[LeDave]

My teacher had this wire/cord where he attached to his Canon and to the strobe and made it fire. Is there a port on the K-5 that allows use of such a chord? Also can the K-5 do this wirelessly and how do I make it fire the strobe without a wire?

EDIT: It's called a sync cord.

EDIT: Nvm found it, it's the small screw-out thing on the side of the K-5 called a x-sync socket. Now I need an answer to the wireless one, I don't want to fry my camera using a high voltage strobe through the x-sync socket.

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Last edited by LeDave; 09-21-2012 at 03:20 PM.

[westmill]

Wireless trigger sets are widely available and are very affordable. Far superior to using a sync lead. Just type in wireless flash triggers on ebay !

[twilhelm]

I use a relatively inexpensive wireless set up with a transmitter that mounts to the hot shoe and a receiver which plugs into my strobes. You can get the set up just about anywhere for less than $100. I use it when doing school portraits with no problems.

[Docrwm]

The cheapest reliable ones that I could find were the NPT-04s. I haven't used the hard but I have used them and they've worked just as described for me.
CowboyStudio FM Radio Trigger NPT-04 reviews - Pentax Camera Accessory Review Database

[maxfield_photo]

With sync cords and radio triggers you should be aware that you'll be limited to manual flash (i.e. full power, half power, quarter...), although that's not a bad thing, and probably what you teacher would rather have you use anyway. You won't have pTTL functionality. The Canon system is a bit more sophisticated so your teacher may not be aware of this limitation, you should probably ask.

There is whats known as a TTL cord that attaches to the hotshoe at one end and the flash at the other, or Pentax sells a rather confusing and expensive system of cords and hotshoe adapters that accomplishes the same thing. If you need pTTL functionality, this is what you'll need to get.

[obscura]

whatever you do, dont buy the yongnuo 603
i've heard good things about the ntp-04

[LeDave]

Guys this is for school and my teacher wants us to shoot manual only and build up throughout the class with 1 strobe starting to using 4 strobes in the end. Also didn't know the K-5 couldn't wirelessly trigger strobes without a trigger. Thought it could. I know it can with the built-in flash to trigger other strobes but my teacher doesn't want that. I'll have to risk getting my K-5 fried with the x-sync socket. Will using a off-built x-sync socket thing where you plug on top of the hotshoe minimise the risk of the camera being fried? Thanks for the help so far everybody.

[maxfield_photo]

Are you using speedlights, mono lights, or a pack and head system?

If you are using studio lights, the pop up flash isn't suitable for triggering them. Studio strobes normally use a simple optical slave which fires whenever it sees a flash. The problem is the pop-up flash, and for that matter any pTTL flash that you mount on the hotshoe (in pTTL mode) fire a preflash to determine how much power to put into the exposure-making flash. Simple optical slaves are fooled by this preflash and fire too soon, which leaves the unit recharging when it's time to actually fire.

The best way to trigger studio lights is to use radio triggers to fire the master unit, and then either additional radio receivers or optical slaves to fire the other units. Generally speaking, it's safer than hardwiring your camera to the system, but that being said, the PC socket on Pentax DSLRs is very well shielded against high voltages. If your teacher can fire them hardwired with his Canon, your Pentax should have no problem. The trigger voltages are probably in the single digits.

[Docrwm]

Guys this is for school and my teacher wants us to shoot manual only and build up throughout the class with 1 strobe starting to using 4 strobes in the end. Also didn't know the K-5 couldn't wirelessly trigger strobes without a trigger. Thought it could. I know it can with the built-in flash to trigger other strobes but my teacher doesn't want that. I'll have to risk getting my K-5 fried with the x-sync socket. Will using a off-built x-sync socket thing where you plug on top of the hotshoe minimise the risk of the camera being fried? Thanks for the help so far everybody.

There is a unit that is designed to shield the camera from a flash that may be the old, much more intense, voltage. I can't recall its name but look through the Flash Accessories section here in the reviews.

[LeDave]

It's studio lights. from Norman. It looks like this, Norman - Monolights and Monolight Kits

[maxfield_photo]

It's studio lights. from Norman. It looks like this, Norman - Monolights and Monolight Kits

The trigger voltage on that unit is 6 volts, so you can use any camera safely. Radio triggers are still nice so that you don't have a cord hanging from your camera, but they are purely optional in this case.