[tjk911]

Okay, let me begin by saying I'll probably have a lot of amateurish questions - because well I'm new to this.

I've played with studio lighting before, but that has always been with a PC sync cable triggering them and all. First time owning a flashgun here.

I've also read the manual as much as I can, and haven't been able to solve these problems by myself. So here goes.

1. In "Wireless Slave" and "Servo" mode, if my camera's aperture is set to anything higher than f7.1 (meaning, f8 and higher), it won't trigger.
2. I've yet to figure out how to set it to wireless AND manual. Meaning, have it wireless but so that I can control its output. I believe "Servo" does that, but what about "Wireless Slave?"
3. I know Nikon and Canon have access to stuff like RadioPoppers or PocketWizard, is there a Pentax alternative?

Once again, forgive me if they're silly questions. I took a class in Studio Photography but all that class really used was a PC Sync cable. And this is a whole new ballgame for me.

[mtansley]

Hi,

1. I can't get this to fail, with the flash set to remote it works for me at f16 even. You haven't accidentally set the shutter speed to greater than 180?

2. You have to control the flash output by setting the flash itself to manual and adjusting the power on the flash itself, I believe the wireless slave mode is limited to P-TTL control

3. You can use a Pocket Wizard on the Pentax & Metz but you are still limited to adjusting the flash to manual or automatic mode, there is no system I know of that wireless sends P-TTL signals to remote flashes in the Pentax universe. Yes, Nikon does allow wireless control of remote flashes including power setting, I don't know about Canon, not owning one.

No such thing as silly questions.

Actually, if you get into any studio lighting with the Pentax and larger strobe lights you'll find that your almost back to the sync cable world, just substituting the sync cord with radio transmitters & receivers instead and adjusting the strobe lighting power manually. Full circle as it were.

[tjk911]

Thanks Michael!

I've been twiddling with the flash again today and, well, Servo seems to fire at whatever aperture I have set now. But with "Wireless Slave" it's still kinda iffy. Now it's only firing if I'm f5.6 or below. I fully charged the batteries and I also checked to see if I had any additional settings on but still isn't working.

I'm thinking however, that if it's P-TTL... Maybe it just decided that I won't need the flash? But at the same time that does not make that much sense because if I need additional light at f5.6, I'd need far more at f22.

Gah.

I'm wondering if I've a faulty flash.

[mtansley]

Hi,
Don't forget that servo is manual control. It's merely seeing the on-camera flash go off and then flashing after the camera's pre-flash. Do you have the camera flash set to 'wireless' when you're using the 'servo' mode? I don't think you need it set to that for servo mode. It would be expecting to communicate with a wireless flash which could muck up your results.

Try it out ON the camera hotshoe with all these modes and make sure the flash works OK. Then try it again in the wireless mode. In servo mode the flash is just acting as if you had a simple pocket wizard or optical trigger firing it off from the camera. The flash is doing everything itself.

Hope this makes some sort of sense. There's still things about my Metz that I don't fully understand or have even looked at yet.