On 10-11-19 5:04 PM, eckinator wrote:
quick question for those who have tried both - to use a p-ttl flash off camera would you advise using a) pentax F (male / female hotshoe adaptor plus sync cable) b) 3rd party cheapo cable solution c) wireless, if so, which one? thanks Ecke
Ecke, I use the popup flash on my K20D to optically trigger my two AF-540FGZ's. P-TTL works, but results can be iffy depending on lots of factors. Triggering one flash is generally reliable, but triggering two flashes at once rarely works and I generally just switch to full manual on both flashes.
I've used optical remote triggering both indoors and outdoors and so far have found no need to buy RF triggers.
I have also used one 540 on-camera as a master to trigger the 2nd 540 in a softbox up to a dozen feet away outdoors. This has worked perfectly for me, but it's pretty-much a tripod-only affair. Add up the weight of the K20, a DA* 50-135 _and_ the 540 flash and you're talking a wrist-breaker.
One trick I've developed to make the popup optical trigger work better is to cover the popup with a white 35mm film canister that I've cut a rectangular slot into. This spreads the trigger flash around so it bounces off more surfaces and is reliably seen by the off-camera flashes.
BTW: I'm pretty sure you won't get P-TTL to work via any of the available RF triggers. P-TTL works via Pentax sync cables and some (but not all) 3rd-party sync cables, and via optical triggering. But none of the RF triggers get the extra flash hot shoe signals so can't do it. You'd have to switch your flashes to fully manual.
Good luck! -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
