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Forum: Pentax K-70 & KF
01-11-2017, 09:14 AM
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you are right, I had this vexing problem myself with pentax k5 and 540fgz. there is no official pentax affirmation or denial that i know of. i haven't had this happen with k20 or k200; so i guess this is a problem of camera not flash gun. personally i switched to a yongnuo purely manual flash gun where i can adjust the power in steps from 1/64 to full power. with a little understanding of guide number it becomes a second nature to get the flash power reasonably well.
Keep in mind flash intensity is controlled by changing flash duration, not by changing flash power. you can also affect the flash by changing iso and aperture, not by shutter speed until the limit of xsync. you need a professional flash only if you use hss. for everyday fill flash a manual flash for about 60bucks will do the trick. only issue will be since the flash doesn't "talk" to the camera you need to keep sutter speed under sync speed.
hope this helps. cheers.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-24-2016, 05:18 AM
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can't compare different lenses.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-24-2016, 05:03 AM
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No. I don,t think there has been a fix. I just shoot manual settings and manual flash. I don't know if this is still an issue in K3 and beyond.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-08-2015, 08:31 AM
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I have diligently avoided buyin pentax sdm lenses after hearing horror stories about sdm failure. Pentax hitherto has pretended like 'you guys are imagining'. Lately I see all the new motorized pentax lenses come with DC motor, which has been trouble free. Is this a tacit admission of guilt on pentax's part. Is there a possibility pentax will at least give 5 year warranty on sdm lenses? Just dreaming! cheers.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-07-2015, 08:57 PM
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Hi everybody, happy new year (albeit belated)
Well lately I have been hibernating. Just recently succumbed to the temptation of trying Canikon. Been a Pentaxian (will never call myself a Richoian or whateverelse) for all my camera life. Occasionally one gets curious to test what the heck that others are raving about.
Well, it was in such a moment did I buy Nikon D5200 with image stabilized(! excuse me) 18-55 kit lens. Well, I bought a used pentax 50mm 1.4 on ebay, perhaps over 30 yrs old, guess what it is image stabilized, thanks to pentax.
Well, I went on to mount nikon plastic on plastic. Wait, are you kidding me? Lens release button is designed for a leftie in mind? I am holding the lens in my right hand and the lens release button is awkwardly placed. Oh well, I switch the lens to my left hand so that I can grab the camera body so that my right thumb falls on the lens release button. Align the white dots and turn. What the FFFF. It is not clockwise tight. Did your father not teach you? righty tighty lefty loosie?
OK nikon. I forgive you for these minor transgressions. Let me stomach these issues and take some pictures. Oh wait! my 2 year old niece wanders out in my backyard. It is pouring rain. I got carried away and wanted to create an award winning picture of a cute little 2 yr old petting a puppy in rain. My teenage son screamed. “Dad are you crazy. You will kill that camera. Take this”. He hands me K200D with 18=55 WR.
Eventually, after taking some shots wanted to see how they looked. With nikon I wanted to zoom in. Seriously, you need two buttons for zoom in and zoom out. you couldn’t just use the thumbwheel as Pentax does?
How well is it exposed? Seriously, I can’t see the histogram on the preview picture on full screen?
I have to admit one thing. If I were to buy a DSLR for my 7 yr old who wants point and shoot during birthday parties of her friends and feel like a great photographer, I know what brand I will buy under a grand.
I live in Buffalo, New York. We recently dug ourselves from under 6 feet (you got that right six feet not inches) of snow and as I write this the temperature outside is 2 degrees (Fahrenheit not Celsius). If I want my photojournalist son to have a camera for under a grand, you know what brand I will buy.
Cheers everybody, keep shooting.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-09-2014, 03:47 PM
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I don't miss K200D, I still have, use it love it. Despite its age it can still kick some ass. I love its color rendition. Oh BTW, I also own K20 and K5. I will sell my K200D when it stops taking pictures. Then I will really miss it.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-09-2014, 02:19 PM
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"Pentax is lacking in a couple of key lens areas. The one I miss the most is the a pro-level fast focusing 70-200."
That is unfair. Canikon 70-200 is a full frame lens. Pentax DA star 50-135 gives the same angle of coverage in a 1.5x cropped frame. Pentax bet the farm on cropped sensor on DA line of lenses. I doubt if they will ever make 70-200 without a full frame in mind. It is a tough market out there for camera makers. Smartphones are eating their lunch. Pentax (my love) has been like a foster child, going from house to house shunted by child protection agency. Pentax needs a home, loving parents and this child can do wonders.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-11-2014, 04:05 PM
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The sooner you learn manual settings and manual flash power control the happier you will be. You don't have to worry about reflective surfaces, high contrast scenes. You will get consistent predictable exposure. It is not as hard as it seems at first, kind of like learning stick shift vs automatic. k-5 is an awesome camera. You are right P-TTL implementation leaves a lot to be desired. I wish the camera will allow me to use 540FGZ in manual mode when the camera is in any mode. No, it is possible only when the camera is in manual mode too. Whereas Metz AF52, and Yongnuo 560 iii will. Yongnuo is fully manual not TTL, which suites my purpose. Earlier version is incompatible with k-5, though it is fine with my k200d and k20d. Once you understand the relationships between aperture size, iso, and lack of shutter speed influence on flash exposure (until you cross over xsync) with the help of guide number it is easy to guess how much flash power you need. Cheers.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
06-13-2014, 11:48 AM
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I don't have k3. Try this on k20. shoe mount 540fgz. turn it on. it defaults to pttl mode. press mode button repeatedly. it cycles through auto, manual and SB modes. leave it on manual mode. now on the camera select av mode. turn the camera on. the flash switches to pttl mode. when the camera metering goes off, flash will switch back to manual mode. press the shutter button and the flash goes to pttl. there seems to be no way to have the flash in manual mode and camera in any of the modes other than manual. hope i made it clear. cheers.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
06-12-2014, 01:13 PM
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I use flash in manual mode for predictable and consistent results. With pentax K-20, K-5 this seems possible only if the camera were to be in the manual mode too. I have no problem with metz 58 AF2, I can have camera in whatever mode and the flash in whatever mode. Am I missing something or is it Pentax's successful plan of annoying its custmers in flash department? Cheers.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
11-07-2013, 01:52 PM
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What brand of rechargeable AA batteries are you using? Anything other than Eneloop brand is pretty much garbage. AA Lithiums in my K200D can give atleast 300 shots with average built in flash usage. Without flash about 450. Alkaline AAs are useless as well. Duracel fairs better, may be about 80 shots. Cheers.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
11-07-2013, 01:09 PM
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I do own yongnuo (460 I believe). Once you learn the interaction between iso, aperture and subject distance (shutter speed doesn't matter unless you are doing HSS), it is fairly easy to get consistent exposure. However P-TTL has other advantages. Though you can use Yongnuo off hotshoe, it is an optical slave not a true wireless(even pentax isn't radiowave, it is infrared). You cannot use multiple wireless flashes controlling ratio between units. Nikon undoubtedly is the king here from what I read. Cheers.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
11-07-2013, 10:55 AM
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I am looking for a feedback from someone who owns both K-5 and K-30. K-5 has been palgued by flash overexposure issue. Is K-30 any different?
I can get predictable exposures with K-20D, K-200D and AF540FGZ in P-TTL mode. With K-5, forget P-TTL, may be in autothyristor mode.
I know that there are lot of well wishers in this forum who are eager to show there camaraderie. Please, please, please, I am only looking for answers from people who have owned or used both cameras (K-5 and K-30), their personal experience in this matter.
I am in a situation where I am going to need dependable flash exposure. I will still prefer to stay with pentax system if I can. Can't hide my jealousy when I see the flash exposures from Nikons. I do need the weather sealing (affordable as I define it under 2 grand for the entire outfit). I may eventually end up using two systems, one for outdoor and one for indoor. Cheers.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-07-2013, 03:56 PM
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not a full frame:fedup::mad::(:confused:
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-07-2013, 07:51 AM
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Has anyone bought this lens in the last year or two and not experienced SDM failure? Thanks.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
06-14-2013, 03:57 AM
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How'bout giving us a PTTL that works! I'll paint my camera!!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-03-2013, 12:32 PM
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Care to give some suggestions as to what lenses I should mount on my K5. Main needs are, events, family, portraits.,vacation, some landscape, very little sports.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-02-2013, 09:51 AM
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which exif reader are you using
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-02-2013, 09:31 AM
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how do you find which lens used from exif data. as far as i can see, it only gives the focal length, it doesn't say if it is prime or zoom.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-02-2013, 07:07 AM
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I had a chance to compare these two cameras side by side. I have been a pentax user for 25 yrs, now have k200d, k20d and k5d. My brother-in-law visited from Phoenix, has a canon 40d with 18-135 walk around lens. I used k5 with Pentax 18-250 lens. I have uploaded two sample images one from each. I found the picture quality right out of the box to be far superior with canon, not withstanding it is several years older. what am I doing wrong? cheers.
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Forum: Sold Items
04-08-2013, 01:23 PM
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Is this a screw mount. If so will it work with k mount adapter?
Is there a tripod collar
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-21-2013, 01:23 PM
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Has anybody personally found out that a firmware upgrade fixes this problem?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-19-2013, 01:07 PM
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why don't you vote with your feet?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-12-2013, 01:46 PM
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After being an owner of K200D and K20D for 4 years, upgraded to K5, primarily tempted by the deal and for high iso performance. I did a lot of reading regarding the supposed tilted flash over exposure issue. Evidently PTTL is not as user friendly as Nikon flash system. Cannot vouch for that. I don't have a Nikon system. During earlier days of K20D and K200D I got very frustrated about the inconsistent flash exposures. Once I figured out (at least I thought so), how the camera thinks and interprets the flash scenario, I started getting near 95% accurate exposures. So much so now I can guarantee the result.
The learning curve was not that steep for K5. Because of its ability to handle noise in high iso, I tend to push the iso limits. I routinely shoot indoors with iso of 1600-3200. With K20D I didn't dare go past iso 400, lest I incur unacceptable level of shadow noise. In K5, with such high iso while using flash, I find that I need only a whiff of flash. I have -2 flash exp comp in body, stofen diffuser, bounce 60degrees. Over 1000 shots I have had perfect histograms.
I think it comes down to "knowing" your gear.
This was my logic with K20D and k200D. It all depends on how much of preflash hits the sensor. For example, if you use a zoom lens and focus on a very small area (perhaps a bit dark) only a small amount of light hits the sensor. Camera interprets this as darkness and blasts flash. In such a scenario I dial down exposure by -0.7 to -1. When shooting a group of people whith a light color wall behind, larger amount of light hits the sensor and the reverse holds true. I had a simple mnemonic, "If it is less less (as a verb) it, if it is more more (as a verb) it." This worked nearly 100% of the time. Drawing from that experience, I follow similar principle with k5, except I need lot less flash power, so I work in the range of -2 to -0.3 Exp comp. I find it is easier to adjust EC than FEC. We can program the rear dial to directly change the EC without having to press the EC button. It is easy to adjust EC on the fly. Hope this helps. Cheers.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
05-04-2012, 11:38 AM
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When pointing directly at the object, it works. I am doing some experimentation to understand the scopes and limitations of the PTTL. Perhaps I am pushing the envelope. A small colored matt finish toy at a distance of 5 feet, zoomed in at 250 mm, direct flash works. When Bounced, I see a weak flash which I interpret to be the preflash and the image is pitch dark, making me to believe that main flash didn't fire. The room has a standard 8 feet white ceiling. Cheers.
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