[sharepointalex]

Hi Guys,

I recently purchased a Metz 52 AF-1 flash for my K-3 to upgrade my old Bell & Howell unit which didn't play so nicely however I'm having some issues. I went out shooting last night with a friend to do some long exposure flash portraits and found some possible shortfalls with the flash. Firstly if I shoot in Aperture priority with the flash the shutter speed never changes - it always fixes itself at either 1/90 for 2nd curtain sync or 1/180 for 1st curtain. With my old flash I could only shoot in M mode but I figured with the new flash I could shoot in Av. Interestingly I use a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 lens and when I switched to an old Pentax 18-55 kit lens the shutter speed did change so is this just that my Tamron lens doesn't support TTL??

What do you guys do in this case? just shoot in Manual?

Secondly when using the flash off camera as a slave and using the built-in flash to fire the Metz I can't seem to use 2nd curtain sync? Instead it just fires the flash at the beginning like a first curtain despite setting the sync correctly on the flash. Is this a known limit of the flash? Or have I missed something here? Quite annoying really.

Also my mate has a D600 and he has a setting on his body to adjust the flash sync speed, I can't seem to find anything like this on the K-3 - is it possible to change the sync speed?

I'll have another play today and see what I can find out.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Alex

[sterretje]

I can only tell you about the shutter speed (the first part of the question).

The camera uses an algorithm to calculate the shutterspeed and takes available light and the focal length into account in this calculation. The only way around it is M mode on the camera.

[eonb]

Also, check the version of the software in the flash (if it can be updated). I've got a 48AF1 and a couple of 58AF1s - not everything works if it isn't fully up to date in the flash with my K5-II

[Class A]

This thread could/should be merged with this one. Same initial post by the OP.

[sharepointalex]

Sorry for re-posting, yes please merge.

[RGlasel]

he has a setting on his body to adjust the flash sync speed

Your camera sets the sync speed to 1/180 sec for any lenses that aren't DA, DFA, FA and F series, so that explains why the shutter speed can't be changed when the Tamron is on your camera. If you use modern and somewhat modern Pentax lenses, you can change the shutter speed to anything slower than 1/180 in Tv, TAv and M modes, in P, Sv and Av modes, the camera will set the shutter speed slower automatically to use ambient light. Depending on whether SR is turned on and the mode you are using, the camera might only reduce shutter speed to a point where camera movement should be still acceptable. Or not, in Av mode, I've had shutter speeds as slow as 3 seconds while using the flash. In P mode on my K-30 it doesn't seem to go below 1/25 sec.

using the flash off camera as a slave and using the built-in flash to fire the Metz I can't seem to use 2nd curtain sync

To be honest I've only tried the Metz in trailing curtain mode when it was on the camera. I can't find anything in the Metz manual that says 2nd curtain sync doesn't work in wireless mode, it does say that this type of synchronization may not even work while on the camera depending on how your camera functions. If the camera can't make the Metz do 2nd curtain sync, it operates normally, so I'm not sure how you would tell if it works wirelessly or not. If the K-3 manual is anything like the one for the K-30, good luck trying to find an answer there.

You may not realize that this model of flash fires for 1/125 sec on full power, so if you need full power and your shutter speed is faster than 1/125, you won't get the exposure you expect from full power. Basically, your flash controls its light output by controlling the length of time it is firing. So for all intents and purposes, the difference in flash sync speed between Pentax and Nikon doesn't have much practical impact.