[levi_v]

Hello all, I recently upgraded from my *ist ds to a K-5 and it has been a lot of fun shooting with this camera. I am doing a lot of very low light indoor photography and was wondering if there was a way to setup my camera to turn on the AF assist lamp with my hot shoe flash on? My flash is the Metz 50 AF-1 and it will use the red focus lamp on it when I'm shooting. Unfortunately this doesn't work as well as the green AF assist lamp on the camera. My camera will hunt too much while trying to focus, which can be a really embarrassing problem when I'm doing event portrait photography and need to get my shot fast. I am also shooting mostly with a pentax FA 43mm f/1.9 lens. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[philbaum]

Hello all, I recently upgraded from my *ist ds to a K-5 and it has been a lot of fun shooting with this camera. I am doing a lot of very low light indoor photography and was wondering if there was a way to setup my camera to turn on the AF assist lamp with my hot shoe flash on? My flash is the Metz 50 AF-1 and it will use the red focus lamp on it when I'm shooting. Unfortunately this doesn't work as well as the green AF assist lamp on the camera. My camera will hunt too much while trying to focus, which can be a really embarrassing problem when I'm doing event portrait photography and need to get my shot fast. I am also shooting mostly with a pentax FA 43mm f/1.9 lens. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

What an interesting question. I also would like to have more control over when the green light goes on, i notice that Nikons tend to use their assist light way more than my Pentax when i shoot with them indoors. When the K5 uses the flash assist light - i think that happens in PTTL. If that is the case, you might try putting your flash in manual mode and your camera in manual mode. Use the meter in manual mode to set up the camera for -1 to -3 ev steps exposure, and then set your flash for some fractional fill flash effect depending on your distance. See if the assist light comes on. I don't have time now to try it myself but i'm interested if it works.

good luck!

[levi_v]

I was actually shooting all my shots in manual mode on the camera and on the flash so I don't think that that will matter much.

[SOldBear]

If you use flash in manual mode, why don't you find a flash that does not have an AF-assist lamp (e.g. Sunpak 444D, 422D, Pentax AF-280T) or a flash that is not dedicated to Pentax (e.g. Nikon SB-25/26/28)?

I name those flash models because they all have bounce/swivel feature, and have power ratio settings in manual mode.

[levi_v]

I needed a flash that I could also use for rear curtain sync as well and most of the lower model flashes didn't have that feature.

[levi_v]

Okay, so I contacted Pentax and Metz and here are the responses I received:

"Thank you for contacting PENTAX.

We don't test our DSLRs for compatibility with non-PENTAX brand flash equipment so we could not assist you with setting up a Metz flash for AF assist on the K-5 camera. When you use a PENTAX P-TTL flash, like the AF360FGZ or AF540FGZ, the AF assist comes from the flash. When you use the camera's built-in flash, the camera's AF assist lamp is available. The only options for the AF assist lamp in the camera are in the Custom Settings Menu 3."

"Many thanks for your e-mail as of 03. Aug. 2012.
Unfortunately the mentioned AF measuring beam of the flash unit mecablitz 50 AF-1 digital for Pentax can't be disabled. However, this AF-beam only will be activated if the autofocus system of the camera is set to "AF-S". If you use the autofocus mode "AF-C" of the camera the AF measuring beam of the flash unit will not light.

Best regards"

So that leaves me with a few options, I can buy a second cheapie flash unit that doesn't have the AF Assist lamp on it, or I can modify my current flash to have a better AF Assist beam, or do some research and see if I can find out what signal on the flash is used for triggering the AF Assist beam and disable it.

[mtansley]

You could also mount the flash on a hotshoe adapter that only has the main trigger (center) connector on it. This would still allow the flash to be used manually (does your flash have an 'A' mode?) or in 'A' mode if possible.

I sometimes do this with my Metz 58 AF-2 when I want to disable the automation between the camera and flash.

[philbaum]

Unfortunately the mentioned AF measuring beam of the flash unit mecablitz 50 AF-1 digital for Pentax can't be disabled. However, this AF-beam only will be activated if the autofocus system of the camera is set to "AF-S". If you use the autofocus mode "AF-C" of the camera the AF measuring beam of the flash unit will not light.

Best regards"

[/SIZE]
So that leaves me with a few options, I can buy a second cheapie flash unit that doesn't have the AF Assist lamp on it, or I can modify my current flash to have a better AF Assist beam, or do some research and see if I can find out what signal on the flash is used for triggering the AF Assist beam and disable it.

Why don't you just use AF-C as you quoted, that doesn't sound like much trouble.

There is one negative to the green light, i noticed that it hits the hood of my Pentax 17-70, resulting in a crescent shaped llight, and i imagine some other zooms conflict as well.

[levi_v]

Why don't you just use AF-C as you quoted, that doesn't sound like much trouble.

I could, however I still need to have the AF assist lamp on the camera turn on, which I don't think it will in AF-C mode. The main problem I'm having is that the AF assist lamp on the flash way too dim and is no where near as good as the one on the camera and is causing me to have focusing issues.

[philbaum]

You could also mount the flash on a hotshoe adapter that only has the main trigger (center) connector on it. This would still allow the flash to be used manually (does your flash have an 'A' mode?) or in 'A' mode if possible.

I sometimes do this with my Metz 58 AF-2 when I want to disable the automation between the camera and flash.

Mtansley wins the prize!!!!!!!!!

I put a Cactus radio wireless unit on the hotshoe, which also features a hotshoe center connector on it's top side, to do the same thing that mtansely suggested. I then put on the manual only hotshoe, a Metz 48 that normally does pttl. It worked perfectly and allowed the green focusing light of the K5 to operate while eliminating the red light of the flash.

I then tried the fix of putting the camera in AF-C mode, but with the flash connected directly to the camera. Unfortunately it not only turned off the red assist light from the flash, but also the green assist light from the camera - bummer.

I also experimented with my lens hood which often interfers with the green focus light. Removing the hood from the lens(a pentax 17-70), allowed the green light to shine out without any obstruction from the lens - no crescent shaped light this time.

Those hotshoe adapters can be had pretty cheaply from ebay i think.

[mtansley]

Mtansley wins the prize!!!!!!!!!

I put a Cactus radio wireless unit on the hotshoe, which also features a hotshoe center connector on it's top side, to do the same thing that mtansely suggested. I then put on the manual only hotshoe, a Metz 48 that normally does pttl. It worked perfectly and allowed the green focusing light of the K5 to operate while eliminating the red light of the flash.

I then tried the fix of putting the camera in AF-C mode, but with the flash connected directly to the camera. Unfortunately it not only turned off the red assist light from the flash, but also the green assist light from the camera - bummer.

I also experimented with my lens hood which often interfers with the green focus light. Removing the hood from the lens(a pentax 17-70), allowed the green light to shine out without any obstruction from the lens - no crescent shaped light this time.

Those hotshoe adapters can be had pretty cheaply from ebay i think.

Well thank you very much!!!

It's funny, I've spent all my life in the I.T. business but the only awards I've ever won have been for photography, either for photos or for helping out here. Hmmm, something says that photography is more what I should do rather than I.T.

Seriously, I actually wish there was a way I could tell my Metz flash to JUST listen to the main center trigger pin and ignore all other signals WITHOUT having to stick on an extra hotshoe adapter. Since the whole flash is probably firmware controlled, you'd think that Metz could find a way to add that option.

Or else, a VERY thin bit of plastic that has a hole for only the centre pin to poke through. The plastic could be attached to the flash shoe and isolate all the other connections. I'd like to try tape but all that adhesive could gum things up.

[raider]

I also recently found out that mounting the external flash on the Cactus v5 and then mount that onto the camere's hotshoe will allow me to use the camera's builtin AF beam. All is good. BUT the catch is that the cactus v5 is not a very sturdy unit by itself. By mounting the external flash on the cactus, unless u are not moving the camera around, my experience is that the weight of the flash will sort of try to rip the top cover of the Cactus apart.....YMMV but this is my experience..

[maxfield_photo]

If you're not averse to using manual flash, put some electrical tape over the pTTL pins on the Metz leaving the center post uncovered, the camera won't know that there is a pTTL flash attached and the green light should turn on, but the red grid won't. Unfortunately the 50 AF1 doesn't have an auto thyristor mode, so this trick will only work with the flash in manual mode, or at full power and then you have to use the guide number of 50 to calculate the proper aperture.

[LH_NY]

You can try using live view. I'm using Rokinon D980AFZ with K5 and it use the external assist lamp in AF-S but will use the green onboard lamp when using LV. Slows down shooting/focusing but does gives a more dead on focus in near pitch dark since the external lamp aims a bit high for closer subjects. Would wind up lighting up top-center focus point instead of center one.

[elliott]

If you're not averse to using manual flash, put some electrical tape over the pTTL pins on the Metz leaving the center post uncovered.

A less messy solution would be to take some thin plastic, cut it to fit the hotshoe, then punch a hole for the center pin, that way you don't risk gumming up the pins.