either you can buy a very expensive one which assures almost total reliability with prices of over £100 (search the internet...)
Or you can buy a cheap radio trigger from ebay for +/- £10 - These are not totally reliable, you will need to buy new batteries and might not work all the time. But they do the job quite efficiently if you treat them nicely.

Hope this helps

Nathan

I don't think that P-ttl works when the pentax flash is triggered by the pop up flash. Because the flash doesn't read the settings of the camera, it is (IMHO) very unlikely that this would work.

In fact, it is much better to use the flash in manual mode when wireless, because this way you can fire once with the power you wish (I usually don't use more than 1/4) and adjust aperture and time accordingly, or according to your necessities.

Reducing the flash imput with the Fn button will reduce only the pop up flash - I am pretty sure that this will also only work when the pop up is set to master - as when its set to slave it fires the minimum power possible.

It does do P-TTL with the pop-up
It's not just a simple trigger - but a complex digital burst of data. I remember seeing it described somewhere...

In fact, it does contrast control P-TTL with multiple remote flashes from the pop-up. Cool

However, there is also a lot to be said for plain-old-single-dumb-flash especially when doing portraiture
(But I'd still like a few tweaks to the P-TTL flash for those difficult "ad-hoc" situations!!!)

Matt

Actually, it does. A lot of information is transmitted from the camera very quickly to the remote flashgun.

Quite agree. In a static situation, where ambient light is constant.

I think you are right.

G

Edit: Shucks. Matt beat me to it!

I bow to the Masters

'But one day the Pupil shall surpass his teachers' !!!!

Thank you both for that,

Nathan