Pocket Wizard Plus II on K5

abieleck · 03-20-2012, 11:18 PM

At work I shoot with a D7000, and array of studio lights, and a couple Pocket Wizard Plus II wireless transmitters. I brought my K5 in today to do some product shots. The transmitters/flashes worked just fine on the the D7000, but did not trigger the flashes when mounted on my K5. I read that the Pocket Wizards are compatible.....Is there and sync/K5 setting I am missing? Any help/experience would be much appreciated. Thanks

adpo · 03-20-2012, 11:21 PM

make sure you're at the right shutter speed, the k-5's sync speed is only 1/180s

abieleck · 03-20-2012, 11:29 PM

I'm pretty sure i was in the sync range, but will double check tomorrow. I have gone outside the range before, the flashes still fired, I just got a black bar on the bottom. with the transmitters on the K5 it wasn't tripping the flash at all......

DSims · 03-20-2012, 11:41 PM

You may do better to manually set the shutter speed to 1/160 or less. In some of the semi-automatic and automatic camera modes you'll sometimes end up with the shutter speed out of range. Most of the time with strobes I'm using a light meter and manual mode, so this problem doesn't occur.

I've used my K-5 many times with the PW Plus II and various studio strobes. It works well.

kenyee · 03-21-2012, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by abieleck

I'm pretty sure i was in the sync range, but will double check tomorrow. I have gone outside the range before, the flashes still fired, I just got a black bar on the bottom. with the transmitters on the K5 it wasn't tripping the flash at all......

You're thinking another brand of camera.
The Pentax DSLRs won't fire if you're above 1/180...Pentax probably thought it'd prevent the inevitable gripes about the camera being "broken" because of the black bar

**maxfield_photo** · 03-21-2012, 09:25 AM

You won't get black bars with the K5; you won't get anything. The hotshoe and the PC socket turn off at speeds over 1/180th. Wish there was a firmware hack for it, but there's not. Try X mode if you're using the PC socket, there may be some timing issues.

03-20-2012, 11:18 PM	#1
abieleck Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Portland, Oregon Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 799	Pocket Wizard Plus II on K5 At work I shoot with a D7000, and array of studio lights, and a couple Pocket Wizard Plus II wireless transmitters. I brought my K5 in today to do some product shots. The transmitters/flashes worked just fine on the the D7000, but did not trigger the flashes when mounted on my K5. I read that the Pocket Wizards are compatible.....Is there and sync/K5 setting I am missing? Any help/experience would be much appreciated. Thanks

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03-20-2012, 11:21 PM	#2
adpo Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery Posts: 888	make sure you're at the right shutter speed, the k-5's sync speed is only 1/180s

03-20-2012, 11:29 PM	#3
abieleck Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Portland, Oregon Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 799 Original Poster	I'm pretty sure i was in the sync range, but will double check tomorrow. I have gone outside the range before, the flashes still fired, I just got a black bar on the bottom. with the transmitters on the K5 it wasn't tripping the flash at all......

03-20-2012, 11:41 PM	#4
DSims Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Southern California Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,236	You may do better to manually set the shutter speed to 1/160 or less. In some of the semi-automatic and automatic camera modes you'll sometimes end up with the shutter speed out of range. Most of the time with strobes I'm using a light meter and manual mode, so this problem doesn't occur. I've used my K-5 many times with the PW Plus II and various studio strobes. It works well.

03-21-2012, 08:43 AM	#5
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Originally posted by abieleck I'm pretty sure i was in the sync range, but will double check tomorrow. I have gone outside the range before, the flashes still fired, I just got a black bar on the bottom. with the transmitters on the K5 it wasn't tripping the flash at all...... You're thinking another brand of camera. The Pentax DSLRs won't fire if you're above 1/180...Pentax probably thought it'd prevent the inevitable gripes about the camera being "broken" because of the black bar

03-21-2012, 09:25 AM	#6
maxfield_photo Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 1,216	You won't get black bars with the K5; you won't get anything. The hotshoe and the PC socket turn off at speeds over 1/180th. Wish there was a firmware hack for it, but there's not. Try X mode if you're using the PC socket, there may be some timing issues.

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