Having re-read your post I think you may be confusing slave channels and slave modes.

You wrote

The AF360FGZ has 4 slave channels and 2 slave modes.

You'll notice that the slider on the right hand side has two positions marked with silver and yellow dots. These dots correspond to the labelling colours of the function buttons.

EG: When the slider is uppermost the Zoom button changes the flashes zoom position. When the slider is down, that same button sets the wireless channel. For normal operation the switch should be up, set to the silver dot position.

For contrast control wireless flash you'll need to set the onboard flash as a Master and the AF360FGZ Synch switch to the Contrast control synch mode. The onboard flash will produce 1/3rd of the light and the AF360FGZ will produce the remaining 2/3rds.

Finally, as Don has said, buy the ebook.

Firstly, don't confuse the term wireless with radio. The camera and flash communicate wirelessly using pulses of light, not radio waves.

Next, does your camera have the latest firmware?

To set up for wireless flash . . . .

On the Flash:

Power switch to ON, move right hand slider down to activate the channel selection, press the CH. button to set the desired channel number (1 - 4, default = 1), move the slider back up to the normal position.

Press the Light button until the Slave 1 or 2 mode appears. Change it to 1 by pressing the S button. Press the Light button again to finish. Slave mode 1 is required for wireless P-TTL control. Slave mode 2 makes the slave flash behave as a dumb slave and will fire on the pre-flash from the onboard flash.

Turn power switch to Off.

Check that the camera's hot shoe, and the flash's hot foot contacts are clean. Mount the flash to the camera's hot shoe. Turn on the camera, turn on the flash by moving the power switch to the extreme right, the ON position, not the Wireless position. Half press the shutter button. The camera and flash channels are now synchronised to whatever channel you have selected on the flash.

Set the power switch to the Wireless position and the M C S switch to S. Place it within 4 meters of the camera such that the sensor on the front of the flash can 'see' any flashes from the camera IE, not face down.

On the camera:-

Set the wireless mode to Master or Controller in the Custom Menu. As a Master it triggers the slave flash and contributes light to the scene. As Controller it triggers the slave flash but does not contribute light to the scene.

Press the 4-way controller down arrow to show the flash selection menu, select Wireless flash. Check that the viewfinder displays the same channel number as that which is set on the flash (it displays for 10 seconds). If the channel numbers do not match the slave flash will not fire and you'll need to investigate why they don't match (dirty contacts, flash not seated properly, etc.).

Set your exposure mode on the camera to Av, choose a starting aperture of f11, pop up the onboard flash.

Press the shutter. The slave flash should fire.

Hope that helps. Let us know how you get on. If the slave flash does not fire, you then need to determine if you have a faulty camera or faulty flash.

EDIT above post: Spiders and scorpions are, of course, not insects.

The K20D does have a flash synch socket.

I don't think it is very common Peter. I know only of some spiders EG. the Black Widow, praying mantids, and some scorpions that practice sexual cannibalism.

All the above are carnivorous insects, some non-carnivorous insects, EG. crickets, and other organisms also cannibalise their own species at times.

More info here. The example photo of chinese mantids in that article shows the female to be smaller than the male as far as I can tell.

Thanks Tony.

If you are using the onbord flash to trigger the slaves wirelessly, as has been said, they need to be on the same wireless channel. To set them, simply attach a flash to the hotshoe, then power on the camera and flash. Repeat for the second flash.

Also, the onboard flash needs to be set to wireless operation and as either Master or Controller. When set to Master, the onboard flash will contribute light to the scene. As a Controller, it doesn't, or at least a negligable amount.

Finally, I think the maximum range of 'wireless' flash is about 4 metres for it to trigger reliably, but I could be wrong. Check the manual for the camera/flash in use. The maximum range may also be influenced by the ambient lighting conditions.

Thanks Peter, and yes, I think she is smiling.

Males are much smaller and generally don't survive very long after mating as the female is very likely to eat him. That could be why she's smiling.

Thanks for all your comments, especially with regard to sharpness.

All of these were focussed manually but anybody who has ever used the Sigma 180mm will know how difficult it is to focus manually.

To assist it, I stuck it on my Pentax macro rail to hopefully achieve better sharpness.

In the viewfinder, they were all spot on.

This Praying Mantis, about 10cm head to tail, turned up in my garden this afternoon.

All images shot with K20D and AF160FC flash (testing it after its return from repair).
First 4 images shot with SMCP D-FA 100mm 1:2.8 Macro lens, the remainder shot with the Sigma EX DG 180mm 1:3.5 Macro lens.
PP done in Lightroom 3.













This one is almost 100% crop.



The classic 'prayer' pose, waiting for prey.