Many thanks, Bruce.
I haven't tinkered with it quite a bit, but have done a few bounce-flash
shots just to see the effects and have been pleasantly surprised with
the results.
WRT to disabling the pop-up flash when using it wirelessly, I gather
that means to set to fire as the controller rather than the master in
the custom settings?
Also, thanks again for the cheat sheet. I've got it printed out and will
laminate it when I go back to work. I'm really looking forward to seeing
what kind of shots I can get at the club with this new enablement. I'm
also looking forward to getting more use out of my K20D with it, too.
I was surprised the unit didn't come with a tripod mount adapter, but
instead came with a cheapo plastic stand, which strikes me as
essentially useless in most situations. I may just run down to the farm
supply store and get some good, strong Velcro strips to stick it onto
the tripod instead.
Thanks again for all the tips and advice, Bruce! I hope to get some
decent PESOs soon and maybe pick the collective PDML brain to see what
I'm doing wrong and right.
-- Walt
On 5/30/2013 2:12 PM, Bruce Walker wrote:
Advice #1: practice with it as much as you can, before you need it for
real. Setup a test subject and try shooting it with the flash at
different angles, heights and distances from the subject to see the
effect.
Try P-TTL to see how it behaves. It may work attached to the camera
but not wirelessly, or it may work fine both ways, or it may not work
at all. When using it wirelessly be sure to disable the K-5's pop-up
flash firing in the custom configs or you'll get very confusing
results. The pop-up flash should fire to control the wireless flash
but not to contribute light to the scene. P-TTL exposure is dependent
on light reflected from your scene so it will vary wildly depending on
how much reflection happens, and from where. That's one reason why it
can be completely wrong and give terrible results.
Then test fully manual operation. Initially you can ball-park the
settings according to that cheat-sheet I sent you earlier. In M mode
on the K-5, set your shutter to 125th or 160th sec, ISO 100. Then for
example, if you set the flash 6-8 feet away from the subject at 1/4
power you should be at about f:8 on the K-5.
Try bounced light too. Think pool or billiards. Point the flash
upwards behind you to where the wall meets the ceiling. This will
create a huge umbrella effect. It will also increase the distance from
the flash to the subject(s), so you'll have to crank the power up, or
the ISO up, or open the aperture more to compensate. (I find that
P-TTL works well used in this way, in general.)
Note that the shutter has no effect on your exposure from the flash,
so keep it at 160th for this.
Cheat sheet:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2254722/PDML/FlashCalculator.jpg
On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 1:53 PM, Walt <[email protected]> wrote:
Well, a couple of weeks after my little financial windfall at work, I
finally decided I should use some of the money to join the flash photography
world. So, I went down to the local brick-and-mortar camera shop in town and
picked up this:
http://www.amazon.com/Promaster-7500EDF-Digital-Flash-Pentax/product-reviews/B00125XY28/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
Shorty: http://goo.gl/QQ3Kz
I tested it out in the shop and it worked fine as far as I could tell. The
thing is, I know jack shizzle about using flash units. Still, it seems like
a well-built unit -- good heft and smooth rotation. The wireless signal
worked well as best I can tell, too. So, for the time being, I feel like I
got a decent deal: $169, discounted from the regular $249 price tag.
When I got home, I spent the better part of the evening watching tutorials
on flash photography. The problem is, they all essentially said, "This is
where you can use flash to get this lighting effect." There was no
nitty-gritty technical detail to speak of -- as though TTL were completely
reliable, which I gather isn't really the case. So, I was wondering where I
might be able to learn more about shooting manual flash in the event the TTL
function fails me -- something to give me an idea of when to adjust the
flash output power, at what distances, etc. I know nothing about guide
numbers, flash modes, or anything like that.
Anybody got any suggestions to that end? Any guidance would be appreciated.
-- Walt
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