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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-12-2015, 06:47 PM
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Hey, it has just been shipped and precision site shows tracking number (that does not track yet) :cool:
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-11-2015, 08:50 PM
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My K-30 also started underexposing by 5-6 stops not randomly but all the time. Sent it in to Precision on 11/26 and it shows "in repair" since 12/8.
Looks like you got yours back so there is hope:)
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
01-14-2014, 04:22 PM
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Thanks! I plan on actually renting track bike and riding there too! Set to do beginner session on 1/25
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
01-13-2014, 10:28 PM
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Well, I finally got to Hellyer Velodrome this past Saturday 1/11/14. You were right about practice! I loved it and shot a ton of pics that my models liked enough to even buy some :cool:
I used both my kit 18-135WR lens when it drizzled a bit but most pics I took with used DA18-250 I just got off Craigslist locally. Neither is "fast" in terms of light but they did quite ok.
Seemingly slower old school screw-drive DA18-250 provided for proper focusing on fast approaching targets despite low light conditions of overcast winter afternoon.
This shot was made with DA18-250 at max zoom, ISO1250 f/7.1 1/800s
And of course off-camera flash helped later during the day.
This one is DA18-135WR at 100mm, ISO400 f/7.1 1/180s
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
01-07-2014, 09:11 PM
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All shot by K-30/18-135WR during our mini bike vacation to near-by Monterey and Big Sur, CA
Lexington Reservoir by apkom, on Flickr
Palm Beach State Park near Watsonville, CA by apkom, on Flickr
IMGP8524.jpg by apkom, on Flickr
Cyclo tourist passing by by apkom, on Flickr
Picture taking bonanza by apkom, on Flickr
This is what they all shoot by apkom, on Flickr
IMGP8679.jpg by apkom, on Flickr
IMGP8759.jpg by apkom, on Flickr
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Forum: Sold Items
01-07-2014, 11:47 AM
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I'm buying it. Exchanging PM's with the seller.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
01-05-2014, 06:36 PM
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-17-2013, 08:23 AM
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Thanks for the portfolio tip! I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the new stuff I need to learn since I started shooting seriously 2 months ago. My cycling passion led to new reincarnation of long dormant photography one. I borrowed Canon 6D/Metz50 from a friend to shoot my first race. That felt so good and inspired me to buy my first dSLR.
After much research Pentax came out on top (that same friend switched from Pentax to Canon and approved of my choice). I race bikes and wanted to carry gear on my back and shoot at rainy races too. So it had to be light and weather/dust sealed.
I used to shoot a lot as a teenager (friends, classmates and family, but never sports) many years ago but now feel like a newborn coming back to it with all the technology advances (which I'm a big addict of).
So far I only shot races of my own clubs so getting best spots has not been an issue. In several cases (long hill climbs and time trials) I'd do both: race myself (passing the gear to the finish line with support car) and then shoot rest of the field as they get to finish. This past Sunday organizers moved on my request finish line back (shortening the course) by 20ft to avoid trash cans getting in background like it happened at the previous race at same venue. Also since this time I used Metz 58 off-camera I could move father forward from the finish line to better separate riders from background (green bushes in this case while better than trash cans still are not ideal). The negative is that made me shoot at worse angle in relashion to the sun so powerful flash became even more important.
Shooting from the other side of the road (where timing crew was) is least desirable. The only alternative is panning at slow shutter speed standing directly across finish line thus blurring the timing people and their stuff and making very few good shots at that. That would not give my club-mates too many memories of the race (they love to see my pics same evening). I'll keep practicing my panning to overcome this challenge in the future.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-16-2013, 06:00 PM
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You comments are much appreciated! Thanks for time to write detail response!
All great points and I fully understand these. Indeed bikes look static with spokes frozen.
I'm trying to learn and use panning but recognize it takes a lot of practice and even then percent of good shots is low. I was able to make very few panning shots at slow shutter speeds during that same race while staying at one of the corners. those kind of shots are very hard to make right for me at this point.
I do recognize the relationship of F-stop/DOF, shutter speed and effect on overall exposure.
I guess this shot I made at a previous club race at different course is closer to what you had in mind. Panning works best with shooting at more direct angles to the plane of motion. At the finish line location I wanted high percent of sharp in-focus shots as that's what riders like (to recognize themselves and see their suffering in faces) and so went overboard with too fast a shutter speed.
However, there is technical limitation on how slow I could go shooting from that vantage point. Fast shutter and wide aperture allows to drop ambient light level in relation to flash to balance these. Frozen spokes come out as an unfortunate byproduct. I'm not sure the flash would be able to compete with sun at 1/100s.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-16-2013, 09:22 AM
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Sorry, I edited my message to clear this up.
Hey, I'm not trying to prove you must have HSS by any means!
Just trying different techniques to find optimal method of producing best pictures possible under the conditions.
I may be carried away by this technology tour de force but am finding these technical challenges (unfavorable light, fast moving subjects) a lot of fun to find ways to deal with.
If you can suggest better ways I'm all ears. All my knowledge is based on very little practice (only shot dozen bike races this October) and much reading of what's out on Internet.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-16-2013, 07:52 AM
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Well, not quite. I'm sure HSS would work wireless as expected with PTTL if I use Metz 52 or either of the Pentax flash units on the camera hot-shoe to control.
I need high shutter speed to freeze the action and flash to counter bad natural light (harsh sun light pointing in the wrong direction like in this example above with finish line location relative to natural light:
- it's location is such that I'm forced to shoot against the sun almost (since I want to face riders faces and not backs)
- this pic of 3d and 4th place finishers is taken at 11:05:16 and you can see faces well lit by the flash (specially two casual riders lady in blue and man in white jacket on the far right who happened to be riding there when the race came by)
- this pic of 5th and 6th place finishers was taken 1s later (2013:12:15 18:05:49) so the Metz58 did not have time to recycle after full power blast. The faces are much darker. Naturally, I tried to level the tones fix this by pushing shadows in LightRoom but still.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-15-2013, 09:31 PM
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Since my Metz 48AF-1 does not support wireless HSS master function but can only be slave I consulted the ultimate Pentax PTT feature comparison and after shopping online found used Metz 52AF-1 at Amazon marketplace. All the reviews confirmed it does work as wireless HSS master so I ordered it. When the package arrived however I discovered I received top of the line Metz 58 AF-2 instead. Nice surprise:D
The only problem is it worked as wireless master but not in HSS mode:mad: Hmm... looks like seller misrepresented the unit. Should I return it and keep shopping? But after realizing all the additional features this flash had over my Metz 48 I was really hesitant to return it considering I got it at the price of lower model.
Then I found this thread describing I can use Metz servo mode to accomplish my goal of using off-camera flash at faster than 1/180s. I'd reverse the roles and use my existing Metz 48 in the hot-shoe in regular HSS mode (not wireless) which would enable fast shutter speeds on the camera and send light impulses to trigger (more powerful) Metz 58 off-camera.
I was not sure if Aokatec triggers (which is light->radio->light proxy in essence) would also work to transmit visible light spectrum so I tried it and it worked same way as with infra-red putting IR transmitter over same sensor.
To summarize, with two external flash units, Aokatec transmitters and triple-flash hot shoe adapter I have many options and have tested some:
1. Built-in popup flash controls two off-camera units with P-TTL using IR.
No HSS in this mode range is short. Good enough for dark in-doors with shutter speeds slower than 1/180s.
Wirelss PTTL with IR by apkom, on Flickr
2. Buil-in popup flash controls two off-camera units with P-TTL over radio.
Long range but still limited to 1/180s or slower.
Double Off-camera Flash Radio Trigger: PTTL, no HSS by apkom, on Flickr
3. Camera hot-shoe triggers one or more off-camera flash units using Aokatec manual mode.
No PTTL, no HSS - full manual mode. Any flash can be used in this configuration. Aokatec TX unit is mounted in the camera hot-shoe and RX unit is connected to triple-flash hot shoe adapter by 3.5mm stereo cable.
Simple setup just like most other brand of radio trigger.
Interesting observation: with TX unit in hot-shoe camera does not register flash present but closes the circuit up to 1/180s speed.
4. HSS (without P-TTL) using simple optical wireless.
One HSS flash (does not have to be Metz) is mounted in camera hot-shoe. Off-camera Metz (can be multiple) is triggered remotely by light impulse. In Servo mode it ignores pre-flash and fires with actual flash.
Off-camera flash power can only be adjusted manually but it has to be set at 1/1 (full) as that's the only level where flash it long enough (1/125s) for complete frame coverage. Thus to balance ambient and flash one has to experiment with distance to object and/or flash zoom setting.
It turned out the range of optical wireless is much more useful than IR.
I positioned slave flash so it's sensor would face my camera-mounted flash. Even without swiveling the head of camera-mounted unit I had enough flexibility of pointing my camera at the objects and the light would still reliably trigger at 30ft (from the other side of the road). All this in direct sun light.
The range was sufficient for my needs and I used this today during bike race shootout.
I cropped this shot to show actual flash placement so you can judge the range it was effective at.
I enabled secondary flash tube on Metz 58 at 1/4 power just so I could see it as confirmation off-camera flash fired (primary bulb in a head was facing away from me towards the riders).
As you can see from the shadows the flash was directly opposing (morning) sun but was strong enough to lit up the face of even 3d rider (about 4 bike lengths from the flash).
IMGP6984.jpg by apkom, on Flickr
While in theory I loose PTTL control in HSS mode using Servo slave mode but in practice it worked out pretty well today even without extending the range by Aokatec product thus simplifying setup.
5. HSS (without P-TTL) using Aokatec radio wireless extension.
Same as option #4 but extending the range with Aokatec TX and RX units.
The hookups look like this:
Off-camera Flash Radio Trigger: HSS, no PTTL by apkom, on Flickr
I was able to trigger off-camera flash at much longer distance over radio across my entire back-yard
Observation about Aokatec product behavior
One important glitch I found with Aokatec triggers when using Servo mode (as opposed to regular PTTL) was unpredictable false triggering of off-camera flash. At random times RX unit would trigger the off-camera flash to fire without any command. Aside from wasting the battery it also means lost 4-5s for flash recycle (since we must use full power to make HSS work).
I troubleshooted this issue and found that RX unit when set in Auto mode even by itself (i.e. TX unit is off, nothing is hooked up to RX) would randomly start blinking red LED which means it thinks it received radio signal to trigger.
Interestingly off-camera flash is configured as PTTL slave (option #2) this does not produce false flashes (but I noticed system becomes unresponsive during such bursts of false triggering and misfires when I want it to).
When off-camera flash is in Servo mode this behavior leads to wasted flashes.
When Aokatec set to manual mode (option #3) I did not observe any such false triggering (no red LED when not fired).
I emailed Aokatec support about this.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-06-2013, 10:10 AM
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The AK-TTL manual shows mounting TX unit on top of hot-shoe flash and they provide velcro in the kit to make that easy.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-05-2013, 10:17 PM
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My understanding is:
Any flash capable of being wireless master/controller will work. Popup or hot-shoe mounted makes no difference.
As long as it emits IR remote signals the Aokatec TX unit will capture that and re-transmit over radio waves to RX unit which then will feed it back to remote slave over IR again. Both hot-shoe and remote slave flash units need to support HSS of course.
this is all covered here (look for wireless and HSS colums and notes on master/slave support)
My Metz 48 supports HSS over wirelsss as a slave only. So I need to add a second flash in hot shoe that can do HSS wireless as a master. Few models support this: Pentax brand 360 and 540 , Metz 52, 58 , Sigma DG Super
Once I get second external flash I'll verify HSS working over Aokatec for sure but the manual and physical principals of how product works makes me certain it'll do just what I want it to.
I've tested the setup today at afternoon sun and it worked (at 1/180s or slower or course due to popup flash limitation).
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-05-2013, 09:05 AM
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I assumed the same after reading the manual but decided to check various combinations in practice.
It worked fine in the dark room or outside and in fully lit room even with paddle up.
I have not tested this outside with sun but that'd require HSS capable second flash on a hot shoe anyways.
For the completeness of this mini-study I'll do more testing outside on a bright day and report later.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-05-2013, 08:22 AM
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Wrong, I used popup flash with paddle up as a master and paddle down as a controller. Works fine both ways.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-04-2013, 11:54 PM
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I just received AK-TTL set and got to play with it.
At this time I only have one external flash Metz 48AF-1 and plan on getting second flash capable of HSS controller role that would have Aokatec transceiver mounted on it.
For now I just wanted to check how it worked with built-in on camera flash driving the Metz remotely.
The setup looks nice and worked just fine using on camera flash both as a master (with paddle in up position as pictured) or as a controller (paddle could be up or down).
Off-camra flash with PTTL using radio triggers by apkom, on Flickr
To make built-in camera flash operate with AB-N1 Hotshoe Bracket
I had to file a bit of plastic from the top of it to make just enough clearance for the flash to pop and signal the camera that it's ready.
Radio transmitter on hothoe by apkom, on Flickr
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-03-2013, 06:03 PM
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Great write-up. Thanks for idea!
I was thinking about using flash bracket with off-camera PTTL cable for the master/controller flash unit.
Now it looks like I just need to splice in the switch for the trigger circuit.
I also plan on using remote flash with radio triggers (waiting for Aotec units to arrive any time now).
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-03-2013, 04:32 PM
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Oh! I see now. Well, this may be a bit of too much a kludge.
Plus, in my scenario (with objects approaching) I'd want to shoot first without then with the flash and the time between the two shots may be a second or so. If I turn that switch on after first shot I wonder how much time the flash needs to charge up before its ready for second (with the flash) shot. Essentially, it'd be starting up from power-off position then and must be ready to fire in one second.
As it is I just "waste" flash on my first few shots (when objects are beyond flash reach). It appears to recharge fast enough for the last "close-proximity" shot to be lit up.
I'll just have to leave with this.
I find it a bit odd that our cameras have no flash-disabled setting (short of turning actual flash power off).
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-03-2013, 03:44 PM
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LOL, it's easier to just turn mechanical switch off on external flash;-)
I was trying to get this done purely by camera settings though to make it quick.
I actually just found this old thread with response describing the same isue.
Apparently, there is no way do disable flash (when it's mounted and on) from the camera itself.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-03-2013, 11:47 AM
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I need flash to fire at high speeds! that is the whole point of HSS.
In fact I just shot entire race using flash to lit up athletes faces and up to 1/6000 shutter speeds to balance the ambient light.
this is an example of good HSS flash use at close distance with 31mm zoom:
IMGP5496 by apkom, on Flickr
And here is the one shot from long distance at 135mm zoom where flash fired but was useless
IMGP5420 by apkom, on Flickr
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-03-2013, 11:26 AM
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I'd like to quickly change from one shot to another flash from off to on while looking through viewfinder.
Often times my subjects (cyclists) approach quickly towards me so I'm busy working the zoom to keep composition properly framed.
At long distance flash makes no sense and should be off but when the object is near I need feel-in flash working.
Shooting in Av, Tv or TAv modes
Using the on/off switch on the body of the flash is too slow (and with flash off-camera would be impossible).
I could not find any way to force flash on/off by using any of the camera dials or buttons.
I was hoping I could program User1/2 modes to only differ by flash on/off but did not find a way to do this.
I use Metz 48AF-1 but don't think it flash model matters at all. Even built-in pop-up flash when extended would present challenge and fire all the time.
What am I missing?
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
11-27-2013, 09:12 AM
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While shopping for my K-30 I was faced with same question. Here is my experience.
I shoot outside under sun (bike racing) so was looking for high speed sync (and PTTL of course) as a requirement.
After carefully studying Feature Comparison - Pentax P-TTL Flash Comparison I narrowed down the list of choices to only those supporting HSS and wireless and reported to work with K-30 specifically (searching the forum helped identify these). Then I Googled those few models looking for deals. Thus came up used Metz 48AF-1 for $156.99 at amazon marketplace. I got it and after upgrading firmware to latest it works fine with my K-30 doing HSS while on hot-shoe and regular PTTL wireless workng off built-in pop-up flash.
Next step is make HSS work off-camera, so I'm shopping for a second flash that'd work as HSS master (so far used Pentax AF360FGZ - Pentax P-TTL Flash Comparison looks like only guaranteed choice to work) while on hot-shoe (popup flash does not support HSS at all).
Since optical wireless range is very limited under the sun I've ordered Aokatech radio triggers |
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
11-17-2013, 08:48 PM
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-09-2013, 08:49 PM
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Hope you knee will recover soon!
I'd love to actually try the track riding myself at Hellyer.
I commute by bike from West San Jose to work in Mt.View and getting to South San Jose Tue/Wed night is just too far.
Today I was not planning to shoot this race since I was in it but picked the camera along just in case and passed it on to finish. I was able to capture about 2/3 of the participants who were finishing later.
Took this pic from the Patterson Pass Rd summit (the race finish point) on my way there:
Surpisingly Calm today by apkom, on Flickr
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