Originally posted by RGlasel And you can't follow the swimmer's stroke and anticipate when s/he will break the meniscus of the water? Why don't you increase your ISO so you don't need to use a flash and take advantage of continuous shooting? If the delay on your camera is erratic, I can understand why that would be a problem, but all I'm reading here is that the shutter doesn't trip instantly (after all the flash is firing when the shutter is open, but the shutter is being delayed when using a flash). If you can't prepare your timing in advance, but still need precision, you should look at a remote trigger, and set your flash manually.
three points
1 flash can fire quite happily in continuous mode you just need enough power (TR3 multiple wireless flashes)
2 Increase ISO ? so your after a flashed image to freeze fast action the solution is destroy the shot with noise and still not achieve shutter required ??
3 no your reading what happens wrong you press the shutter nothing happens zip zilcho nada then 1/10 of a second later the flash pre-falshes and main flash shutter triggers.
You are right the gap between pre and main is a necessary requirement but that's not where the delay is
Originally posted by RGlasel I'm definitely an amateur, but I've shot sports with a Super Program film camera (which had no auto focus and the shutter tripped whether or not the flash was ready) where I didn't have the luxury of using ambient light and if I waited until I saw the event I wanted to capture (making a basket, crossing the finish line, etc.) in the viewfinder, it was too late. .
Funny enough when I got my A-1 in 1979 the same argument was leveled against it , to many automatic functions ruining the art of photography yet the reality is every camera is a tool to take pictures.
I take pictures today in environments I wouldn't have got my camera out in the 60's , Never the less if a camera is supposed to deliver a certain performance level and your paying for that performance level should it not deliver ?
Originally posted by RGlasel Can you take a video of your camera and play it back in slow motion to see how long the delay is? Better yet, can you remote trigger two cameras at the same time to prove that there is something wrong with your camera? Trying to reconcile anecdotes is frustrating for everyone involved. The choice is yours, you can chase your tail like the tiger in The Jungle Book, or you can break down your problem into reproducible conditions to get it resolved. I do have considerable experience in customer service, and your odds of getting satisfaction from Pentax (or any manufacturer) will be much better if you can precisely describe your problem.
It was an example, for any example you can find work arounds, But that's not the point I can spend all day coming up with new examples that negate your work arounds.
The point is the camera should not have a delay before it does anything, A cheap P&S does not have a delay I pay DLSR prices for a fast camera.
ergo I expect it to be fast.
You can shoot perfectly good pictures with a phone camera so by your reckoning surely DSLR are a waste of money anyway.?
As to the delay time is just under 1/10 of a second, you half press the shutter (or use af button) camera AF's and when you press the shutter ..... nothing till 1/10 of a second later pre flash.... shutter and main flash.
It doesn't need quantifying Pentax service all over Europe are aware and awaiting response from Japan , There is no maybe it's you or your technique the delay is acknowledged and being investigated.
Nothing else really to say , the k3 has a delay in pttl that should not be there, it's not present in any other P-ttl camera from the IST through to k5iis