Hi all
I'm trying to come to terms with the myriad complexities that surround flash photography. I recently obtained a Metz 48 AF-1, with whose build quality and operation I am generally impressed overall. I have to say at the outset that I've always been slightly underwhelmed by the P-TTL implementation of the K10D's pop-up flash, especially where it's infuriatingly sluggish response is concerned. That's perhaps to be expected, given it's limited output ? However, I'm glad to report that the Metz 48 AF-1 is a vast improvement in this respect, but I'm still wondering if there is any way to avoid the dreaded pre-flash, which is probably a contradiction in terms when discussing P-TTL ? It occurred to me that as the pop-up flash supposedly puts out an
infra-red AF assist beam in dark conditions prior to firing so it can establish how far away the subject matter is, could I not simply cover over the tube of the pop-up flash with something like black gaffa tape and then use it's wireless controller mode (if it has one ?) to trigger the Metz, as I believe the 48 AF-1 can only be set up a slave unit ? I think I read somewhere that having used the infra-red AF assist beam of the pop-up flash to calculate the correct distance, you can then close it down just prior to taking a shot, but I'm sure this procedure would start to drive me mad after a very short while ! If all of the above proves impractical, could I possibly use the flash compensation setting of the pop-up flash to reduce it's output, when using it in conjunction with the various bounce modes of the Metz 48 AF-1. I appreciate I'm skating on thin ice here, but if it's not a daft question, why on earth didn't Pentax consider including an infra-red beam and/or wireless controller in the body of the K10D itself, rather than just in the built-in flashgun, as it surely wouldn't have added greatly to the overall cost of the camera ? Additionally, can anyone please inform me how the Spot Beam (
SB) mode functions and if it would be any use in such a situation ? Apologies if I've misunderstood some of this, but I'm kind of struggling here ! All assistance much appreciated.
Best regards
Richard
P.S. I did try RTFM, but then my eyes started to glaze over.......zzzzzz !
Last edited by Confused; 06-16-2008 at 07:52 PM.
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