[alexeyga]

I suppose you need to go to the high end Nikons to get the reliable iTTL.

Sadly, even a D90 that sells for 1/3rd of a price of K5, nails it with a flash just as well as D300s or D3 does...

[Ash]

The D90 as a package is little competition for the K-5.
Some users note the K-5 exposing with flash perfectly at FEC 0.
I have a K-5 that exposes perfectly at FEC -2.0
Now I could bicker about this discordance, or I can learn my K-5's nuances (which I have had to do with all my previous Pentax dSLRs) and go out shooting with this minor discrepancy for the brilliant results the K-5 is capable of producing.

[alexeyga]

The D90 as a package is little competition for the K-5.

My point was that a soccer-mom's level Nikon body is just as capable flash-wise as top of the line Nikon bodies... as oppose to K5, that is the current top of the line Pentax body and it's only cable of accurate exposure with the flash straight on... the moment you tilt it, or try to bounce the damn thing, exposure goes to wonderland...

Personally, I rarely use the flash, so I can afford to loose some time and do things in manual mode... Flash is not the reason why i've picked back a Pentax body anyways... But I can do nothing but feel very sorry for somebody who's flash spends a lot more time on the camera...

[Ash]

My point was that a soccer-mom's level Nikon body is just as capable flash-wise as top of the line Nikon bodies... as oppose to K5, that is the current top of the line Pentax body and it's only cable of accurate exposure with the flash straight on... the moment you tilt it, or try to bounce the damn thing, exposure goes to wonderland...

This has not been my own experience. It's overexposed in all flash conditions, so by dialling down to FEC -2.0 I get perfectly exposed flash images every time, fill-flash or otherwise. If your own copy only overexposes in bounce flash, try the 'trick' mentioned in another thread in switching on highlight correction mode for a few shots, then switching back off the mode and see how it goes for you.

Personally, I rarely use the flash, so I can afford to loose some time and do things in manual mode... Flash is not the reason why i've picked back a Pentax body anyways... But I can do nothing but feel very sorry for somebody who's flash spends a lot more time on the camera...

I have an external flash on for most of my shots, and don't need to be felt sorry for.
I take your point, though - if there are users out there doing weddings and have to keep remembering to dial down FEC/EV every time they want to bounce and flip it back to FEC/EV 0 when flashing axially, then it's a major and unnecessary inconvenience that ought to be resolved (the first step of which is acknowledgement, Randall... )

[rparmar]

My point was that a soccer-mom's level Nikon body is just as capable flash-wise as top of the line Nikon bodies... as oppose to K5, that is the current top of the line Pentax body and it's only cable of accurate exposure with the flash straight on... the moment you tilt it, or try to bounce the damn thing, exposure goes to wonderland...(

Pretty odd behaviour since I can bounce my Metz flash on a K20D and everything works just fine.

[philbaum]

Perhaps then something rectified by those later batch copies (post 40xxxx) as with the sensor issue?

My Metz 48 mounted straight ahead, 1/180, F8, with flash in TTL.
Touching the shutter button puts the flash into P TTL. With 0 flash ev to -.5 ev, pic was overexposed based on blinky. -1. ev, no blinkies. (but i could see someone wanting -1 to -2 ev depending on taste)

Putting the Metz in 60 degree bounce, exposure was consistently .5 ev less than straight ahead shot.

Flash performance was identical between fa 50mm and DA 50-135.

My K5 has serial number 400xxxxx

[Ash]

Interesting phenomenon Phil.
Seems there is variable overexposure being experienced, some with only bounce flash, some globally with flash, and yet others with perfect exposure. And there's no rhyme to the pattern according to serial number as far as we can see. Confusing.
There may also be the variable of reflective surface efficacy and distance to flash coming into play.
I've had decent results with my K10D/K20D too Robin, but mostly need a global FEC +0.7 adjustment to get the flash exposing well - until I adjusted the trimpot. Thereafter I didn't need an adjustment at all.

Perhaps Pentax realised the underexposure issue with previous cameras and decided to go the other way with the K-5 to compensate? But even if so, they'd have gone overboard if the overexposure is consistently 1-2 stops...

[Allison]

Ugh. I hate problems like this. I am looking at getting a new flash and I am between the Metz 58 and the Pentax 540. I really like the Metz, but if there are less compatibility issues...

Has anyone been more successful with manual? I am comfortable shooting manual and if that solves the problem then all I have to do is make the final flash decision.

[Rupert]

As I stated earlier, my 540 & 360 work perfectly on my K5, better than they did on my K20D with more accurate exposure in PTTL at any angle. It was the first thing I checked, although I mostly shoot manual flash.
If someone is a frequent flash shooter, I would wait a little while for Pentax service to catch up from their other problems then send it in for service, it is obviously repairable since some work flawlessly.
Overall, if my K5 would not even do any flash, I would still want it...it is just simply amazing in comparison to previous models.
Regards

[philbaum]

I have a similar problem with my K7 and AF540, the overexposure is dependent on the zoom setting on the flash. Manually set the zoom and avoid the widest setting and see if it helps.

An interesting thought and one to keep in mind. I tried it on my house which has smaller rooms and no cathetral ceilings. It seemed to help but i was still getting some small underexposure from bounce versus straight ahead. But i would think the reflectivity from light shining from the ceiling would vary on a vertical wall versus a straight ahead shot. But makes me think that the light output from a zooming flash must make an interesting curve when plotted versus focal length. It would be interesting to know how PTTL works, e.g. does the camera read a table of power output from the flash per focal length since the Pentax Flash 540 also has a zooming head, or does the camera require the flash to do all calculations. Just walking around my house today, i found a number of different situations that would challenge any automated flash.

As I stated earlier, my 540 & 360 work perfectly on my K5, better than they did on my K20D with more accurate exposure in PTTL at any angle. It was the first thing I checked, although I mostly shoot manual flash.
If someone is a frequent flash shooter, I would wait a little while for Pentax service to catch up from their other problems then send it in for service, it is obviously repairable since some work flawlessly.
Overall, if my K5 would not even do any flash, I would still want it...it is just simply amazing in comparison to previous models.
Regards

I'm not unhappy with the present flash performance of my camera on pttl. -1 ev underexposure on straight ahead and perhaps another 1/2 step less on bounce. i can adjust to that. As you said, the K5 is just amazing compared to previous models. I'm getting sharper images handholding and at distances that i hadn't expected without a tripod - due in part i'm sure to higher shutter speeds made possible with higher iso's. But also the shutter and shutter button are smoother operating - hard to describe.

[Ash]

Allison, manual flash shouldn't cause you any grief on any camera since you have total control of light output. It's P-TTL that's the point of discussion here, and it seems to have variable exposure issues but not with everyone as you've seen. It wouldn't matter which flash you invested in, but the AF540FGZ is just a fine piece of engineering.

[Staffan]

I have upgraded the flash firmware without impact. Occurs with both Pentax 360 and Metz 58 AF-1 which suggests its the camera. Most of my testing was done in Manual mode. Put flash on/off probably a dozen + times. Seems to occur right away if it will happen. Probably turned camera off/on 30 times with 300+ shutter releases. Occurred (I think) three times during all of that. Again, no observable trigger for the behavior..

I upgraded the firmware of my Metz 58 AF-1 with the rather recent file from them. But I still have the overexposure-when-bouncing problem, by now so recognised among many K-5 owners. It is also there with my Pentax flash. But my overexposure seems regular, not intermittent in any way. Taking photos with ISO 5000 would require me to set a compensation of more than EV-2 or an aperture as small as f16 or something!

[simico]

Some users note the K-5 exposing with flash perfectly at FEC 0.

One thing that was already mentioned at the start of this thread (or maybe in the other flash thread?): this flash issue is intermittent. That means, sometimes everything works fine, other times you get the overexposure due to the hot-shoe communication issue (thus flash fires at full power).

For example in my early weeks with the K-5 I didn't experience this issue and even posted that, then a few weeks later I also experienced the issue. As I wrote, it's intermittent and that's the worst about it. Because you never know when it happens again. It can work for 50 shots and then you can get the issue for the next 30. As a workaround I started to use flash in manual mode, it's not that hard as I first thought.

I think the shooting conditions also influence how severe it is and explain why some people get it to less extent than others. Surely in a small(er) room bounced flash firing at full power has much greater effect on the photo than on a large venue where flash would fire near full power anyways. Not to mention ambient light and how much of that the photog wants to use in the photo, subject's brightness, etc.

[skyoftexas]

I used the K5 with Metz 58 AF-1 flash this weekend to shoot a wedding. Most of my reception shots were were under exposed (using bounce) but I did not realize it because they looked good on the LCD screen. Is there a way to get a more accurate reading from the LCD?

[Ash]

Use the histogram option at review/playback with or without the 'blinkies' (highlight/shadow clipping option). It gives you an immediate snapshot of where your shadow and highlight pixels are mapping on the exposure histogram.