Graham - see my last post above (I think we posted at the same time)

Adding to Tailety's comment:

If you are too close, or the ambient light is too high, then you'll have problems with overexposure. The flash can only be powered down so far, and beyond that it won't cope.

However, for macros you are better off trying this with the popup:
* Set camera to "M"
* Set shutter speed to 1/150 (or lower)
* Set the aperture to f16
* Take a shot

If it's still too bright, reduce the aperture (larger f-number). If it's too dark (flash isn't powerful enough), then open the aperture (larger f-number).

The pop-up flash will compensate for you and do its best
Matt

Ooops
Forgot also with flash that the power of the flash is adjusted as well...

In fact, with the pop-up flash and AF360/540 you can use fully manual on the camera (ie meter for the bits you want) and the P-TTL flash will sort itself out automatically

To be honest, you have little control over pop-up flash, even on the ones with flash compensation. With the *ist-D there is no control - except "on" or "off" Adjusting the Tv speed won't make jot of difference.

Bear in mind this too: when the metering is done for flash the camera will take into consideration all reflections. For example, if you take a shot in a room and accidentally get a reflection from a window or mirror opposite you will find the shot looks massively underexposed. Also, if you try taking a shot of someone with even a small reflective strip on their coat - it will be underexposed.



Flash isn't that difficult really - it's just that automatic flash makes it seem tricky because it's not always predictable To explain my comments further:

The flash speed is very, very fast. The reason you have a sync speed for flash is to do with the two-curtain nature of the shutter. On slower speeds the first curtain opens the shutter, waits the time, then the second curtain lowers. On fast speeds, (1/150 - 1/4000) the second curtain follows the first curtain - exposing a moving "strip" onto the film or CCD. This effectively reduces the exposure time for that little strip (when you think about it - how could you get a mechanical shutter to shift itself in 250 microseconds?? It's not possible).

Now, if you could use a normal flash on a fast shutter speed then you'd only expose a portion of the CCD/film. On the AF360/540 they have a special HS mode which creates a very fast pulse of flashes so that the "strip" is still exposed correctly as the curtains move in the shutter.



Back to normality... because the shutter speed doesn't matter (at least not in terms of getting correct exposure, the above information notwithstanding), you can only control the aperture and flash power. You can, of course, also vary the distance between the subject and the flash - but only if the flash is remote.

Now, CCDs absolutely hate being overexposed. They are linear, and you just blow out the image completely if you overexpose. When dealing with flash you are very likely to blow out the image... hence the camera errs on the side of caution when exposing.

However, if you have studio conditions, then it's a cinch to setup fully manual flash - the camera doesn't have to work out what you need properly exposed in the image because you've done all the work first.

If you're not going down that route and you are using flash for "ad-hoc" stuff, then bouncing or diffusing the flash is the best thing to do. A Stofen Omnibounce on an AF360 is really excellent. It's even better if you move the flash off camera (great with the *ist-D wireless).

If you're stuck with just the pop-up flash and want to take short-range portraits etc, then holding a piece of thin tissue paper over the flash will go a long way to making a more flattering image... and lowering the risk of reflections too.

(Phew!) Hope that helps!
Matt

Graham,
Exposure Compensation: if you are in "P" mode, then the compensation is performed according to the current program line selected. So, generally it will be a combination of Av and Tv adjustment.

In the other modes, it depends on where the priority is. For instance, in TAv mode, it will be the ISO that will change because the user selects the Av and Tv.

Flash Compensation: again this depends on the mode somewhat, but remember that the flash speed is (generally) much faster than the shutter speed so it's always Av that's adjusted to expose. (Varying the shutter speed only varies the amount of ambient light, not flash light.)

Hope that helps!
Matt

Anything slower than 1/100 then
Obviously, if you go really slow, then use a tripod as well as the flash (this will enable you to balance the available light with flash light)
Matt

Ok gentlemen... let's keep it calm

There's a thing or two to bear in mind, and maybe why Viewfinder has touched on some raw nerves (both George's and mine) :

* Many of the reviews of the K10D are either "this is a great hobbyist camera", or "this isn't a Canon 1Ds" kind of review. The price of the K10D seems to baffle the reviewers because they can't put it into a nice little compartment and easily compare to the competition. Price-wise it fits in the hobbyist end, yet spec-wise it sits with the semi-pro/pro gear.

* That said, some of the reviews are also skewed towards the C and N of the world. Whether that's personal preference, or a business decision is entirely up to them. But either way it makes it a right pain for the punters trying to get a proper review!

Now, as to what the K10D can actually do:

* When using good Pentax glass, the K10D is up there with the best. It's response, dynamic range, noise etc all place it in the professional end. I have absolutely no doubt I could compete with most full-time professionals I've seen when it comes to quality.

* Shooting JPG images you'll get superb results.

* Shooting RAW you'll get unbelievably good results with the right RAW conversion software. Silkypix Developer Studio 3 is well worth the money, and the time to learn.

Regarding digital in general:

* Digital is different from film. Its characteristics are definitely different and it takes a little while to get used to it. It's more like transparency film. But, the K10D closes the gap even more - earlier DSLRs really wanted a "perfect" exposure with limited difference between highlights and shadows. The K10D is much, much more forgiving!

* If you're a good photographer you'll get great results straight away. However, if you can push yourself more, learn more about the digital workflow (don't forget you are effectively embracing the whole process from capture to print), then you can expect to get superb results.

The best thing with the K10D is to see some hard-print output. Might be able to send a sample or two if that helps!

Hope that helps
Matt

: Completely puzzled by that. What do you need for semi-pro? There are no picture modes, the spec is excellent, the picture quality superb, the construction excellent (with dust & moisture seals)... what else is missing for goodness sake?

If you think that the K10D gets in the way, fiddling with your images and stopping the photographic process - you are very much mistaken.

I have people almost pushing me to go pro because they like the images I produce (and from the ancient *ist-D at that too). The ones that have seen the K10D images are blown away by them. But... my real work takes far too much time though. One day though

Please tell me this was tongue-in-cheek....
If you want to be semi pro you must need a Canon 1Ds Mk II then with L-series lenses. You'll really look the part then
Matt

The K10D pop-up's preflash is much faster than the *ist-D - I've yet to try it with the compulsive blinkers
...but it's probably still too slow for animals!

To get the 360/540 to slave in "dumb" mode, you just enable "Slave 2" (Slave 1 is the intelligent wireless mode). In fact, you can slave the AF360 off pretty much anything. I first used it as a slave to a Canon pocket digicam (excuse my language ).
Because the electronics in the 360/540 are designed for high speed sync and fast wireless flash they can sync off both preflash and main flash

And I've found Manual still more reliable than P-TTL for people and stills P-TTL is great for (a) fill in flash especially in HS mode, (b) for those situations you can't setup controlled lighting (e.g. weddings and events).
Even P-TTL can err massively on the side of caution and underexpose - if you shoot RAW it's not a big problem, but do be aware of it

Matt

I have the K10D, the AF360 and the AF540

And, no the K10D cannot do wireless P-TTL flash using its popup flash

If you mount a gun on the K10D and put it in master or controller mode then you can trigger the remote in P-TTL. Perhaps that's where some of the confusion set in with the reviews - if you read some of the spec sheets quickly you can wrongly assume that the popup does the wireless when the spec is talking about the hot-shoe (and hence requiring more than one flash).

However, generally I now stick to fully manual mode especially for portrait and studio type work. The AF360 and AF540 have a "dumb slave" mode (Slave 2) which will trigger in "A" or "M" modes on the flash. Incidentally this doesn't work on other cheaper flashes because they fire on the preflash only. The AF360/540 will fire on both - as long as you use half power or less on the gun.

Another alternative is to use a cheap manual flash for studio work as the trigger. (I recently used a Metz 50MZ5 - hardly cheap nor small - as a trigger on manual 1/128 power for the AF360 and AF540 that were both on brolleys. Worked a treat, but I'd rather have had something a bit more managable!!)

That said, it's a lot of flashgun and expense to just do manual flash... I'm still hoping that the firmware team can somehow get the K10D to at least do controller mode from the popup (don't need "master" mode). But that's probably a long shot....

Matt

I get 10 frames of PEF, or 12 frames of DNG with the 133x Lexar.
JPG just keeps rolling....
Matt