Thirded!

If they were the same camera, then I'd say £100 was a bit steep. But the Samsung equivalents do not seem to get the same level of support from 3rd party raw convertors. For this reason, I'd stick with Pentax. IIRC, the Samsung doesn't do DNG format either, does it?

*istDS No stuck pixels
K10D No stuck pixels

at least not that I've ever noticed, but then I don't go hunting for them.

Yup, put a reel of film through my K1000 earlier this week for the first time in about 3 years and found myself thinking "Why isn't it taking a picture" EVERY time. Ah, yes, that lever on the top back right...................

I have the Metz 58-AF1, I use it with my K10D. It supports P-TTL in wireless mode perfectly. For example:

"The Impostor"

You have to use firmware v1.1 or later to be able to use the pop-up as a wireless controller. The pop-up can be set to master flash (contributes light to the scene) or controller only (does not contribute light to the scene).

Hope this helps.

Duncan

Good tip Matt, I've just done some more experimentation. With the ISO forced to 1600, the shutter speed can be set to speeds higher than 1/180 in all camera modes, not just Tv and M. The Metz still has to be set to P-TTL HSS though, it doesn't auto switch to this mode, and in non-HSS, it still won't allow speeds higher than 1/180.

Regards,

Duncan

Hello all,

I'm a long time lurker on here and thought I'd surface to give some information on this flash. I've bought one, from SRS Watford, great service from them as you lot already know. I've never had such an advanced flash before, only having used the Sigma EF500DG ST before. When I got the Metz I was a bit confused about HSS operation, so I emailed Metz technical support and got a very prompt, helpful reply back. Thought it may be useful to let others know.

It does seem to work very well. Very flexible, is accurate from what I've seen so far, love the P-TTL wireless mode, it makes thinks so much easier than I'd been used to.

Correspondence with Metz and reply pasted below.

HSS mode on 58AF-1 with Pentax K10D

Dear Metz,
I have just bought a Metz 58 AF-1 Digital flashgun, in a Pentax fit, for use with my Pentax K10D dSLR (fitted with firmware v1.30). I have some questions on the operation of this flash in High Speed Synch mode with this camera.

On page 112 of the flashgun manual (Section 16.4) it states that "The high-speed flash mode is automatically activated if the shutter speed activated on the camera - manually or automatically - is faster that the flash synch speed". I have found that this does not happen.

If I have the flashgun mounted on the camera and set to (for example) P-TTL, I cannot set the shutter speed on the camera to any speed faster than 1/180, the maximum flash synch speed of the K10D. This is true regardless of the mode (P, Av, Tv, M, etc) used on the camera. I have to manually set the flashgun to HSS mode to allow speeds of higher than 1/180, it does not automatically activate as indicated in the instructions.

After setting P-TTL HSS mode on the flash, I have found there are limitations on how I can use this mode. With P-TTL HSS set on the flash, if I am using any mode on the camera other than Tv (shutter priority) or M ( fully manual) I find I still cannot set shutter speeds higher than 1/180 at all. It is not possible to set a speed higher than 1/180 in any other camera mode, apart from Tv or M modes on the camera.

If I use Tv or M modes on the camera I can set shutter speeds of >1/180th but only if I also take the additional step of setting the ISO speed to a discrete value, i.e. not leaving the ISO setting mode on the camera in "Auto".

Once I have manually set the flash to P-TTL- HSS mode, set the camera to Tv or M modes, manually set a shutter speed, and manually entered an ISO value for the sensitivity setting, then, and only then, can I use a shutter speed of >1/180th with the 58AF-1 flashgun on the K10D.

I would like to know if this is the normal expected behaviour for this flashgun on this camera. Having downloaded the manual from your website, and read it thoroughly before making my purchase, I had expected HSS modes to be rather more flexible and usable. I doubt that will use HSS mode except on an occasional basis, so this is not a great problem for me, I would just like to know if the flash is working as you would expect it to. Thank you for your help in this matter.

Regards,


Dear Duncan,

What did your wrote is quite normal and caused by the camera's electronic. In P and Av the camera by itself limits the shutter speed in HSS on 1/180. Only in Tv and M you have a chance to set a shutter speed faster the 1/180. That's quite normal. At that moment we had checked it out with a mecablitz 58 AF-1P on a K10D and compare it with a Pentax flash unit called AF540FTZ but found the same behavior. Therefore I am under the impression that your flash 58 AF-1P works properly as it should.

best regards

Lutz Goeschel
Technical support
_____________________________________________

Metz-Werke GmbH & Co KG
Ohmstraße 55, D-90513 Zirndorf


eMail: mailto: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.metz.de

Got it sussed! You not only have to run the installation program as an administrator, you have to set the resulting executable file
Crogram FilesPentaxDigital Camera UtilityPRMAST03.exe
to "Run as administrator" too. Blindingly obvious really.

Hello, I found this thread and thought I'd found the answer to my problems. I too am having problems with all the controls/settings greyed out on Remote Assistant 3 when connected to either of my Vista PCs (one laptop, one desktop). The camera (K10D) is saying it's in PC mode, and it is possible to read the contents of the card in the camera, but I can't press any buttons in Remote Assistant.

I've installed the program using compatibility settings for XP (SP2), but there's no difference. Can anyone please shed any light on which specific vista compatibility wizard settings should be used when installing RA3?

Regards,

Duncan

The EF500 DG ST is compatible with the K10D, if it's been re-chipped by Sigma. I had to have mine rechipped when I bought the K10D. The flash had previously worked fine with my DS. Turnaround was extremely quick - 2 days IIRC. Cost was about £10, purely to cover return postage. Examples from batches made since the K10D came out may well be alreadiy compatible.

The ST is the basic model and to be honest, it's a bit too cheap for its own good. Yes, it does everything it's supposed to, but the limitation of only 2 manual power levels (full and 1/16th) were too limiting for me in the long run. Build quality isn't brilliant, but it's adequate. If you're going to buy Sigma, then don't bother with the ST model, it's well worth the extra for the Super.

Duncan