[Heritage]

I will be taking pictures at my niece's wedding in April - as an uncle and not a pro. It is to be held outdoors and I have an older Pentax AF280T flash. From my reading a fill flash is very helpful. My photography has mainly been landscape and wildlife, so I have very little experience using flash. I often have difficulty in the AF280T working with my camera correctly. I am using the K100d, and seem to have to go manual to make it work consistently. I can do that, but not efficiently on the fly at an event. Is there an economical flash that would communicate better with the camera to use as a fill flash for outdoor portraits/weddings?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Class A]

Do you want to use the flash on-camera?

If so, you need to be very careful with the power level otherwise you'll quickly get unflattering images.

I would encourage you to look into using a light modifier. Don't waste your money on Fong plastic, though, this stuff only works indoors (sometimes). Try to get a softbox or a wing light. Even better is off-camera flash, but that is not easy to pull off when you are on your own.

Have you tried the "Auto" modes on the AF280T?
These can work surprisingly well.

Your options are

1. Manual flash: You'll have to control the flash power on the flash. Never as quick as an automated approach but has its advantages (consistency) when you dialed in the correct amount.
2. Auto-flash: The flash determines whether the subject has received enough light. I don't have a lot of experience with this approach and you'll have to see how it works for you.
3. P-TTL: The camera issues a pre-flash and through metering then determines what the flash power should be. You can influence the result with a flash exposure compensation value.

P-TTL flashes unfortunately are a lot more expensive than manual or Auto-mode flashes.

[elliott]

The problem with outdoor fill flash is sync speed, chances are you're going to want more than 1/180s shutter speed for ambient light. High speed sync was created for this, but that requires a more expensive P-TTL flash.

What kind of budget are you looking at? Metz and Sigma make some very good P-TTL flashes for a decent price. Now that Pentax has released some updated flashes the original AF360FGZ and AF540FGZ have fallen in price and are still available new.

[Class A]

High speed sync was created for this, but that requires a more expensive P-TTL flash.

Another option is to use ND filters.

Cheaper than going P-TTL.

[Heritage]

Thanks for the input.

I have been having fun playing with flash settings this morning. The TTL setting keeps blowing out the picture. ? wondering if I am missing something? When I have the time to compose a studio-type photo, the AF280 works great in manual mode, but I am not good enough to do it at an event where I'll be moving around - distance and shade and clouds and all will change every shot.

My budget is low. Like to keep close to $100.

ND Filters - I will look into that.

**Just ordered a couple of ND filters. A Tiffen and a Hoya. I should be able to work with them and see how that goes next week.

[MPrince]

The K100D does not support TTL, only P-TTL (as well as manual and autothyristor). I use Nikon flashes (SB-25 & SB-26) flashes. I do mostly off camera flash, but the Nikons also work on camera in auto mode.

[Class A]

The TTL setting keeps blowing out the picture. ? wondering if I am missing something?

Your K100D does not support TTL. It does not have the required light sensor that reads the amount of light reflected by the sensor.

Your K100D only supports P-TTL. Some older *istDS model (or similar) still supported TTL but no other Pentax DSLR after it did.

However, the "Auto" mode(s) on your flash should work with the K100D.

[Heritage]

The K100D does not support TTL, only P-TTL (as well as manual and autothyristor). I use Nikon flashes (SB-25 & SB-26) flashes. I do mostly off camera flash, but the Nikons also work on camera in auto mode.

Well, that would explain why I couldn't get it to work! LOL! and yes, in "auto" mode it does seem to work. I think I wore out my family - using them as test subjects for my flash photography...hehe...

Thank you MPrince and Class A!

[MPrince]

I think I wore out my family - using them as test subjects for my flash photography.

I know what you mean. Even my dog turns his head away when he sees me with my camera in my hand!

[elliott]

Also, since you're using a simple flash that isn't really dependent on the camera, you might want to pick up a set of radio triggers or a sync cable and try some off camera flash work. With a single flash the auto mode can work well even off camera, they just get unreliable when using more than one in auto mode.

[johnyates]

General rule of thumb for fill flash is to keep your flash exposure 1 to 2 stops less powerful than ambient. In other words, if your ambient exposure is f5.6 @ 180th, set your flash to give the proper exposure for f4 or f2.8. You should be able to use the auto feature on your flash to achieve this. (I'm assuming here, as I'm not familiar with your flash).

[howieb101]

Also if you're over-exposing you may have to give up on the fast apertures. Use F5.6 or slower and iso 80 or 100.

[jake14mw]

Yes, the biggest problem that you will have is having to keep the shutter speed at 1/180th. If it's sunny outside, that means that your lens would have to be stopped down to f/16 or so which would give too much depth of field. ND filters could help

[dmfw]

Hi,

For $100, have you considered using a fixed LED bank of lights and a small softbox? The only issue is that they are rechargeable and you might run out of juice before the end of the event.

Regarding the wedding, are the majority of your pics in poses or at the reception? If the former, you do have time to shoot many exposures needed with a manual flash. If the latter, you will be walking around and talking pics so you will not have the time to set a manual flash.

---------- Post added 03-28-14 at 10:51 PM ----------

Another idea.

You could use your $$$ to rent a better camera, a low light lens, and a flash for the event. I live in TX., and I can rent a OK camera, with 50mm f1.4 lens and flash, for about $120.