Forum: Pentax Medium Format
09-22-2017, 10:19 AM
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The Pentax cable port is compatible with Canon, so that may make finding what you're looking for easier.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
11-08-2019, 01:11 PM
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It always strikes me as odd when we get someone here whose only posts are about the purported benefits of the Acon system. Feels like we’ve been here before...
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-21-2017, 12:48 AM
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Gerd
I think you hit the nail on the head! I bought a powered USB3 hub that could operate on bus power or external power (thinking I might need to go for external power), and since I added this into the mix, tethering has been rock solid, and that's without needing to use the external power supply. I've tested it on both the laptop and desktop that were previously struggling and it's working perfectly on both of these now.
I guess it's a different chipset in the hub versus the different PCs/laptops I've tried to use the 645Z with that simply works together more harmoniously.
For anyone that wants to try it, it's the super-cheap AmazonBasics 4-port USB3 hub (amazon.com: AmazonBasics 4 Port USB 3.0 Hub with 5V/2.5A power adapter: Computers & Accessories?tag=pentaxforums-20&).
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-21-2019, 12:08 PM
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I built some dual-illuminant profiles for my 645Z, and what I did was to use two strobes with snoots to get the daylight, and then removed the -500K colour-correction domes and used the modelling lamps on full power still with the snoots to get the tungsten. It was a fair bit of effort to set up, and required a lot of flagging to avoid coloured reflection interference and glare, but ended up producing some good profiles.
I got the basic concept from Anders Torger's write-up of how to build dcamprof profiles, and used his Lumariver Profile Designer software for creating mine.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-30-2016, 02:18 PM
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Get the Martin Fields one (available on Amazon). These are much better than some of the super-thin protectors out there, and they have both 645D and 645Z variants (as I discovered when I bought the 645D one, not realizing the rear screen size was different on the 645Z).
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-20-2017, 01:46 PM
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I love that last one in particular.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-26-2017, 09:32 AM
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So you bought one product that reverse-engineered Pentax's P-TTL protocol and then triggers that also reverse-engineered Pentax's P-TTL protocol, and when the two didn't play together nicely straight out of the box it's obviously the fault of the trigger company and ergo they are junk and their customer service sucks? Where were Metz during all of this, making sure their products properly behaved like Pentax flashes?
I have mine working with gear they were never designed for, can get high-speed sync from strobes that were never designed for it, and I've had firmware updates that have added extra functionality like P-TTL that was never even on the radar when I bought my first triggers.
So if that makes the product junk then I'm all about it.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-01-2017, 06:34 PM
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The 1/1000 spec is the fastest sync speed it's compatible with, not the sync speed you will be able to achieve. It won't go beyond than the x-sync speed of your camera or 1/1000, whichever comes first.
Medium format cameras with leaf shutter lenses could potentially take advantage of these higher sync speeds, but focal plane shutters will be in the range 1/125 to 1/250 generally, as you've already discovered. To go beyond that you need high-speed sync capability, which requires the V6 II trigger.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-25-2017, 11:33 AM
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Lightroom Classic CC with the Pentax tethering plugin and an external USB3 hub is working completely reliably for me now.
Images come straight into Lightroom, but are also left on the camera’s SD card, so that achieves your goal.
Having gone from being totally frustrated with it (before I added the hub), I’m finding it works flawlessly for me now.
I just wish that the Lightroom plugin would be more integrated with the camera and let you adjust shutter/aperture/ISO like Capture One’s tethering, but actually being able to trip the shutter reliably will suffice.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-27-2017, 12:11 PM
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I just use a JerkStopper with a loop on the cable long enough that movement on the cable isn't enough to dislodge it. I do know what you mean though, and the micro-B connector is pretty flimsy.
I haven't tried this, but if you have an Arca-Swiss plate on the site of the camera then this might work out for you, in terms of locking the cable down better. It still doesn't deal with the security of the plug itself though: Cable Relief Spacer |
Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-14-2017, 11:30 PM
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Yeah, it's remarkable that they'd written the review back in the day, but decided not the cover MF and therefore suppress the results for no good reason until they managed to surpass it with something from one of the brands they've espoused previously.
In my opinion I think they are full of crap and are beholden to their sponsors.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-31-2017, 10:48 AM
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You can use either, and then filter to match. You'll have less power loss on the LEDs moving from 5000K to 5500K than 6500K to 5500K using filters, but if you have plenty of flash power available and filter your strobes to match the LEDs then it's maybe not even a consideration.
I'd be more concerned about the CRI of the two different LEDs you're looking at, and go with the one with a better spectral output.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-28-2017, 11:26 AM
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I've confirmed with Cactus that X-TTL works (or will work in the case of Pentax) in pass-through mode, so you can effectively use the V6 II as a TTL format translator on camera, whilst also getting radio control for off-camera units. In theory this would mean you could stack something like a Profoto Air transmitter for Canon atop it and get TTL from your B1/B2 lights, but their intended use is for speedlights from other flash systems rather than trigger stacking.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-14-2017, 02:31 PM
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Your choice for HSS is Acon or Cactus V6 II. Acon presently has P-TTL whereas it's next on the list for Cactus.
The Acon requires a good level of morse-code expertise to program, whereas the Cactus has a display. The Acon is way smaller though.
Also, the Cactus is multi-brand compatible, so you won't have to use a Pentax flash to get TTL as soon as they release their firmware. The Acon does support Nikon with a different firmware, but that's the extent of its cross-brand compatibility.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-14-2017, 07:51 PM
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I'm going to go against the grain and say that a light meter isn't that important these days. Now that we're shooting digital you can quickly get a feel for how a scene will meter and then just take a test shot and review.
If you're using HSS then only the very top end Sekonic can meter for it anyway, so a regular meter will be useless in this scenario.
Even with my studio strobes I find it easier to take a test shot, review on the screen, and then tweak to taste.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
06-01-2017, 09:57 PM
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The Pentax and Canon connectors and wiring are the same, so you can use a Canon one. It is indeed 2.5mm.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
05-11-2017, 12:16 PM
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It would be easy to do with curves or levels too. Just kill the green and blue channels. You can do that as a layer and then put a B&W or desaturation layer under that to get the underlying B&W mix that you want.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
05-07-2017, 08:49 PM
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I think there was a firmware upgrade to the B1 to offer true HSS. D1 doesn't have it, but that's designed for use in the studio where it's not important.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
04-24-2017, 08:37 AM
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Firmware 1.1.009 is expected by the end of this week, which is supposed to address the outstanding Pentax issues.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
04-17-2017, 02:35 PM
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You could draw your blinds to help with the amount of window reflection in these. Once you see it, it becomes distracting. And if you have sufficient flash power available then stop down a bit. It'll give you added depth of field to make more of the product in focus (which is good for something you want to sell), plus it'll also reduce the impact of the reflections from the windows since the daylight will be correspondingly stopped down as well.
As an example if you are on 1/4 power on your strobes then open them up to full power (plus 2 stops), then stop the aperture down by 2 stops and your net exposure will be the same but the reflections will be 2 stops darker and you'll gain more depth of field to boot.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-27-2017, 01:47 PM
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At the risk of going OT there are two possible ways I know of to get Profotos to work with HSS, assuming your Profotos support HSS in the first place (B1, B2, D2, etc.). One is to use the Canon Profoto Air transmitter stacked on a Cactus V6 II trigger, where the Cactus convinces the 645Z that it has a Pentax HSS-capable flash on top to unlock higher sync speeds, and the Profoto transmitter thinks it's on a Canon camera. The second method, which may or may not work, is to do the same thing with the Acon R930 II transmitter, but with the Profoto Air Nikon version. There are reports, though, that the Nikon version of the Air transmitter doesn't let you switch HSS on and off like the Canon one does - it relies on realizing that the shutter speed has gone above the sync speed, so it's questionable whether this would work with either the Acon (that only supports Nikon flashes) or the Cactus (which supports Canon and Nikon).
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-13-2017, 10:35 AM
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I'm more impressed that he was able to get a second 25mm f/4!
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-27-2017, 10:39 AM
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The 28-45 is sharp across the frame. This looks like either a focusing issue or a support that wasn't quite stable enough for the 1/2s exposure.
To add to what others have already mentioned, mirror lockup (I use the 2s self-timer generally for this) is also your friend. I use that in conjunction with a cable release and it works great.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-21-2017, 12:50 PM
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Can we get some more 645 full-frame lenses with all-weather sealing? Would love to see a fast portrait lens around the 120mm mark and f/2, a replacement wide prime for the 25/4 (the 28-45/4.5 is a bit too much sometimes), and a tilt/shift (or even just shift) wide for architecture.
Also, and someone has already mentioned this, colour options on the focus peaking blinkies in live view to make it easier to see them in high contrast/high-key scenarios.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-30-2017, 11:11 AM
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I like the colours, but you're using the shutter speed rather than flash duration to try to freeze the motion. Can you use X-sync speed and get the flash to fire for minimal duration (rather than be in hotsync mode) instead to better freeze the droplets?
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