Help Please - Remote flash triggering set up with K100D

oinkely · 03-06-2009, 07:36 AM

Hi Folks,

Hoping someone can help me with advice on this:

I have the following equipment:
K100D
Metz 48
Centon FG30

I would like to construct a set up whereby I can use the three together in one (or both) of the following configurations

K100D built in flash & the two other flashes remotely
K100D with Metz 48 attached & Centon FG30 remotely
K100D (no flash) and the two other flashes remotely

The Centon FG30 has a manual setting & two thyristor (I think) auto settings and has a PC (I think this is the correct terminology) socket.
The metz does not appear to have a PC socket but I believe it can be fired wirelessly (but not by the K100D?)

I have been trying to research this on the web but am getting a bit lost in jargon and terminology so if someone could offer any advice I would be very grateful.

I would like to be able to do this outside aswell as inside.

Any idea what sort of set up i need - cables, adaptors etc? And just to be restrictive, cost is an issue so the wireless pocket wizard gadgets are out

thanks in advance for any offerings.

krypticide · 03-06-2009, 01:36 PM

For the first two scenarios, you will need to have an optical trigger attached to your remote flashes. These will not necessarily be very reliable triggers, depending on your flash configuration and ambient light settings. The third option is possible with a wireless trigger, such as the eBay triggers (gadgetinfinity) or even better but slightly more expensive Cybersyncs, which are much cheaper than the Poverty Wizards you mention.

You will need to get a PC sync port to hotshoe adapter from flashzebra.com, and they are not too expensive.

oinkely · 03-10-2009, 09:18 AM

Hi Krypticide, thanks for the reply. I am slowly getting my head around this remote flash business. Having done some more reading and learning it appears that my best plan is to go for a radio transmitter on the hotshoe of my K100D and get two matching recievers in order to fire my flashes.

There are 3 choices available to achieve this - cybersyncs, flashwaves & ebay cactus things.
I just need to decide how far the budget will stretch and where best to spend my money. Some more reading & research is required I think.

I'm still undecided if this is a good place to spend some money.

tomtor · 03-10-2009, 12:10 PM

Originally posted by oinkely

Hi Krypticide, thanks for the reply. I am slowly getting my head around this remote flash business. Having done some more reading and learning it appears that my best plan is to go for a radio transmitter on the hotshoe of my K100D and get two matching recievers in order to fire my flashes.

There are 3 choices available to achieve this - cybersyncs, flashwaves & ebay cactus things.
I just need to decide how far the budget will stretch and where best to spend my money. Some more reading & research is required I think.

I'm still undecided if this is a good place to spend some money.

I bought two sets of these:

4CH Wireless Radio Slave Strobe Flash Trigger PT04 AR02 - eBay, Flash Units, Digital Camera Accessories, Photography. (Eindtijd 01-mrt-09 12:36:55 CET)

So I have one spare transmitter. They are 100% identical to the Cactus triggers. I know this because I opened it and could compare the internals when I modified the transmitter:

Gadget Infinity Cactus V2s Trigger Mod on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Note that the mod is not needed. Without it I get a reliable trigger through two concrete floors and about 15 meters line of sight, with the mod about double the distance.

I also bought two cheap optical slave triggers, so I can trigger four flashes.

I'm sure the more expensive triggers are much better, but I'm really pleased with the cheap ebay ones.

oinkely · 03-11-2009, 04:02 AM

Hi Tomtor,

Cheers for the link, the price looks good. Do you know if it is OK to use the receiver with older flashes of undetermined trigger voltage?

I'm unsure or the voltage of th centon unit I have. I also hae a canon 277T and an AF160 which i might like to use aswell.

cheers

bretti_kivi · 03-11-2009, 04:20 AM

I played with a K100D Super and couldn't get it to reliably trigger an offcam flash.
Running an EF-500 on the camera and an ef-530 off cam worked fine, but the inbuilt wouldn't trigger the offcam every time.
Trying both offcam from a K10D was a real pain and simply didn't work. I don't know why.

For these reasons, I'd really go with either the cheap 'bay triggers, skyports or get a PC adapter for your hotshoe.

Bret

tomtor · 03-11-2009, 06:29 AM

Originally posted by oinkely

Hi Tomtor,

Cheers for the link, the price looks good. Do you know if it is OK to use the receiver with older flashes of undetermined trigger voltage?

I'm unsure or the voltage of th centon unit I have. I also hae a canon 277T and an AF160 which i might like to use aswell.

cheers

The cactus receivers specify a max voltage of 12volts, so I would not use the receivers on unknown flashes. Note that cheap OPTICAL slaves happily work on my old 280 volt flash unit :-) This unit also works with the cheap radio triggers, but I use the Wein Safesync in front of it.

It is very easy to measure the voltage yourself, I'm sure you know someone with an engineering background which has a multimeter. Just turn the flash on and measure the voltage over the two contacts of the hotshoe connector of the flash.

Of most flashes the voltage is listed here:

Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages

Centon FG30, 200volts, NOT safe

I would buy a cheap optical slave trigger from ebay, they are $10 with shipping included if you want to use your Centon.

See: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-camera-accessories/52733-very-happ...al-slaves.html

So trigger the Metz48 with a (cheap) radio trigger and use the Metz48 flash to trigger the optical slave Centon, works very good with my Metz-58 combined with an old flash...

Last edited by tomtor; 03-11-2009 at 06:43 AM.

tomtor · 03-11-2009, 06:32 AM

Originally posted by bretti_kivi

I played with a K100D Super and couldn't get it to reliably trigger an offcam flash.
Running an EF-500 on the camera and an ef-530 off cam worked fine, but the inbuilt wouldn't trigger the offcam every time.
Trying both offcam from a K10D was a real pain and simply didn't work. I don't know why.

For these reasons, I'd really go with either the cheap 'bay triggers, skyports or get a PC adapter for your hotshoe.

Bret

You'll have to disable the PTTL popup preflash by using a lens with aperture ring set in the non-A position...

mattdm · 03-11-2009, 06:59 AM

There's a third choice which should be considered when you're looking at how much money you want to put into this: upgrade the camera body to a K10D, K20D, K200D, or K2000. Then replace the Centon FG30 with either another Metz flash or a Pentax one (or Sigma Super, although see my other posts for caveats about that and wireless). Then you can trigger the off-camera flashes with the built-in one via wireless P-TTL.

tomtor · 03-11-2009, 07:34 AM

Originally posted by mattdm

There's a third choice which should be considered when you're looking at how much money you want to put into this: upgrade the camera body to a K10D, K20D, K200D, or K2000. Then replace the Centon FG30 with either another Metz flash or a Pentax one (or Sigma Super, although see my other posts for caveats about that and wireless). Then you can trigger the off-camera flashes with the built-in one via wireless P-TTL.

I agree that wireless PTTL is sometimes nice, but I don't think it replaces a radio trigger in many situations. It is impossible to trigger when you place your flash eg behind a tree to prevent flare.

So there is a place for all three methods: optical-slave, radio and wireless PTTL.

The last being the most expensive but sometimes indeed very nice, but money spend on radio/optical triggers is never waisted...

oinkely · 03-12-2009, 05:48 AM

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies - It looks like my canon 277t should be OK so I can use that instead of the Centon with the cactus type triggers.

I would love to upgrade to a K10 etc but that would result in a homicide!

Does anyone know if it would be OK to use the centon with a cactus wireless trigger using the PC port - i'm pretty certain that it has one?

Cheers all.

tomtor · 03-12-2009, 09:18 AM

Originally posted by oinkely

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies - It looks like my canon 277t should be OK so I can use that instead of the Centon with the cactus type triggers.

I would love to upgrade to a K10 etc but that would result in a homicide!

Does anyone know if it would be OK to use the centon with a cactus wireless trigger using the PC port - i'm pretty certain that it has one?

Cheers all.

No, it is not safe. The 12v also applies to the pc port...

oinkely · 03-27-2009, 08:51 AM

Thanks for all the replies folks. I have just received my cactus triggers. I have have tried them with my metz 48, a pentax 160 and a vivitar soemthing or other adn they work grand. Now it's time to start experimenting and learning.

03-06-2009, 07:36 AM	#1
oinkely Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Photos: Gallery Posts: 107	Help Please - Remote flash triggering set up with K100D Hi Folks, Hoping someone can help me with advice on this: I have the following equipment: K100D Metz 48 Centon FG30 I would like to construct a set up whereby I can use the three together in one (or both) of the following configurations K100D built in flash & the two other flashes remotely K100D with Metz 48 attached & Centon FG30 remotely K100D (no flash) and the two other flashes remotely The Centon FG30 has a manual setting & two thyristor (I think) auto settings and has a PC (I think this is the correct terminology) socket. The metz does not appear to have a PC socket but I believe it can be fired wirelessly (but not by the K100D?) I have been trying to research this on the web but am getting a bit lost in jargon and terminology so if someone could offer any advice I would be very grateful. I would like to be able to do this outside aswell as inside. Any idea what sort of set up i need - cables, adaptors etc? And just to be restrictive, cost is an issue so the wireless pocket wizard gadgets are out thanks in advance for any offerings.

03-11-2009, 07:34 AM	#10
tomtor Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 382	Originally posted by mattdm There's a third choice which should be considered when you're looking at how much money you want to put into this: upgrade the camera body to a K10D, K20D, K200D, or K2000. Then replace the Centon FG30 with either another Metz flash or a Pentax one (or Sigma Super, although see my other posts for caveats about that and wireless). Then you can trigger the off-camera flashes with the built-in one via wireless P-TTL. I agree that wireless PTTL is sometimes nice, but I don't think it replaces a radio trigger in many situations. It is impossible to trigger when you place your flash eg behind a tree to prevent flare. So there is a place for all three methods: optical-slave, radio and wireless PTTL. The last being the most expensive but sometimes indeed very nice, but money spend on radio/optical triggers is never waisted... Last edited by tomtor; 03-11-2009 at 08:15 AM.

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03-06-2009, 01:36 PM	#2
krypticide Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,079	For the first two scenarios, you will need to have an optical trigger attached to your remote flashes. These will not necessarily be very reliable triggers, depending on your flash configuration and ambient light settings. The third option is possible with a wireless trigger, such as the eBay triggers (gadgetinfinity) or even better but slightly more expensive Cybersyncs, which are much cheaper than the Poverty Wizards you mention. You will need to get a PC sync port to hotshoe adapter from flashzebra.com, and they are not too expensive.

03-10-2009, 09:18 AM	#3
oinkely Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Photos: Gallery Posts: 107 Original Poster	Hi Krypticide, thanks for the reply. I am slowly getting my head around this remote flash business. Having done some more reading and learning it appears that my best plan is to go for a radio transmitter on the hotshoe of my K100D and get two matching recievers in order to fire my flashes. There are 3 choices available to achieve this - cybersyncs, flashwaves & ebay cactus things. I just need to decide how far the budget will stretch and where best to spend my money. Some more reading & research is required I think. I'm still undecided if this is a good place to spend some money.

03-10-2009, 12:10 PM	#4
tomtor Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 382	Originally posted by oinkely Hi Krypticide, thanks for the reply. I am slowly getting my head around this remote flash business. Having done some more reading and learning it appears that my best plan is to go for a radio transmitter on the hotshoe of my K100D and get two matching recievers in order to fire my flashes. There are 3 choices available to achieve this - cybersyncs, flashwaves & ebay cactus things. I just need to decide how far the budget will stretch and where best to spend my money. Some more reading & research is required I think. I'm still undecided if this is a good place to spend some money. I bought two sets of these: 4CH Wireless Radio Slave Strobe Flash Trigger PT04 AR02 - eBay, Flash Units, Digital Camera Accessories, Photography. (Eindtijd 01-mrt-09 12:36:55 CET) So I have one spare transmitter. They are 100% identical to the Cactus triggers. I know this because I opened it and could compare the internals when I modified the transmitter: Gadget Infinity Cactus V2s Trigger Mod on Flickr - Photo Sharing! Note that the mod is not needed. Without it I get a reliable trigger through two concrete floors and about 15 meters line of sight, with the mod about double the distance. I also bought two cheap optical slave triggers, so I can trigger four flashes. I'm sure the more expensive triggers are much better, but I'm really pleased with the cheap ebay ones.

03-11-2009, 04:02 AM	#5
oinkely Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Photos: Gallery Posts: 107 Original Poster	Hi Tomtor, Cheers for the link, the price looks good. Do you know if it is OK to use the receiver with older flashes of undetermined trigger voltage? I'm unsure or the voltage of th centon unit I have. I also hae a canon 277T and an AF160 which i might like to use aswell. cheers

03-11-2009, 04:20 AM	#6
bretti_kivi Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 46	I played with a K100D Super and couldn't get it to reliably trigger an offcam flash. Running an EF-500 on the camera and an ef-530 off cam worked fine, but the inbuilt wouldn't trigger the offcam every time. Trying both offcam from a K10D was a real pain and simply didn't work. I don't know why. For these reasons, I'd really go with either the cheap 'bay triggers, skyports or get a PC adapter for your hotshoe. Bret

03-11-2009, 06:29 AM	#7
tomtor Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 382	Originally posted by oinkely Hi Tomtor, Cheers for the link, the price looks good. Do you know if it is OK to use the receiver with older flashes of undetermined trigger voltage? I'm unsure or the voltage of th centon unit I have. I also hae a canon 277T and an AF160 which i might like to use aswell. cheers The cactus receivers specify a max voltage of 12volts, so I would not use the receivers on unknown flashes. Note that cheap OPTICAL slaves happily work on my old 280 volt flash unit :-) This unit also works with the cheap radio triggers, but I use the Wein Safesync in front of it. It is very easy to measure the voltage yourself, I'm sure you know someone with an engineering background which has a multimeter. Just turn the flash on and measure the voltage over the two contacts of the hotshoe connector of the flash. Of most flashes the voltage is listed here: Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages Centon FG30, 200volts, NOT safe I would buy a cheap optical slave trigger from ebay, they are $10 with shipping included if you want to use your Centon. See: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-camera-accessories/52733-very-happ...al-slaves.html So trigger the Metz48 with a (cheap) radio trigger and use the Metz48 flash to trigger the optical slave Centon, works very good with my Metz-58 combined with an old flash... Last edited by tomtor; 03-11-2009 at 06:43 AM.

03-11-2009, 06:32 AM	#8
tomtor Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 382	Originally posted by bretti_kivi I played with a K100D Super and couldn't get it to reliably trigger an offcam flash. Running an EF-500 on the camera and an ef-530 off cam worked fine, but the inbuilt wouldn't trigger the offcam every time. Trying both offcam from a K10D was a real pain and simply didn't work. I don't know why. For these reasons, I'd really go with either the cheap 'bay triggers, skyports or get a PC adapter for your hotshoe. Bret You'll have to disable the PTTL popup preflash by using a lens with aperture ring set in the non-A position...

03-11-2009, 06:59 AM	#9
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948	There's a third choice which should be considered when you're looking at how much money you want to put into this: upgrade the camera body to a K10D, K20D, K200D, or K2000. Then replace the Centon FG30 with either another Metz flash or a Pentax one (or Sigma Super, although see my other posts for caveats about that and wireless). Then you can trigger the off-camera flashes with the built-in one via wireless P-TTL.

03-12-2009, 05:48 AM	#11
oinkely Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Photos: Gallery Posts: 107 Original Poster	Hi All, Thanks for the replies - It looks like my canon 277t should be OK so I can use that instead of the Centon with the cactus type triggers. I would love to upgrade to a K10 etc but that would result in a homicide! Does anyone know if it would be OK to use the centon with a cactus wireless trigger using the PC port - i'm pretty certain that it has one? Cheers all.

03-12-2009, 09:18 AM	#12
tomtor Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 382	Originally posted by oinkely Hi All, Thanks for the replies - It looks like my canon 277t should be OK so I can use that instead of the Centon with the cactus type triggers. I would love to upgrade to a K10 etc but that would result in a homicide! Does anyone know if it would be OK to use the centon with a cactus wireless trigger using the PC port - i'm pretty certain that it has one? Cheers all. No, it is not safe. The 12v also applies to the pc port...

03-27-2009, 08:51 AM	#13
oinkely Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Photos: Gallery Posts: 107 Original Poster	Thanks for all the replies folks. I have just received my cactus triggers. I have have tried them with my metz 48, a pentax 160 and a vivitar soemthing or other adn they work grand. Now it's time to start experimenting and learning.