I agree with Tim, doesn't look good. Looks like a sure repair job.

Prieni

Just had another try, this time putting the AF360 FGZ on camera as controller. And voila, the problem occurs no longer.
Edit: This was the first test, with fixed ISO.

My line of thinking:
When the pre-flash is fired the camera has to estimate the contributions from the built-in flash and the wireless flashgun to the overall exposure. For short distances that seems to work o.k.

When the lens is set to a longer distance the power of the on board pre-flash may be set higher (or not, it is not really relevant) and the camera is overestimating the contribution of it's on board flash, telling the wireless flashgun to give off a lower power flash.

If that is right then it means that it is easier for the camera to sort out the contribution from an on-camera flashgun (or the AF360 is taking care of it).

Don't know if that makes sense or not, it seems, though, as if the problem could be mitigated by a firmware update.

Prieni

Peter,

at some tests it was covered (by my friendly mug), in others it wasn't.
But it shouldn't make a difference when all you change is the focussing distance on the lens...

Tim, any idea of what's behind the bug? I have a theory (and I formulated that over on dpreview; just would like to know any ideas from here before repeating...)

Prieni

Thanks Tim for the link and the willingness to give it a try. Just had a session with some ice crystals on one of the windows with wireless flash. No problems there (but that was macro anyway).

Prieni

Some of you might have seen the thread over on 'depressing reviews' about some issues when using the K-5 with wireless flash. Here is what I tried:

Set up camera 1 m from book shelf (a classic target, isn't it?), Av mode, A6.3, 100 ISO, DA*16-50 and put the wireless flash on the floor.

Distance at lens set at 1 m, no problem, exposure looks fine.
Distance at lens set at 2 m, blurred picture , exposure looks the same.
Distance at lens set at infty, even more blurred pic, exposure way too dark.


In a second attempt to get to the root of the problem I tried the following:
Set-up as was, i.e. subject at about 1 m from camera, wireless flash (was a bit further away).
Focus correct -> exposure correct (a bit on the low side perhaps)
Focus at over 2 m -> way too dark

Then I cranked up ISO
Focus at over 2 m, ISO 200 -> still too dark but already better
Focus at over 2 m, ISO 800 -> almost ok, still about 1 stop underexposed
Focus at over 2 m, ISO 3200 -> overexposed !

Focus correct, ISO 3200 -> slightly overexposed but darker than the one before

So it seems that the flash is told to give off the same amount of light regardless of ISO once the lens is set at focus distance > 2m...

Any ideas? Could you try out if you see the same behaviour, please.

Prieni

Thanks i-Berg!

davex, the wave was taken from the beach with my good old *istD in 2005. I was on Ascension Island and looked around the museum in Georgetown (we had some days to kill after a cruise; the plane to Brize Norton only flew once a week). From the distance I saw the spray quite high up so I wandered over to the beach. I did a whole series there (just counted, 17 shots; would be many more these days ), with this one I got lucky. It just seems right. It's not perfect but as close as I got so far, I think. I used the Kiron 70-210 that I had from my Ricoh days (one of the reasons I went with Pentax on digital).

Of course there was a bit of PP work involved, the air was full of spray so the RAW file without any PP trickery looks quite flat.

Prieni

Lovely set, for the favourite I'm with Tim, #1 by a good margin.

Prieni

Not too many so far, five are hanging:
This is the biggest one, 75 x 50 cm
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/IMGP2665.jpg[/IMG]

The others are all the same style (couldn't find the printed version of one of them) and printed 60 x 40 cm:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/IMGP4274.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/IMGP5548fcd.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/IMGP839030x45fcprints.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/Surfcaster_RDP5083.jpg[/IMG]

There were some more holidays since, trouble is that it is so difficult to choose the one shot summing it up. I have one from Kaua'i but it's not hanging yet.

Prieni

Congratulations to Dr Orloff from Dr Prieni! Great winner shot.
Thanks to aliengrove for swift and competent judging and thanks also for my third place. Hadn't taken part in a while and didn't expect much but thought I had a fitting entry (by chance, I have to admit).

The distracting background on the left hand side is the tree trunk, I thought it quite fitting to the Christmas tree theme.
The loop had another, thicker wire going through it, that's why I cut it off.

Prieni

Christmas bauble
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/_PRI0498a.jpg[/IMG]

EXIF:
Camera Maker: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K-5
Image Date: 2010-12-19 15:45:30 +0100
Focal Length: 190.0mm (35mm equivalent: 285mm)
Aperture: f/16.0
Exposure Time: 8.000 s
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
Flash Fired: No (Manual)
Color Space: sRGB