OK sorry to pop off the subject of the grip, but I saw a mention of the flash earlier and overall loosing the flash capability of th istD was traumatic for me.

Now in a recent magazine article I read that the wireless TTL flashes can be fired using the popup flash in the K10.

Anyone have further information on whats going on with the K10? If they are in fact shipping soon, I would think these sorts of issues would be pretty much set in stone. (I dont think software alone could add that type of capability.)

I've been adding up my costs for the K10. Although I'm going to have to hunt down the info about the power issue with batteries in both the grip and the body. Doesn't sound good and would be a waste to get the grip if you cannot double the battery usage.

OK, first I have to apologize for being so new and therefore so stupid!

I mis-understood what the different settings on the flash would do, and set to mode "A". I set for ISO200 and F11, just like I wanted to use on my camera. Well, wouldn't you know it, the remote flashes do their own pre-flash to get exposure correct accordingly to the settings I specified. I guess it seems obvious now, but didnt realize the flashes were doing that.
I didnt even think of telling you that before. Sorry.

Anyway, with naivety behind me, I set the remote flashes to "M" and then set 1/1, 1/2, power etc... and I get almost 100% results. Even with the non-Pentax flash, things work great and with about 1 to three stops better light than with smart wireless.

Not sure why yet, but sometimes when using the non-pentax flash things dont sync correctly. I think positioning the third flash too close to the camera or in direct line can affect things. (Probably nothing to do with brand of flash).

Anyway, thank you very very much for your information. It helped me find what I'm doing wrong AND it saves me a thousand+ dollars to buy a "professional" light kit that I do not really need. (maybe down the road, but not now)


By the way, the 540 Slave modes are SL , PP, and PH, Each switch between 1&2 when the S button is hit and can be set indiependantly of each other. Well it'll give me something else to play with if nothing else.

Argh!! It is hard to find a lens with an apeture ring any more.
Other than adding another lense to my collection and other than tripping over hard wiring sync cords all over the room, is there no reliable way to use the Penax camera with dumb slaves?


I love the automatic mode, but unfortunately I want to have the creativity of setting the power myself, and I need full power. The peak brightness between smart and dumb slave results are quite dramatic -- at least three stops!!. Having any sort of pre-flash in full manual mode is complete rubbish! I am quite dissappointed.

I also have some non-pentax flahses and was hoping to get some larger strobes for larger studio work at some point, but it looks like Pentax wont handle more then simple small area hobby work.
I guess I also do not want to spend many hundreds of dollars on radio remotes, but I cannot even be sure a preflash signal wont be sent through the hot shoe as well. So I'm really fearful of spending a ton of money on a major lighting system if the camera cannot handle them.
Sadly, the set of small flashes I have right now are perfectly adequate for what I am trying to do... if they would only work in dumb mode.

I can fully understand and appreciate pre-flash in wireless mode. This allows some coummunication, for the remote flash to fire and the camera can therefore help determine the power those flashes need to generate.
Much of the time, as you say, the results are excellent.

Anyway, thanks for your anwers. It at least confirms my suspcisions.


Heres a thought... If I have a flash connected by sync cord, and I keep the built-in flash locked down. Will the pre-flash signal also be sent to the sync-corded flash? Would that perhaps be a way to get around the problem?
I have a small non-Pentax dumb flash I would like to use (just one of the reasons to use dumb slave option) but would be unnecessary if/when I get a larger set of strobes. Plus if I did need another, I can get a cheap dumb flash for 1/10 the price of another Pentax 360 or 540.
I will have to give that a try.


Thanks again.

Thanks. I am using dumb mode (setting #2).
I have the dial on the camera set to M, and am not using any special flash modes (red-eye, or wireless communication). From what you stated, it sounds like there is some sort of pre flash even in full manual mode. Any idea why that would be necessary? The camera isnt allowed to change aperature or shutter speed, so it seems pointless.


I saw another post you responded to that says to use Manual focus, and I noticed that did seem to make a difference, but not in any consistent manner. So I'm not certain if that was really affecting things or not.

Actually, setting the apeture down to F4 (the lowest setting on this lens) seemed to make the flash behave consistently. But I definitely want to get up to F8 or higher.


In another post (same one?) you also mention that in automatic Slave mode (setting #1), the external flashes actually flash twice and therefore reduce the effective Guide number by half. This is anothewr reason I want to use the second "dumb" slave option. I seemed to be getting brighter results this way, and what you wrote makes sense. I'd be rather disappointed if I have to work at half at half power at best.


Any help you can give would be very appreciated.

OK, one other item perhaps you know an answer to...
On the Af540, when in Slave #2 mode, if I push the MODE button it appears there are a few different modes I can choose. I cannot find documentation on these. Any idea how they change behvior?


THANKS!

Oh yeah, I also want to mention, I of course turned off the wireless mode on the camera so the pre-flash from wireless communications will not affect the slaves firing.

I have the AF360FGZ and the AF540FGZ flashes. They work great and are pretty reliable in wireless mode. (getting automatic exposure without touching anything is great).

BUT... there are times I want to set these in slave mode such that the flash fires when another flash is detected. Mainly I have another flash or two that are not by Pentax and therefore wont work in wireless mode other than as slaves.
Unfortunately this mode only works about 1/2 to 1/8 the time even when using a single Pentax flash. It seems to depend on how I aim the built-in flash (and of course that means where I aim my camera, thus missing the shot I really want).

I have the *istD, and it is set in manual mode. I would not expect a preflash to be actuated in full manual mode, but is that possibly occuring anyway? Or perhaps the shutter is completely out of sync with the flash.


With the same camera settings, I've seen the following consistent behavior (consistent for all of my flahses, Pentax and no-Pentax):
- With no external flash, the scene is lit correctly, though not very well with my built-in flash.
- With the external flash on, but facing towards the floor, the sceen is again lit correctly, but not very well... AND I can see the flash has fired against the flooring.
- NOW... when the external flash is set up to light the scene, the photo comes out horribly dark as if some preflash has determined that the exposure must be set for a much brighter scene so even the built in flash was shut down.


I have just about pulled the last of my hair out trying to get this to work.
Any ideas what might be wrong and how to fix it? (other than buy more Pentax flashes of course. )



THANKS!

Are there any flashes that will work on a Pentax ist-D that will recharge faster than every six seconds? I currently have the AF-360FGZ. Any way to make this recharge faster, such as hacking a bigger battery pack to it?

I am looking to capture some action during martial arts tournaments and six seconds is a long time to wait between shots.

When the lighting is just right, lowering the flash intensity will allow multiple quick shots on a single full charge, but I find these moments rare to come by. So a more powerful flash would be great! Is there such a thing?

Thanks

There is software out there, I found a few years ago, that will take multiple photos and merge them to get better resolution. Nothing so precise as shifting by a single pixel, but it relies on slight changes in camera position and/or noise in the sensor (I think).

I can no longer find the same company I was thinking of, but these guys apparently do a similar thing ... (The examples are not as good as I've seen for the other software, either way, probably somewhat hit or miss as far as results.)
http://www.imageip.com/biz/Supa_top.html

I have the Pentax *istD and a AF360FGZ flash. I'm thinking of getting a second flash and using them together wirelessly.

Having the more powerful 540 as my primary would be usefull when using only one flash so I'd rather not get a second AF360.

Would the AF540 work well with the AF360 or would I need to keep both as a matched set and be stuck getting a second AF360?

If using mixed flashes is possible, will they automatically adjust down to the max AF360 power? Or will one over power the other?