They all need work

I've tried them all, and there are pros & cons to each.

Massive Metz 50MZ5 (still looking for a home) is superb in "A" mode with very clean light and shed loads of power. You need biceps to match though Pro: tracks your aperture & ISO, Cons: tracks your aperture & ISO (so it's no so easy to dial back the flash, but the exposure is usually excellent); Pentax metering does not warn you if you're going to be overexposed! (Found this when moving from indoors, rushing outdoors to capture the bride arriving and even without flash the exposure was OTT. One nasty bug that I wish Pentax would fix - i.e. flash the exposure indicator when overexposure likely)

AF540-FGZ - probably my favourite. For fill in on P-TTL it works very well. I have a modified Pentax grip (threads on PUF) to mount the flash off camera, with a 5P cord into the side of the flash. Flash head rotated 90 degrees with a FunkyFoam home made reflector - so it's firing sideways, which allows instant portrait/landscape switch.
You can do "A" mode too - but the flash does not track the aperture & ISO - but this allows you to change the ambient/flash ratio easily and works very well indoors or for fill in.
Also provides HSS for outdoor fill in flash.


So, my recommendation would be the AF540, an off camera mount and cable

But every time I have to practice beforehand so I am 100% comfortable with the modes and setups - indoors, fillin, outdoors, etc. Sometimes a little crib-sheet helps too.

Matt

Good point.




This was K5, ISO3200, f/8, 1/20s, 12mm (Pentax DA12-24)
Razor sharp and clear at 18x12"

And I know I'd get a little bit more out of the K5iis...

Matt

If you do, do some hard 'puffs' before you use it. I once used a Rocket Blower to clear some gunk off the focus screen and ended up blowing more onto the screen!

Happy days I had a little family of them. Must've been something they liked in the ME Supers.

Matt

It's an interesting observation... AFAIK, when you select HSS the flash should use regular flash below 1/180s, and HSS above that.

Will test when I get half a mo'!

Matt

Was it pushed in post-processing?

Because at those settings I would have expected a cleaner image (even on the K7).

Matt

Or actually 1600 that the EXIF says

At 10mm you could've gone much slower than 1/160s. I would've gone as low as ISO400, 1/40s at 10mm and had plenty of headroom for lifting shadows.

(For this kind of setup I'd be using M mode with spot metering - but I keep an eye on all three values in the viewfinder, working the ISO/Tv/Av together)

Matt

No it's not worth a try
Photoshop 'hacked' versions are renowned for having malicious payloads.

Alternatives:
* Lightroom (purchased) - find that does 95% of my needs
* Pixelmator on the AppStore - superb image editor

Matt

Also, check whether you have the debug command file on your SD card
Think it's "MODSET.474" (see this page - you should be able to disable it with a plain text file, MODSET.474 with contents: "[DEBUG_MODE DIS]" )

(You could try formatting the card in-camera)
Matt

Ok, I've just tried this out...

The Cactus style triggers will connect the sleeve to the tip of the 2.5mm connector. This is the shutter release only.

On the wired connector, shorting the ring to sleeve will trigger the half-press action. For this to focus you have to set the button customisation to auto-focus on half-press (which is the default).

So, to get the Cactus triggers to half-press AND full-press in one go, you'll need a stereo to mono adapter. You can do this at either end of the cable, but the type is different for each.

On the Cactus it has a 3.5mm socket (I have a short 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo cable), so I can use a 3.5mm stereo plug to 3.5mm mono socket adapter - in between the Cactus and cable. (like this)

On other hand, to do it at the camera end you'll need a 2.5mm stereo plug to 2.5mm mono socket - into which you plug the trigger lead. (like this)

The mono-to-stereo adapter will short the tip and ring

But, those little adapters are not always great mechanically (you have a very large turning force on the socket - which is not a good idea!). So a custom cable is a much better idea if you can make one up

EDIT: Additionally, if the Triggermaster uses a stereo socket internally (it may do!) then you will have to make up a custom cable, as an adapter may just not work. In that case you'd just connect the ring and tip on the Triggermaster side to ring and tip+sleeve on the camera side.

Hope that helps!
Matt

The 2.5mm remote connector has two button function - focus and shutter- that allow the same behaviour as the main shutter buttonwith its half-press.

A wired remote would give you the choice for sure, and you can always buy a 2m extension cable (stereo 2.5mm extension).

IR only has a single command, AFAIK. And remotes like the Triggermaster usually have only a single shutter output (even though on the 2.5mm connector). The decision to AF with remote is made in the camera's custom options. Custom Setting C3.19 decides on AF with remote, and defaults to Off - but unfortunately that is only for IR remote

(I thought that custom option would work with wired remotes, but just tried with my Cactus remote and it doesn't)

There is a possibility that a custom cable that does both trigger pins might work - I can try that at some point (a stereo to mono adapter would do the job - mono plug into Cactus, stereo socket off to camera)

Matt