Hi Christine - I use fill PTTL fill flash in my macro shots all the time - virtually every shot that I work with is shot with flash. No problems once you know how to adjust the flash etc. I shoot manually with the exposure usually set to the ambient meter reading or to -1/2 stop. The amount of fill needed is relative to the primarily light source. In direct full brutal sun I shoot with no exposure compensation on the flash. On overcast cloudy days I may set the flash compensation to -3 and the compensation on the camera body to -2. In some situations I have to resort to lowering the power on the flash by dropping the wide angle diffuser or putting a diffuser on it. But those cases are very low light situations where the subject is very close. After doing this for a while I now just know where to set things - just experiment a bit. Digital makes the technical end of photography so easy.... I use the same basic technique for macros, birds, and even outdoor portraits. For wildlife it is split second decision making and having the flash compensation in the body is a great asset. If you put the flash on a bracket or use a diffuser etc it just equates to a certain number of stops of compensation, so you just consider that in your mental calculations... Like "In this soft light I'd like to have -4 stops of compensation but that diffuser is equivalent to -2 so I'll just dial in -2." I'm working with the flash generally much closer than the minimum working distance - like the subject is 12 to 24 inches away - so overexposure is always a problem. I've used the same basic setup with the Pz-1p (usually with slide film), *ist-D, K-10D, and now K7. Each camera had it's own quirks and I had to adjust the exposure compensation for each. I find that I dial in much more negative compensation with the K7 than I did with any of the other cameras. Good luck! MCC
----- Original Message ----- From: Christine Nielsen <ch...@inielsen.net> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> Cc: Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 11:11 AM Subject: Can we talk about fill flash & pttl? Last night, I attended a "portrait workshop". We were shooting at the beach, at the end of the day. It was still very bright, and in the shade of a lighthouse, some fill was required on our models' faces. No problem. I had the AF540 on my k-7...using aperture priority mode, and -1.5 Flash EV, I took some shots. Gah. Way overexposed. I fiddled, set the flash to high-speed sync, and tried again. Still hot. I proceeded to try several other manipulations... none really working, until I settled on a fully manual operation for exposure, and flash (1/16). It shouldn't have to be this way, though, right? I should be able to use pttl to provide (more or less) the right amount of fill, yes? I'm even pretty sure I've done it successfully in the past, though it would have been with the AF360. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, -c -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
