[Alvin]

Hey everyone,

Well as a lot of you know, I like shooting shots as much as possible without using a flash.

The day came when things got a bit too dark, and I had my loaned K-series 55mm f2 bolted on my camera. Didn't have another lens with me because I wanted to do an entire series of shots with this lens only. I said to myself, "I'll give this a try."

So, I pop up the flash adjust to f5.6 with 1/180 sec shutter and fire a test shot. I think I was too close, and my first photo was totally fried - LOL. Went to f8 and got a better result. After reviewing all my shots the same night, I ended up deleting all of them because I wasn't too happy with the results. I can't post any sample shots, but think of washed out colours and very flat.

Anyone got any tips for me? I've noted using aperture settings of 5.6 or 8 depending on distance to subject because they have gotten me the best results.

Is the aperture the only thing I can use to adjust the exposure when the flash is up while using the k-series lenses, or can I still fool around with the shutter speed?

Thanks!

[jfdavis58]

Manual Page 154? I've got a K55/1.8 on my K100 As I write; I'm not completely convinced that flash compensation is working or that it's not-warming-up the light meter.

[ccallana]

My understanding is that with an M or K lens, the flash always fires at full power - so you need to do something to lower the light level getting in. I think you can adjust both Av and Tv, but I haven't played much with it - I just stick the 540 on and go to M mode and reduce from there.

[roy]

th e onboad does not work with K/M lenses. the flash fires at max power. hot shoe or off camera flash works fine in p-ttl. why the onboard can't utilize p-ttl i have no clue.

[Adam]

The K100D, K110D, and K10D all don't have TTL flash, meaning that the on-board flash will, as roy said, fire at full power with M and K lenses.

Your options are to either play around with the shutter speed and aperture until you get the most desirable lighting (and that takes ages), to use an auto or manual external flash, or to get an *ist D, which has full TTL suppor).

For more information on TTL, visit this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-faq/2345-pentax-dslrs-support-ttl-flash.html

[Alvin]

Hey guys,

Ok, so the flash fires at full power no matter what. That's what I guessed at too after doing some test shooting a little while ago.

So my best bet is to play with aperture until I get the best result and stick it at the max flash sync of 1/180 sec, until I get a hotshoe flash.

I'll just remember to try to get off the manual lenses in those situations for next time if I need to take a critical shot until I get more practice.

Thanks for the input guys!

[Mike Cash]

Let's not forget dusting off the old method of dividing the distance into the guide number to come up with aperture.

[trog100]

i use an old Olympus T32 with my manual lenses.. they work quite well and can be picked up off ebay for a reasonable price.. i iad £40 quid with postage for mine..

trog