On Feb 11, 2011, at 6:58 AM, Paul Stenquist wrote: > > On Feb 11, 2011, at 1:27 AM, Larry Colen wrote: > >> >> On Feb 10, 2011, at 6:24 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote: >> >>> >>> On Feb 10, 2011, at 6:22 PM, Larry Colen wrote: >>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> The good news is that the metering on the K-r is good enough that TTL >>>> flash is actually useful. The bad news is that the AF540 is damn near >>>> useless as a manual flash. Keep your eyes open for cheap manual flashes, >>>> but watch the trigger voltage and make sure it isn't so high that it'll >>>> fry your camera. >>> >>> TTL flashes don't work on the K-r, or any of the other recent Pentax DSLRs. >> >> Mea culpa, I mentally translated TTL to P-TTL, just treating it as Through >> The Lens metering in general. >> >> >>> >>> The AF540 is a good flash. It's P-TTL, which is the Pentax auto format. Why >>> would you want to use it in manual mode. >> >> So far, I've found three reasons to use my AF540 in manual mode, My >> K100Dsuper, my K20D, and to a lesser extent my K-x. Frankly, in my >> experience, Pentax flash metering technology lies somewhere between useless >> and destructive. Granted, it has improved a lot lately, and I have actually >> found several situations with the K-x that using p-ttl with the AF-540 has >> led to photos with nearly acceptable exposure. But, even if p-ttl were to >> work perfectly the question of why I would want full control of any piece of >> photographic equipment stuns me from a photographer of your ability? Do you >> just leave your camera in green mode and autofocus and let it make every >> decision for you? I didn't buy a DSLR because of how well it took photos >> without my input, I took a DSLR because of how well it lets me control it. >> > > I can exercise much more control over the P-ttl 540 flash than I ever could > over a manual flash. I can dial in exposure comp, plus or minus. I can synch > it at high speed, and I can tell it to flash trailing the curtain. Now are > you stunned? Apparently, you didn't know how capable this flash can be. > > Yes, Pentax flash technology is far from perfect, and the 540 doesn't always > work in complete harmony with the cameras. But I've found it's very accurate > with the K-5. It was less than perfect with the K20, but I was still able to > use it very effectively on many occasions. > > I use studio strobes on many occasions, and I've used manual flashes > extensively for many years. They're very limiting. At a given distance, > you're either locked into an f-stop or forced to resort to diffusion, > filtering and other means to try to get to the stop you want. Not good. > Somewhat useless in many situations. > I meant to say that the on-camera manual flashes are very limiting, because they lock you in to an exposure. Some allow incremental power adjustments, but they're not in synch with f stops. Some allow no adjustment at all. Most studio strobes are very manageable, because they're infinitely adjustable to a certain point, and there are many ways to diffuse and position them. But when it comes to on-camera, P-TTL is as good as it gets for Pentax. I am hoping for a better flash from Pentax some time soon. In fact, I've held off on having one of my 540s repaired. (I broke the zoom function, probably with some heavyweight attachments.) Paul > Paul >> -- >> Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> 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. > > > -- > 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.
-- 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.
