But I would like to know what was going on when I took a shot, all the flash settings correct, but in AUTO TTL mode: it flashed, less brightly than HI and more than LO .... what was it doing?

[and your website won't show me a manual, as it wants a password. Can easily find same on Pentax site, though, so not a problem ]

I'll be interested to see the shots I took, then. I rather suspected 'auto ttl' would be newer technology than my beautiful ME-s, but I effectively have a suped-up AF160 for higher output situations. This is good. Thank you

Sorry, a little confused ... I should be able to use the gun on auto on the ME-s, but ....... the gun cannot be used on "auto" on the ME-s. Does this apparent tautology mean I can set the flash to auto, and - in 125x setting on camera - there will be some control of the output,but from the flash only; but not set 'auto' on the camera and expect the flash to work (already tried that - see above - and discovered this to be the case). ??? And, if I have you right, the gun on auto will be doing a bit of work to try to expose the shot correctly?

No, sorry, my mistake, no tautology: I can't ... and I can't. SO this flashgun cannot be used in any useful way on the ME-s?

[It's the equipment I HAVE rather than ought to have that I'm hoping to understand ]

[K10, Metz 58 AF-1, 48 AF-1]
So, does this mean we who labour with the ANCIENT K10 do not benefit from these updates?

Thanks for that tip. It's really the ME-super and this flash that I'm most interested in learning about.

[Dig K10D + loads of lenses and a couple of Metz flashes]
Relevantly: ME-super, 50mm SMC f1/1.4 + other lenses and, until now, AF160 flash.

I impulse bought the AF400FTZ flash, aware that it had the contacts of a digital device, but at such a bargain price I just could not not. Now, I have been using my film kit not nearly enough, have discovered the wonder of putting the 50mm lens, and some of the others on my digital camera.

Currently I do not plan to put this flash on the K10 [worried about voltages - should I be? ], but I would love to be educated about how much function to expect from it on my ME-s. I've already discovered that, unlike the AF160, it will not automatically put the camera at the sync speed in 'Auto' or 'M' modes, but it does fire when the camera dial is set to the mechanical 125x setting. I am perplexed by the fact that - on the flash - you set the ASA, as well as the focal length, and it recommends an aperture; then there is a 1st/2nd curtain choice, but THEN a 3-way choice, 'TTL AUTO' and 'MANU H' & 'L'.

Main question, then, is what the ONE additional contact on the camera hotshoe enables by way of controlling what the flash does.

Next question - the AF160 has an ability - to an extent - to appraise the scene and adjust the output. What functionality can I expect from the FTZ400 on the ME-s, in what modes (i.e., does putting it on the 'TTL AUTO' setting lead to ANY communication with the camera's metering, and so adjust output with regard to that?) And the two manual settings, H & L: how do I make use of them? It would just be so useful to have something so powerful in my film kit.

I have just taken some indoor test shots on HP5 400, the flash certainly fired on all settings (very subjectively, the 'H' setting was very high output, the 'L' much lower, and the 'TTL AUTO' somewhere in between (I have a light-meter, but not a flash-meter), so it did appear some meaningful appraisal of the scene occurred, but was this entirely by the flash?

I really don't have more than a general idea about what additional flash/hotshoe contacts do, but the fact that the ME-s at least has one more, that the handbook does at least use the term 'TTL' now and again (although not in relation to flash). I would just be grateful for information and guidance about what I can do, and how to do it, with this particular camera & flash combination.

I really would value some help from someone in the know. Thanks.

I found rechargeable (NiMH 1.2V) batteries simply - most likely due to the voltage difference - would not operate the winder motor strongly enough to advance it at all, and were quite useless. I popped in nearly-new alkaline 1.5V cells, and it worked perfectly (and is still doing so, on the same batteries).
Now, maybe my winder needs a service, and a good old lubricate; but that was my experience. Bit of a 8ugger, as I've LOADS of reachargable AA batteries from my learning days with a (still lovely - esp for IR shots - you can SEE the image on the screen, as there must be almost no IR filter over the sensor) Fujifilm S7000 hybrid

Just thought I'd say 'hello'. Been into photography since impulsive buy of (ahem!) Fuji S7000 bridge camera back in 2003, got more serious, and no run a kit based around a K10D (WHO'd want a K5, anyway :mrgreen, then added an ME-super, which came with the fantastic f1/1.4 50mm SMC lens, and a few other things (a couple of M42, using an adaptor, as I first got the film bug by borrowing an old Praktica (?Practika ?Praktika???). The inspiration to interchange lenses came late, but the said 50mm, with the 1.5x APS-C factor, is wonderful, being great for portraits - giving supremely sharp images.

Anyway, I live near Watford, NW London, and am currently without gainful employment, having become disabled in a car crash some years ago, then had another last month (none my fault!!) I had a year off taking pics, as I found I had become stale, but have started again. I really like macro: I just found 2nd hand PKA bellows, can't wait to try - traded in a Sigma 50-500mm lens I thought I'd use a lot, but just made one trip to try it out, and it's just been sitting in the cupboard since - and also had enough for the Pentax 55-300mm DA, which seems great (the huge size of the Sigma was half the problem), and I've a decent 1.5x multiplier - or less so 2x - if need be.

I like people pictures, too, although nobody really likes this any more - even with all the CCTV constantly monitoring them! Also discovering long exposures - car lights, cyclists .. perhaps I'll try out waterfalls and seascapes; but the sudden lack of car (with no current prospect of replacement) makes things difficult. There ain't much beauty around here, although the Chilterns aren't far. Yes, also architecture, old churches - inside and out - appeals (perhaps I should say archaeoarchitecture!

I'd like to get more into informal portraiture, and learn more about how to use flash better. (I recently managed to knock over my tripod, which had camera plus THREE flashes on it (two cheapy ones), but managed to smash up my beloved Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-1D - everything else was undamaged - so am forking out £125.00 to get it fixed. (Times are hard: there was a point when I would have said 'blow it' and got a new 58 AF-2D - sense has finally prevailed, and this one has a metal base; I always thought too much was being asked of the thin plastic bases on the larger flashguns.)

I've just got a roll of 3200ASA Ilford, and have a plan to go to town in the dark, and take some shots with a star-burst filter - 'my' bloke at SRS gave me a free screw filter with two scored elements that you can rotate to get any effect from, well, straight lines, to 90 degree. With a suitably lonish lens to compress the perspective, and a cable release, I might get away with it (unless I start trying some fill, or 2nd curtain, flash!)

So this is me; forcedly unemployed doctor/psychiatrist, currently recovering and planning to re-invent myself as a writer (I've a couple of novels in my head, and some poems on paper; but would do anything - medical articles, therapy, stuff for papers/mags, I could certainly manage pop lyrics .... ?pornography??), but I don't know how to get into it to make it pay. There's always photography, of course; but, unfortunately, writing and taking pictures are two things everyone reckons they can do ... I can't believe some of the cr4p that gets published. There's always minicab/bus driving.

I'm quite isolated, and would be very happy to link up with a photo buddy or three. for some work, but also some socializing. I'm sure there's a way of getting messages or emails to people on here, but I haven't checked the site out yet. So, HELLO PENTAX LOVERS EVERYWHERE!
David

When I was splashing silly money on an kit based around the K10 ..

(BTW, if you have the 50-135mm or any DA*, keep your firmware up to date! I just updated from v1.1 to 3.1, and the focussing is now whisper quiet! fab! sorry, off topic :roll

.. I spoke to a fellow in my favourite shop, who's years of experience, and has the Sigma 18-50 f1/2.8, which he says - even on his super (well, pricey) Canons - gives great, sharp shots and is better than Canon's best equivalent. That persuaded me, and even though I haven't tried the Tamron 17-50mm (the images above are excellent - but, of course, digitally squeezed etc.) although I wonder whether people are getting such word of mouth and going for the Sigma.

I am super-satisfied with mine - the images are super-sharp, colours rendered naturally, focus responsive (allowing for .... ermm ... shall we say Pentax's less that A+ reputation for AF?), and it's pretty much the main lens on my machine, along with my now improved 50-135mm.

Of course, you lose 1mm at the wide end - 25.5mm vs 27 equiv doesn't seem a lot, but these things can sometimes be critical (have me reaching for the 10-20mm, for example [and HOW DARE THEY bring out an 8-whatever mm zoom]). Sorry, sorry, I'm turning this into a Sigma topic - I can never keep to the point. Apologies.

Some time ago I forked out next to nothing on a f1/8 500mm mirror lens, that is light, less than 25cm in length, and a jpy to use, noth on the intended ME-s and K10D. Two Christmasses ago I had the idea I wanted a super-telephoto zoom. I've an idea Tamron had a 300-500mm, which was perfect - nowhere, in no warehouse anywhere, in Pentax fit. Idea two, less enthusiaistic, was a Sigma 150-500mm. Same story, everywhere. Enentually, somwhere in Devon, I found a 50(!!)-500mm, f1/6++, and - since its thread diameter is 86 mm m- even the polarizer was £50.00 I do not recall any change back from £1000.00.

The ?Tamron mirror lens has served my D- and normal SLRs well, with lovely, sharp and pleasinly deep focal plane. It's filters are merely 72mm _ I already had them. The other thing, well, I got it out of the box, marvelled at its weight and length fully extended, worked out how to attach it to the tripod, and can say I have taken no more than a handful of shots with it. For wildlife and things, you need to carry kit long distancces, and I have a disability anyway, but would still resent the effort if I was fighting-fit. There seems to be a bit of a hiatus in the medium-long telephoto lens for the Pentax market. I bought two cheap things (which most certainly show their shortcomings tothe lest criticsl of photograph appraisers) - a tiny 50-500mm DA (rationale, take it on holiday wth 1.5x adaptor); and an awful Sigma 70-300mm 'macro' (i.e. between 200 and 300mm you get something like up to 1:6 'magnification'), but it was my most used lens for a while, as the focal-length range was so ideal for my following a year centred around a pair of moor-hens in a municipal pond), but the pictures are terrible (unlike the sharp, bright deep-fielded results from the little 500mm fellow, which I didn't have at the time [and anyway had not yet made the mental leap that one of Pentax's many excellent qualities is that thir old lenses can be used on their newest SLRs].

I need somehowto cover just below 150 up to (let's be sensible now) 400mm, ideally with a single, but possibly with two, normal-sized lenses. I am currently a kind of anti-Midas. Any ideas? Sugestions for part-exchange/swap before I go through the necessary counselling before putting the huge doodah on EBay.?