Thanks for the feedback all

Lilly - erm, if the shutter speed is too slow at ISO200, then increase the ISO. If you aim for a low ISO in a dark place then eventually you'll run out of power in the flash and the image will be very dark!

For indoors, personally I aim for ambient at around -2 stops, so that will often involve shooting at ISO800 or ISO1600 even. Sometimes I even need to shoot f/2.8. Asking the flash to fill in 3, 4, or more stops between ambient and "correct" is often asking too much

Anything more than 2 stops difference makes for a very harsh flash shot, IMHO. Keeping the difference within 2 stops is great for general use and means that flash isn't dumping 100% power on every shot, so your shot-to-shot times are greatly reduced

Does that make sense?

Take a look at www.picstop.co.uk - they list the write speeds of the cards they sell. The Sandisk Extreme III 4Gb (with the reader) is a crazy price
Matt

Just had a thought over the weekend...

What if I wrote a "Pentax DSLR Flash Guide" e-book? Would you pay for it, and if so, how much?

It could be quite a tome and take a little while to write (especially to get images that I can use as examples).

What do you all think?
Matt

Try using a Nikon D100 profile

They use the same 6Mp sensor, and their response is remarkably similar (slight differences in reds). I bought Magna Neilsen's D100 profile for Capture 1 and that worked a treat with the *ist-D & *ist-DS. http://www.etcetera.cc/
Gave lovely colours (that was before I had Silkypix though )

Hope that helps!
Matt

beginner - the Tokina 12/24 is basically the same as the Pentax SMC-DA 12-24 (without the special Pentax coatings). It's a fine, fine lens

However, the ATX242 (24-200) predates digital, and in my experience performed poorly on the *ist-D. Shame. Lovely construction though!
Matt

Yes, Lilly - "trailing curtain" was the Pentax term! (I was typing this from memory :blush

Thanks all
Glad to have helped!
Matt

This is something I have been trying to fathom out for ages
(Stumbled on this as a result of reading my own posts about P-TTL )

Ok, so you want to balance the ambient and the flash light for a "proper" exposure - without looking over "flashed"?? Here's the secret - it's buried in the flash mode of the K10D

Press the Fn button and the down arrow to select the flash mode...

In Av mode you can have the choice of normal, slow, slow+rear-curtain etc. Here's the thing:
* in "normal" the camera meters solely for the flash and nothing else.
* in "slow" or "slow trailing curtain sync" the camera meters for the ambient and lets the flash do the fill in

Now this works even when you have an AF360/AF540 in HS mode. The metering seems much, much better. For indoors, and event photography (read: wedding) you'll benefit by dialling in a -1 stop exposure compensation - the camera will underexpose the ambient and the P-TTL will do the rest. You can even dial in under/over exposure on the flash to even stuff out (but if you're doing white-dress-stuff, then best to shoot RAW, leave the -1Ev dialled in and then you'll generally retain all the lovely detailed highlights).

In M mode on the camera - again, the flash mode affects metering. Slightly different this time... you have fewer choices.
* With "normal" flash, pressing the Green button will do "flash metering"
* With "trailing curtain sync" flash mode pressing the Green button will set the exposure for the ambient. You can then dial in underexposure to balance the flash.

I would also strongly suggest not using Auto ISO when using the flash. Dial it in through the Fn menu, or (better still) map one of the wheels to ISO and dial it manually.


As a final thing - the Metz SCA 3702 with the Metz 50MZ5 does actually make a really great combination when you know these modes of the camera! Unlike the AF360/540 the Metz will track your aperture and ISO. So you can use Av on the camera, dial in -1 exposure compensation, assign the front wheel to ISO and let the Metz do its stuff.

EDIT: You can get these Metz guns really cheap. But be warned - they weigh half a ton! So go down the gym first

If you are doing outside fill-in flash, then you can override the aperture on the Metz - just push the aperture button on the control unit, then dial down the aperture on the flash. For example, if you set f/11 on the camera, set f/8 on the gun and it will be -1 stop under ambient.

Have fun!
Matt

If it makes you feel any better, I think I paid nearly £300 for the ATX242 and sold it for £40. Ouch!
But I tried, I really really tried to get on with it on the *ist-D.
Matt

But you can. My ancient Metz 50MZ5 includes a spot beam. My guess is that the AF500FTZ will do spot beam too (others may confirm). In fact, the Metz keeps the ISO and aperture "linked" when on "A" (unless you override the aperture on the Metz control unit in which case only ISO is linked) - that's an advantage over the AF360/540 which in "A" mode will load the ISO & aperture only when you switch to "A" mode

I'm not sure I understand about the AF button This isn't a bug - this is a specific feature which definitely helps in these situations. Another poster had the same issues (see the thread on "photography in clubs") and it helped them out. Personally, I can't stand it when the camera takes the responsibility - I like total control


There isn't a bug list AFAIK. Each firmware version shows a little information about what's been changed. The Pentax Canada site has all the firmware versions available so you can compare. But really, you need v1.30 (Hold down the MENU button as you power up to check which version you have.)

I reckon I have a handle on most of the bugs... but the P-TTL flash is still a bit of an unknown quantity - it can be very strange, and then it can be very good indeed. (I have a sticky thread on P-TTL mode and some of the things I've found out. That very looooong thread sorts out 95% of the issues.... so have a read!)

Matt

The AF360/540 can be used like a "dumb" flash gun - just triggering on the centre pin. Obviously you won't get P-TTL - only "A" and "M" modes on the gun
So there's no real reason why they won't work. The only thing that gets in the way sometimes is where the hotshoe shorts the extra pins on the flash - that doesn't go down too well. If the unit has a plastic shoe mount with only the centre pin and edge - everything should be just fine
Matt