Thanks. The first 2 were at 230mm the last at 150mm, all at F/18 to try and get a reasonable depth. The lens is reasonably new to me and the bugs have only recently appeared so I haven't settled on a 'best' setting yet.

Thanks

Lovely shot of the Moth.

I've been trying out my new 55-300WR with my Raynox DCR-250. I've got to get used to it so that I can be ready for that special shot...!
All taken as said above, K-30 with in built flash and a interfit STR111 diffuser.

Lenses. I had them from film cameras so it seemed logical to try Pentax DSLR's. Then I got tired of average birds in flight shots, so started to wonder if it was me or the Pentax kit. Decided I couldn't change me so added a Canon 30D and the sigma 100-300 F4 HSM. Found out it wasn't me! but felt the Canon/Sigma lenses were just too big for me to carry on a regular basis. So back to pentax with my trusty FA*300 4.5 (nice and compact/light for it's reach) and 1.7x AFA. Now happy'ish with my Kr and K30. Still I'm not brand loyal and would jump in a heartbeat if I felt another system better matched my needs.....

Thanks for taking the time to test this. I assume you're not talking about slow-sync flash but normal flash? Perhaps I should go and read the K-5 manual to see if I've been misinformed on that as well...
Edited to add: Yep, read the K-5 manual, says it does the same in av mode as the K-30... oh well, a step backward as far as I'm concerned, actually it's one reason I keep picking up my GX10 instead of my K-30 in some instances. Well at least it removes any doubt in my mind about K-5 or K-30 unless I want the quiet shutter.

FYI this is from the K-30 manual page 236
"Using the Flash in Av Mode
The shutter speed automatically changes over a range from 1/180 sec. to a slow shutter speed that reduces camera shake (the slowest shutter speed depends on the focal length of the lens in use).
The shutter speed is locked at 1/180 sec. when a lens other than a DA, DA L, D FA, FA J, FA or F lens is used."

It's certainly normal operation for the K-30 and as I recall the K-r, is it right/wrong? No, it's just pentax's implementation in these models. Is it different to other DSLR cameras? Yes, my K100D, samsung GX10 and canon 30D all set max flash sync in av and other modes unless I select slow-sync, which seems more reasonable to me. K-5 users that I have seen participate in these type of threads say theirs work as I would expect max sync-speed unless they select slow-sync.
edited to add: Just to reiterate, it doesn't set full slow-sync, if I select that option the shutter speed will drop even further, it just seems to drop the max sync speed a bit and it seems related to the focal length that the sr is using, i.e. at 300 it drops to 1/125, at 70 it drops to 1/50's whereas slow sync obviously will drop even lower if light levels drop, this setting doesn't it just drops to whatever speed and stays at that no matter how dark etc

Do you have a K-30? If so it maybe better if you just try it in av mode, pop up the flash and see what you get in all lighting. Does it give you 1/180's all the time? Mine doesn't, others have mentioned this before on other forums and as far as I'm aware others cameras don't either. Flash is just set to 'flash on' the first setting, no slow-sync or second curtain or anything else set.

K-30 annoyingly always seems to give me a half way house of kinda slow-sync but not really proper slow-sync to match ambient lighting. There is no way that I have found that can turn off this 'feature', only in manual mode can I force 1/180's (when it's been raised by others on forums like this I've never seen anyone come up with a solution). As I recall my K-r does the same but my GX10 and K100D will give me 1/180's sync unless I select slow sync. So I've assumed it's just pentax's take on how flash should work on lower end models these days.
Always hopeful....
I think I should correct myself, in modes where you are not directly selecting the shutter speed this happens, i.e. I shoot a lot in av, but manual or tav will allow me to set 1/180's (tav obviously floats the iso and select's a daft high iso that would give a correct exposure without flash).