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03-23-2012, 04:39 PM   #1
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high speed sync flash

I just bought the AF-540 and I have a K-5. I followed the directions to try the high speed sync. After setting the 540 to slave and the camera flash mode to wireless the directions say to enable the built-in flash and W/HS will be displayed on the LCD. It is not displayed and I can not set my camera to faster than 1/180. Could you please give me the steps to set up for the high speed sync photography as the manual doesn't seem to do a very good job at explaining it? Thanks

03-23-2012, 05:37 PM   #2
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You can't do high-speed sync with the built in flash. To use HSS, you have to choices. Mounting the 540 to the camera will allow it. Or if you need wireless, you have to get a second 540 or 360 and mount one on the camera.
03-23-2012, 08:24 PM   #3
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I think you're right even though it gives instructions in the manual that you can use the pop-up flash with the AF540 wirelessly for high speed sync photography. Pentax should really update their manual with the correct information. Thanks for your input.
03-23-2012, 09:43 PM   #4
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Where in the manual does it say that? What I see is what Jodokast96 stated. Look at page 190

03-24-2012, 02:30 AM   #5
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Having just gotten my K-5 and still doing repeats of reading the manual , I know it specifically states you can not use the pop up flash with HSS. It never has on any of the bodies (AFAIK), though some older ones did not tell you anything about HSS; you had to find out on your own.
03-24-2012, 10:51 AM   #6
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Page 46 of the AF-540 manual does give directions using the AF540 in combination with a built-in flash unit. They need to revise/update their flash manual.
03-24-2012, 08:37 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jodokast96 Quote
You can't do high-speed sync with the built in flash. To use HSS, you have to choices. Mounting the 540 to the camera will allow it. Or if you need wireless, you have to get a second 540 or 360 and mount one on the camera.
There is one other option which is a TTL cord of some sort. But yes, this is true though it seems woefully (almost intentionally) undocumented.

The pop-up flash, the hotshoe, and the PC socket all turn off above 1/180th if the camera cannot detect a HSS flash. There is no way to get a sync signal to a slave flash from a Pentax camera without having a HSS flash somehow attached to the camera's hotshoe at speeds over 1/180th. None.

Please accept my condolences and know that you are not alone in your frustration.


Last edited by maxfield_photo; 03-24-2012 at 08:43 PM.
03-25-2012, 05:12 AM   #8
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My only thought now is, is this the case as well on all pre-K10D cameras? I admit the flash manual needs updating, but it doesn't mean it is necessarily wrong.
10-14-2013, 03:01 PM   #9
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This thread is over a year old, but I recently became aware of a strobe/camera mode called hyper-sync. It is based on the concept of some of the hotshoe flashes having a fairly long flash duration at full power.
For example, my Metz 48 AF-1 (dedicated for Pentax) has a duration of 1/125sec at full power. I also have several Yongnuo560 strobes and Cactus TX/RX radio triggers. The idea was to mount a Cactus set to TX
onto my K-5 set to manual mode, then trigger the Metz via an attached Cactus in RX mode. Well, as stated above, the hotshoe and PC sync plug are disabled above 1/180sec, so no remote flash at higher shutter speeds. :-(
I also tried it with my Nikon D600, which does send a trigger signal to the hotshoe, but I did get all the banding/shadows manifestations across portions of the frame.
The Nikon setup was most likely dealing with either propagation delay or some syncing issue between the hotshoe signal and shutter. I tried various combinations of strobes set to trigger in optical mode
and was just about to give up until I read this thread.

I mounted the Metz 48 onto my K-5 (still in manual mode) and set it to "P-TTL HSS", now being able to select a shutter speed up to 1/8000sec and also change the aperture.
The Yongnuo560 strobe was set to S2 mode at full power, which put into "pre-flash cancel" optical slave mode. No radio triggers were used in this setup. I turned the strobe head
of the Metz towards the Yonguo and fired a few test shots. The multiple flashes of the Metz in HSS mode triggered the Yongnuo and I got a fully exposed frame. Using different combinations of
aperture and shutter speeds provided satisfactory results. I took a few steps back and just pointed the Metz head at the scene, including the Yongnuo.
The LCD panel on the Metz indicated an effective distance of 0.3 meters, not enough to illuminate the scene, but enough to trigger the sensor of the Yongnuo. So the Yongnuo flash also has a fairly
long flash duration @ 1/1 power, long enough to illuminate the entire frame while the shutter slit travels across the sensor at 1/8000sec. Of major importance is the fact, that the Yongnuo gets triggered
at the correct time. The specifics of the timing are beyond me, but I'm glad it works. The proof in the pudding will be to try this outside and overpower bright ambient light with shallow DOF. Adding more strobes
will increase the effectiveness of this technique. Maybe getting a Nikon dedicated HSS capable speedlite will work with my D600 as well, using cheap flashes as slaves.
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11-09-2013, 03:38 PM   #10
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Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I can use wireless HSS with a combination of a 540 And Metz 58AF-1, but only when the metz is mounted to the hotshoe and the 540 is the optical slave, not the other way around.

Blowed if i can figure out why this is th case, but it just works.
08-21-2014, 06:11 PM   #11
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Somebody can tell me if I can use the neewer tt850 as hss flash con my k20d?
08-22-2014, 05:07 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by dinamojuan Quote
Somebody can tell me if I can use the neewer tt850 as hss flash con my k20d?
First, this is really not the right place to post this a different topic should go in a different thread.

To answer your question : The Neewer TT850 (and Godox V850 equivalent) only allow HSS when used with a Canon camera and a RF-16 (not S) trigger.

To learn more:

Review: Godox Ving V850 System - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews
08-22-2014, 10:57 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by bdery Quote
First, this is really not the right place to post this a different topic should go in a different thread.

To answer your question : The Neewer TT850 (and Godox V850 equivalent) only allow HSS when used with a Canon camera and a RF-16 (not S) trigger.

To learn more:

Review: Godox Ving V850 System - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews
Thanks a lot... I think I would have to buy some metz or sigma pttl so.
08-23-2014, 02:16 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by wizofoz Quote
Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I can use wireless HSS with a combination of a 540 And Metz 58AF-1, but only when the metz is mounted to the hotshoe and the 540 is the optical slave, not the other way around.

Blowed if i can figure out why this is th case, but it just works.
should be the other way round.

the Metz 58 has a bug in master hss/p-ttl mode

in HSS wireless I use a 540 on camera and many metz 50's and 48's in slave mode
08-24-2014, 06:43 AM   #15
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There is a firmware update for the Metz 58 for HSS the problem with the K30 & K5 ll
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