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View Poll Results: What would you pay for this flash?
- $ 50, I don't want a flash at all, I just want a cheaper body. 1219.35%
$ 0, the current flash is fine for me. 3048.39%
$ 50, for that tool (with limited extra functions) only 50 dollar. 711.29%
$ 100, that is worth something to me, make it good. 46.45%
$ 150, no external flash needed, so this tool may cost when it is a perfect tool. 914.52%
Voters: 62. You may not vote on this poll

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06-03-2011, 02:31 AM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by yusuf Quote
Interesting....I assume radio slave wont to p-ttl.
You're right, they don't. I guess I should've added that when I do off-camera flash work, I always work with the flashes in manual mode.

06-03-2011, 09:15 AM   #17
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To add some info for who is wondering just why a bigger flash could be usefull:
http://www.photocourse.com/itext/guidenumbers/guidenumbers.pdf
06-03-2011, 12:11 PM   #18
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I think that the popup flash is fine the way it is. It's something to use if you need more light pretty much only in a pinch because the positioning of the flash limits its usefulness to provide quality lighting. Adding tilt or swivel would make it much more bulky since they'd have to beef up the whole assembly considerably to make it resistant to breakage with the additional manipulations that would be possible with the tilt and swivel options. I don't want to pay the penalty of extra bulk or weight on an everyday basis for something that I might use on rare occasions.

What I'd like is a small pocketable and relatively inexpensive, external tilt/swivel flash that could be used as either a wireless remote TTL or as the Master/Controller on camera. It only needs to be marginally more powerful than the popup -- say @ GN 20-25, since higher ISO can give you more range without much sacrifice to IQ with the newer sensors. With an external, only those who want the extra versatility that the flash will give would pay the price, both monetarily or in size and weight of the extra unit.

I think that there would be a place for a compact and lightweight full featured low powered flash in the Pentax lineup. It would fit right into the design philosophy of a compact APS-C system. Add a high quality 45-135 f4 zoom to the DA 16-45 f4, the compact flash, to a K-5 and you'd have a killer lightweight events kit, especially if the compact flash was able to connect to a battery pack.

Scott
06-03-2011, 12:31 PM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by snostorm Quote
What I'd like is a small pocketable and relatively inexpensive, external tilt/swivel flash that could be used as either a wireless remote TTL or as the Master/Controller on camera. It only needs to be marginally more powerful than the popup -- say @ GN 20-25, since higher ISO can give you more range without much sacrifice to IQ with the newer sensors. With an external, only those who want the extra versatility that the flash will give would pay the price, both monetarily or in size and weight of the extra unit.

I think that there would be a place for a compact and lightweight full featured low powered flash in the Pentax lineup. It would fit right into the design philosophy of a compact APS-C system. Add a high quality 45-135 f4 zoom to the DA 16-45 f4, the compact flash, to a K-5 and you'd have a killer lightweight events kit, especially if the compact flash was able to connect to a battery pack.
Well your last thing is a nice set offcourse. It only needs two new products, a lens and a new flash (the batterypack exsists already). So not at hands.

The controller your talking about, I added it to the future later on, for early readers of this thread, is something people want. A lot off people want the flash system of Nikon. They have a controller CameraNU.nl - Flitser - Nikon SU-800 Speedlite Commander the Nikon SU-800 Speedlite Commander costing 259 euro. For such a system you have to look at a full Grand investing and I don't see a lot off users doing that. Still wanting everything.

So making it part off the camera body would be a good thing, I think.

06-06-2011, 01:11 PM   #20
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Well it is clear that Hoya is not wise to invest any R&D money in flash systems.
06-06-2011, 02:04 PM   #21
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No interest in a built-in flash on a pro-level body.

The only kind of useful feature is that the built-in flash is used to trigger wireless flash.

I think Pentax should switch to RF/IR wireless to control external flash with full TTL/P-TTL and drop the built-in flash all together. Having to use the built-in flash seems like a hack when doing wireless because it does put light on the subject at most working distances.

- No need to have such a long snout at the top of the camera body.
- Space for something like the wireless transmitter, or even a GPS looking forward.
- Easier to weather seal.
- Slightly lower price, or at least will offset cost of say the wireless transmitter/receiver.

In turn, Pentax should sell one or two small flash units. Similar to say a Nikon SB-400.
09-30-2011, 06:14 AM   #22
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New revamp of the thread

Well poll entry's are clear that we don't want to spend a lot of money on this. On the other hand there are some new developments in the market and maybe they are of interest.

Not totaly new, since Pentax 110

Samsung NX200 has a small separate flash:


Nikon's flash for V1:


The Nikon is more versatile in the sense that it has a swivel head. Both don't carry battery's, but take there energy true the hotshoe from the batterypack inside the camera. They aren't strong, both guidenumber around 8.

This is not totaly new since it looks like the flash of the Pentax Auto 110:

But that carried 2 penlites inside

Question is:
Could such a small flash, with a little more power then these and a swivel head that takes his energy from the camera batterypack (to keep the flash small) be a good ad-on to the system and replace the onboard flash?


Last edited by RonHendriks1966; 09-30-2011 at 06:20 AM.
09-30-2011, 12:39 PM   #23
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Please cut down the body cost $100 by removing the built-n flash which I have never used. If I want the cheap flash look, my P&S does a much better job. If I get serious, I use off camera radio flash. Perhaps that's what Pentax should pursuit since they are so far behind on flash system anyway. Might as well try something different.
09-30-2011, 12:54 PM   #24
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You must not have kids. The K5's built-in flash has come in handy while capturing candid family moments. Add-on flashes aren't always practical while in the field.

Having said that, professional gear should not have a built-in flash. Regardless, the K5 replacement won't be professional gear.

QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
Please cut down the body cost $100 by removing the built-n flash which I have never used. If I want the cheap flash look, my P&S does a much better job. If I get serious, I use off camera radio flash. Perhaps that's what Pentax should pursuit since they are so far behind on flash system anyway. Might as well try something different.
09-30-2011, 01:29 PM   #25
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QuoteOriginally posted by krebsy97 Quote
You must not have kids. The K5's built-in flash has come in handy while capturing candid family moments. Add-on flashes aren't always practical while in the field.
Ever heard of natural light?
10-01-2011, 02:28 AM   #26
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QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
Ever heard of natural light?
You really never shoot kids then
10-01-2011, 02:43 AM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by aurele Quote
You really never shoot kids then
I did, just not my kids. All natural light, no flash.
10-01-2011, 03:08 AM   #28
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But then again, can such a separate flash be of use, better then the current flash that is onboard of our camera?

Being versatile in the sence that it has more power, is small since there are no battery's in, controlled by the camera, swivelhead.
10-01-2011, 03:27 PM   #29
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I get fine results shooting family candids using the built-in flash. The trick to a good flash exposure is balancing flash with ambient light. I always shoot in manual mode while using any flash.

Sometimes there is just not enough ambient light for candid snap-shots.

QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
I did, just not my kids. All natural light, no flash.
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