[Bunch]

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In light of the debate over on the K-3II thread about the lack of OBF, I thought maybe we could have a thread displaying the potential of an OBF with a thread full of pictures. My computer is full of popup flash pics of dark corners of attics and boiler rooms that I take with an old P&S for work, like the one below. I wouldn't consider any of them good photos. I've used the OBF on my K-3 exactly once and it was a throw away. I used the OBF on my K-30 maybe a dozen times and none of them were keepers. I'd love to see some good photos taken with the OBF.

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Last edited by Bunch; 01-28-2016 at 08:59 AM.

[TER-OR]

Virescent green metallic bee. The OBF isn't bad for a lot of things, and even better if you can diffuse it a little. of course it can completely burn an image, too.

[rawr]

A totally impromptu K-5 OBF shot, as in ' hey, can you do a shot of these guys pls', after I had spent about an hour shooting their gig just in ambient, very low light:

[LensBeginner]

A fill-flash save of the pop-up on the K-01... one of the rare times I actually used it and liked the result.



Oh and this one too:



Of course the use as fill is highly preferable to that as a primary light source, for obvious reasons...
K-01's pop-up goes quite high up, so you can avoid red-eyes with much more ease.

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Last edited by LensBeginner; 04-28-2015 at 06:53 AM.

[Dieterson]

I use the flash of my K-3 rarely. What makes it useful at all is that I can adjust the flash power (I do not know if this is possible in other models). When I do use the flash, it is most often with reduced flash power to lighten up shadows, but here is one where I turned it up to bring the brightness of the statue closer the the that of the moon.

[enoeske]

Here's a few of my favorites using OBF. I have a DIY diffuser on there to soften the light and bring it out in front of the lens.

[Bunch]

Those are excellent, enoeske. I too have taken a few macros with the OBF that turned out decent, but had to use a paper towel wrapped around it to keep from being from too harsh. I suppose if you made yourself a dedicated diffuser that fit on easily it would be quite useful. Speaking of, is there a commercial made OBF diffuser?

[UncleVanya]

I use mine with -1.3 EV when I use it - typically just to lift the shadows a little.

[TER-OR]

Gary Fong's Puffer works well, but it's a bit easy to lose.
I think a cut-down ping pong ball or something similar might work well, using a little Velcro. Otherwise just a bit of white tape on the flash could be something too.

[UncleVanya]

White Color Puffer Pop Up Flash Diffuser for Camera DSLR SLR Canon Nikon Pentax | eBay
$2

[Rupert]

I have tons of shots I would have missed without the OBF. Here is one of my favorites. You don't have time to go back and get the 360 or 540 unit.....and if you have them handy, you don't have time to mount them and get the shot.



I'll be buying a camera without OBF when I can buy a new Mercedes for Mrs Rupert without turn signals...after all, she has two arms! Makes perfect sense...doesn't it? Maybe Pentax will make cars next?

Regards!

[photolady95]

My OBF is diffused with a homemade extender/diffuser. I constantly use OBF because it's handier to me. The below photos where shot using a Tamron SP 90mm 2.8 Macro lens. The diffuser is because without it, there would be a big black shadow over half the photo.









These are from our Single in Challenge for May. That album has many photos using the OBF.

By the way, Bunch, I've took the liberty of changing your original title to include what OBF means as new members may not know what that means. You also have a PM from me that you need to read.

[Bunch]

Yeah I got it. Thanks for moving it.

[Flugelbinder]

I got one. Just took it while trying out the "new" Takumar 70-210; the batteries for the Yongnuo died and I didn't have enough light, so...

[Flugelbinder]

This one with the Pentax 35-70...