You have to watch out for the graduated filters

A 100mm NDgrad works a treat on a DA12-24 where the front lens element is huge. However, stick the same 100mm NDgrad on a small lens and you are only using a tiny part of the grad

You'd probably find that an 'A' sized filter would be more suited to a 49mm thread... or a 'P' at a pinch.

Of course, for the Big Stopper it won't matter. (Except the cost! :shock

... the other thing is how far the lens protrudes from the body. You may find that a Lee 100mm holder will hit the handgrip!! (Sorry, I don't have the 15mm to check)

HTH,
Matt

TTL flash only works with the *ist-D and *ist-DS. All other bodies only support P-TTL - which is only available on the most recent Metz guns.
What you do get is quite a nice dedicated link with the modules - the Metz tracks the aperture you set on the camera and the ISO (as long as you don't try and use Auto ISO on the body!). But you'll still only be able to use M, and A modes on the flash

Matt

You probably won't get P-TTL for the price you're asking for

TBH, it depends what you intend to use the flash for. You can get a lot of mileage from a really cheap £20-£50 flash that has just 'A' mode and 'M' (preferably with power increments, at least 1/4, and 1/16). A flash in 'A' mode, with the camera in 'Av' or 'M' will give you surprisingly good results.

Some of the early Pentax guns work well. The older Metz guns work a treat (I have a hulking great Metz 50MZ5 with Pentax dedicated module that works a treat - massive amounts of clean light and stupidly cheap because they don't have digital modes and won't work on a lot of other brand dSLRs )

There are times when full P-TTL can be helpful... but less often than you're led to believe

Matt

It appears the same with the K7.

I find that there's a knack - if you push and release slowly then you have to grip and pull out the card. On the other hand, if you push in to release and let it 'flick' out then it comes out easily.

...I still wish it wasn't quite so fiddly

Matt

Sorry to hear that

Looks like they're taken here:
http://www.animalsofmontana.com/

Not quite as 'wild' as the article makes out
Matt

He's moved blog locations:

http://nedbunnell.posterous.com/

Looking interesting
Matt

Thanks Neil
In fact, the portraits that used flash are 100% manual - you definitely know where you are then Manual camera, manual flash. Simples

TBH, manual flash sounds more difficult than it is. It takes about 2 minutes to set up and you're set for the whole session and every shot will be fine.

Matt

When shooting in 'fixed' lighting conditions always, ALWAYS use M on the camera

You can set up the K20D to show ISO, Tv, and Av all in the view finder and be able to adjust them all without taking your eye off the subject.

My personal preference in these circumstances is to adjust the exposure to around -1Ev to -2Ev off 'correct' (no flash) and use the flash in P-TTL to fill in the rest. Given the low light you mention I would still expect a high ISO, 800 or 1600. Make sure you use SPOT metering (or centre) and meter off a face, or something similar - otherwise the camera looks at the large expanse of black and tries to expose the whole image for the curtains .

The AF360 won't be able to fill a stage, and adding a Stofen will halve its light output.

Additionally, once the flash becomes the main light source then the shutter speed becomes less important. However, if the subject is moving then trailing curtain sync is a good idea.

HTH!
Matt

PS. My Pentax flash guide will definitely help you

Ned Bunnell has been posting again
Includes some nice K5+DA*300 samples

http://nedbunnell.blogspot.com/

Matt