On Mar 31, 2006, at 10:44 AM, Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote:
Your point about research is very valid. However, the -DL is the first Pentax since the Super-A not to feature TTL flash, thus the surprise. Also, Pentax at the time did not have but the puny 360 available, and still doesn't have something better. Apologies for the conjecture, but I doubt salespersons have realised the chop unless someone has returned a body to them for that reason.
I have little faith in most sales personnel these days, sadly enough. Most of them seem to have difficulty understanding even basic differences between models other than price and how many megapixels...
The reason why TTL is a less important feature today is that it seems to be accepted that TTL off-the-sensor flash measurement is less successful than TTL off-the-film flash measurement. Why this is so I am not entirely certain although I could venture a guess that it is the specular reflectivity of the sensor surface that makes it difficult to accomplish.
P-TTL reads the ambient and flash exposure together, integrates them, and then makes the actual exposure. This has its own plusses and minusses, but it makes sense that one would buy the flash designed to work best with the DL body if you're just entering the DSLR world from a point and shoot digicam. That's the market the DL body is supposed to be for.
Users with existing, older equipment should always research such details to determine compatibility. Easily said, often overlooked... and it's not just in camera equipment. I've been caught by such things too.
Godfrey
