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12-21-2010, 02:02 AM   #1
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Dörr flashes not compatible with K-5

I received an answer of my mail to Dörr, because my flash won't work correctly on the K-5, but work well on my K10D, K20D and K-7.

Here is a translation from German :

Dear Mr Schneider,

many thanks for your current inquiry.

Unfortunately, we had to find out that Pentax has changed the control of the TTL measurement with the K5.

Therefore all devices which are for a moment on the market, are not compatible in the K5.

Only the next generation will support the K5.

We are sorry not to be able to offer to you a solution for the moment.

Sincerely yours

Janine Hellwig

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dörr GmbH - photo marketing
Messerschmittstrasse 1
89231 Neu-Ulm

Tel. 49 731 97037 - 14
Fax 49 731 97037 - 37

export@doerrfoto.de
http: // doerrfoto


12-21-2010, 03:33 AM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by fs999 Quote
I received an answer of my mail to Dörr, because my flash won't work correctly on the K-5, but work well on my K10D, K20D and K-7.

Here is a translation from German :

Dear Mr Schneider,

many thanks for your current inquiry.

Unfortunately, we had to find out that Pentax has changed the control of the TTL measurement with the K5.

Therefore all devices which are for a moment on the market, are not compatible in the K5.

Only the next generation will support the K5.

We are sorry not to be able to offer to you a solution for the moment.

Sincerely yours

Janine Hellwig

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dörr GmbH - photo marketing
Messerschmittstrasse 1
89231 Neu-Ulm

Tel. 49 731 97037 - 14
Fax 49 731 97037 - 37

export@doerrfoto.de
http: // doerrfoto

Interesting supports the rumour there may be an updated flash in the new year.
12-21-2010, 03:34 AM   #3
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With studio flash? My K-5 works correctly with Dörr studio flashes.
12-21-2010, 07:51 AM   #4
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One would think they are talking about shoe mount flash based on the TTL mention.

12-21-2010, 08:05 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by i83N Quote
With studio flash? My K-5 works correctly with Dörr studio flashes.
Are your studio flashs P-TTL compatible ? Then yes
12-21-2010, 09:04 AM   #6
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If the p-ttl protocol has changed with the K-5, this should affect Pentax' own flashes, such as the AF-540FGZ and the AF-360FGZ. I have not heard anyone complaining that these flashes don't work with the K-5. I'm sure we would have, if that were the case.

I also think that, if it were the case, Pentax would have released new flashes to be used with the K-5, even if they were only firmware upgrades to the existing units.
12-21-2010, 09:16 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by noblepa Quote
If the p-ttl protocol has changed with the K-5, this should affect Pentax' own flashes, such as the AF-540FGZ and the AF-360FGZ. I have not heard anyone complaining that these flashes don't work with the K-5. I'm sure we would have, if that were the case.

I also think that, if it were the case, Pentax would have released new flashes to be used with the K-5, even if they were only firmware upgrades to the existing units.
Actually there is an issue that shots with hot shoo flashes on K5 are over exposed.

12-21-2010, 09:27 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by noblepa Quote
If the p-ttl protocol has changed with the K-5, this should affect Pentax' own flashes, such as the AF-540FGZ and the AF-360FGZ.
Not necessarily, perhaps Dörr was using an old definition which worked until now. Other flashes like Metz, Sigma are not affected because they used a more recent defintion of P-TTL...
12-22-2010, 10:54 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by noblepa Quote
If the p-ttl protocol has changed with the K-5, this should affect Pentax' own flashes, such as the AF-540FGZ and the AF-360FGZ. I have not heard anyone complaining that these flashes don't work with the K-5. I'm sure we would have, if that were the case.

I also think that, if it were the case, Pentax would have released new flashes to be used with the K-5, even if they were only firmware upgrades to the existing units.
Not necessarily. Third parties only have the flash control mechanisms based on reverse engineering, so may have missed a corner case which first-party flashes handle and they don't.

And as to studio flashes working - these are usually full manual, compatibility issues go WAY down here (trigger voltage being the only potential incompatibility, and that's rare for any reasonably recent equipment.
02-08-2011, 03:28 PM   #10
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I assume that this is referring to the DAF-42, which I believe to be the Tumax DPT386AFZ.
02-08-2011, 06:20 PM   #11
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Metz 48 - same inconsistent p-TTL metering

QuoteOriginally posted by fs999 Quote
Not necessarily, perhaps Dörr was using an old definition which worked until now. Other flashes like Metz, Sigma are not affected because they used a more recent defintion of P-TTL...
My second (replacement for the stained sensor body) K5 has the same inconsistent p-TTL metering as the first with my one year old Metz 48 which works perfectly with Km and Kx bodies. Metz guys say that they are working on the issue jointly with Pentax and that Pentax admitted that it was not Metz's fault.

I quote the response from Metz:


Dear Mr Kriviniouk,

Thank you for your e-mail

Please be informed, the digital camera "Pentax K-5" is intensively tested yet by our company's developing department (laboratory) with original flash units from Pentax, e.g. "Pentax AF-540FGZ", and also with the flash units of our product range. The digital camera "Pentax K-5" is also intensively tested yet with the flash unit "mecablitz 48 AF-1 P digital".

In principle, in full automatic "P-TTL flash control mode" flash unit's flash light output intensity is only determined by the camera (e.g. "Pentax K-5") and not by any external flash unit in camera's hot shoe. Full automatic P-TTL flash control flash light output intensity is not determined by external original Pentax flash units and not determined by external Metz flash units in camera's hot shoe.

The engineers of our company's developing department (laboratory) found out that there are really problems with the full automatic "Pentax P-TTL flash light control" with the camera "Pentax K-5" and any external flash units. However, these problems are also known by running the camera "Pentax K-5" with original Pentax flash units, e.g. "Pentax AF-540FGZ". For this reason, the mentioned problems in full automatic "Pentax P-TTL flash light control" are caused by the camera "Pentax K-5" and not by any external flash units.

Please be informed, many users of the camera "Pentax K-5" and even original Pentax flash units, e.g. "Pentax AF-540FGZ", also complain about these problems with "Pentax P-TTL flash light control".

To have these problems with full automatic "Pentax P-TTL flash light control" solved, in first line the camera's "Pentax K-5" firmware needs an update. We do not recommend any flash unit for this type of camera until camera's firmware problems are solved. For this reason the digital camera "Pentax K-5" is also not mentioned in the recommendations on our homepage:
http://www.metz.de/en/photo-electronics/flashlight-recommendations.html

We regret to have no other information for you and remain

With kind regards

Wolfgang Becker
Technical Support
_____________________________________________

Metz-Werke GmbH & Co KG
Ohmstra?e 55, D-90513 Zirndorf


eMail: wolfgang.becker@metz.de
Internet: http://www.metz.de

Sitz Zirndorf, AG F?rth HRA 5766
phG: Metz-Werke Verwaltungs-GmbH
Sitz Zirndorf, AG F?rth HRB 3283
Gesch?ftsf?hrung: Dr. Norbert Kotzbauer, Manfred Billenstein
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02-08-2011, 09:17 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mikhail_Kriviniouk Quote
Wolfgang Becker
Technical Support
This man was very, very helpful in answering a incessant, pedantic questions from me when I was writing the first pass of my flash guide. (And during subsequent updates, for that matter.) Metz gets an A+ for technical support. Way beyond what one can get from Sigma or Pentax — at least in English. The situation might be better if I spoke Japanese and could interact with their technical support directly.

I'm impressed that Dörr answered about their flash. I've sent messages to (and called) half a dozen Tumax-importers and only once did I get any reply (Sakar sent me a PDF of the manual.)
02-08-2011, 11:23 PM   #13
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Metz and Pentax working together on the issue?
I thought Pentax never licensed that kind of stuff? Ok, we dunno if they licensed pttl but the simple fact that they talk to Metz is IMO significant.
02-09-2011, 08:00 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mikhail_Kriviniouk Quote
My second (replacement for the stained sensor body) K5 has the same inconsistent p-TTL metering as the first with my one year old Metz 48 which works perfectly with Km and Kx bodies. Metz guys say that they are working on the issue jointly with Pentax and that Pentax admitted that it was not Metz's fault.
This is effectively a K-5 problem, but I can use my Metz 48 FA-1 controlling it with the EV adjustment, not my Dörr Macro flash.

With the Dörr flashes, it is a compatibility problem. When the flash is mounted and the K-5 switched on, the flash begins directly to flash, without touching anything...
02-10-2011, 10:52 PM   #15
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Incidentally, I had started a similiar problem in a Singapore pentax user forum, not sure can I cross link here.. but I will retype my contents here to share the information with Pentaxforum users.

12 Nov 2010

Title: Does your Kr/K5 work with 3rd party flash?

I had been using my 3rd party ebay OEM brand less PTTL flash on my Kx for almost 1 yr, and I have a "strange" encounter when i recently brought an Kr.

This OEM brand less PTTL flash works flawlessly on Kx and K7 at all settings (auto zoom head, sync aperture and iso. full PTTL function etc etc) and suffer no problem at all.

when the same flash is mounted on my Kr....at iso 100 200 it is still fine but any higher iso, almost every picture will be a white screen of death.....

I thought it is a flash socket problem with my Kr and went down for a chat at Emjay service center...Kevin slap on a AF360FGZ on my Kr....surprise surprise....it work fine....

Damn....so it means my brand less PTTL flash may not be so comparable to the new pentax models...

Any follow pentaxian here who own a 3rd party flash like Metz or Sigma PTTL flash, do they work on your Kr/K5??? I'm trying to gather some feedback, cos I have a event to shoot next week and I'm trying to gather some feedback, cos I have a event to shoot next week and I need a flash fast.....

In summary the response from Singapore user reported:

Flash made by sigma 530 Super, metz 48/58 and of course original pentax flash work fine with Kr/K5.
I myself had brought a Metz 50 and it work fine.
on a side note, I also brought a used AF200T and managed use it in the auto (green and red) mode really well with my Kr. You get good results easily by matching the ISO and f-stop as indicated on the Af200T settings on the camera accordingly.

Last edited by poseur; 02-10-2011 at 10:53 PM. Reason: grammar issues
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