LOL @ the knighthood

Not sure what you mean?? Did you mean the 80-320? There are other issues that can occur with the 80-320 - especially not being able to focus on infinity. But that's another story

The AF calibration on the K10D is camera wide and applies to all lenses. It's only the K20D that has lens-specific calibration

* If ALL lenses back focus then you can adjust the focus for the K10D as described.

* If only the Sigma BFs then that's another story!

* It's not that the VF looks wrong, it's that the focus-assist on MF and the AF are out by the tiniest fraction. To be honest, I couldn't actually see the difference in the viewfinder at all! (To calibrate you have to go through the process of taking a shot, zooming in, changing the AF, taking another shot etc etc. You can't setup using the VF!!)

A bit more concrete information would help a lot
Matt

Which camera body?
I had consistent back focus issues with the K10D (but didn't with the *ist-D). As it turned out, every lens back focussed and it was more apparent on wide apertures (like f/1.4). There's a thread on how it could be adjusted

You may find a tripod test with something like the focus test chart from http://www.focustestchart.com/ may help identify what's going on.

Matt

But do note that MXV.co.uk have a Japanese K1000 listed at £99 for the body only... so it might not be such a bad deal
Matt

That's not an f/1.2 lens but a 1:2 lens (i.e. f/2)
The f/1.2 is huge
Matt

Clarky,

Option (1) - nothing else is needed. Just set the AF360s to SLAVE1 (see page 49 of the manual). The K10D needs to be set to wireless mode in the flash setup - and you are correct, you can choose in the custom menu whether the popup contributes to the exposure or not (there's always a tiny weeny dot of light in catchlights even when it's set to a controller only, but nothing more).
Exposure works exactly the same as when on the camera. Auto zoom won't work, of course, but then that's probably not a problem with macro.

You can also use the "A" and "M" modes on the flash if you're feeling adventurous But with P-TTL everything should be fine.

Option (2) will require a pile of stuff. It'll cost you more than the price of an AF360 You'd need two 1m cables, two adapters for each flash, and two stacked up on the camera. As you'd need two on the camera you won't be able to use the pop-up. If you use the single upright adapter on the camera then you can choose to use the pop-up or not. Total cost would be near £200 for the cables

I'd say stick to option (1)
Matt

Looks like you'll need to update your signature with "MBD" (Milk Bottle Diffuser)
Great shot
Matt

It depends what your subject is

If you want a wired connection, then just a simple 2-wire PC cable is sufficient to run the remote flash in "A" or "M" mode. (like on camera, on the flash, and to wire them together)
You can often get the parts from small second hand camera shops for next to nothing
(Essentially you want a PC-to-hotshoe adapter for the camera, the cable, and the reverse for the flashgun.)

If you want a flash triggered solution then your best bet is probably an AF160 (dinky little Pentax flash) or some other small flashgun as a sender, plus a "magic-eye" cube (like one of these).

I reckon a cheap PC-cord solution will get you started for next to nothing, and you can then decide how to progress
Matt

No. The K100D does not support TTL (only P-TTL).
You can use it in the "A" and "M" modes on the flash.

Matt

If you enable slow speed sync in the flash menu of the K10D then they are different Av will set up for ambient light, whereas M requires a manual operation to set the shutter speed.

In normal flash, the camera will automatically switch the shutter speed to a "flash-safe" speed when it detects the flash. M mode will allow the setting of other speeds (though I think it will limit the upper speed to a flash-safe setting... will have to check later).

Av mode is great if you switch between flash and no-flash and don't want to think about it.

M is great if you want to finely adjust the balance between ambient and flash when using a tripod (effectively the shutter speed and aperture regulates ambient, while the aperture alone regulates the flash).


Matt

What I meant was not totally manual

With Pentax flash guns in the "A" mode you do have to manually set up the camera to match the aperture that the flashgun specifies. Yes, the flash is doing the reading of the light (and not what's on the sensor), but it will take strong ambient light into consideration in that it is reading a light level and cuts off the flash when the appropriate level is reached.
As you know you can fool the flash and create a balance between ambient and flash by lying about the aperture.

Still, that said, the Metz 50MZ5 flash with an SCA3702 will actually track the camera in Av mode - ie the flash will continuously adjust its settings according to the ISO and aperture. However, in this case you cannot force a balance between the camera and flash easily because you can't lie about the aperture But again, the flash is making the decision about how much light - and not the camera.


And finally... it's worth saying that "M" and "A" mode flash is really extremely easy when you have a digital SLR with an LCD review! If it's wrong, just do it again!!
Matt