k10d and 360af off camera

[occhicone]

<p>i have a k10d and a 360af and am experimenting with off camera flash...my question is if it is better to use a cable or is the wireless exactly the same? thanks</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>I use the wireless P-TTL all the time, don't even own wires. Is there something in particular you are concerned about?</p>

<p>Wired or wireless is similar capability-wise, meaning that you have full P-TTL flash functionality when triggered in either manner. There are a few differences though--one is that the pop-up flash will act either as master or controller. If 'master', it will attempt to contribute to exposure. If 'controller', it is supposed to have less effect on exposure but there is still some relatively small contribution which depending on your subject/distance, ambient lighting, etc. may or may not have a detrimental effect.</p>

<p>The triggering method may also be a concern if you have particularly long ranges, a flash can't see any reflected control signals, or if you're competing with other flash users. In these cases, wires or radio triggers may be preferable.</p>

<p> </p>

[shaloot]

<p>The thing with wireless is that you would have to have the ir sensor facing some part towards the pop-flash to trigger it... so maybe there it might limit with your setup. Since I really don't do much flash photos, I am just fine with wireless and holding it in my hand. I would say it depends on the shooting situation, but working methods are the same.<br>

FWIW I always shoot in manual when off-camera, I would get way too many inconsisent results with p-ttl...</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>For the stated purpose of "experimenting" and comparing cable to wireless, all should be fine. As far as P-TTL vs. manual, I find P-TTL pretty workable when bouncing but if I want more repeatable results with direct flash I often resort to manual flash.</p>

<p>For what it's worth I don't believe you need the wireless slave flash to have direct line of sight to the controller flash, but it would need to be able to see light reflected (off the subject or otherwise) from the controller flash.</p>

<p>One other advantage of wired is that when using manual flash you can avoid pre-flashes which can be an issue with some subjects (think droopy eyelids).</p>

[occhicone]

<p>if i do not want to use the built in flash at all,it needs to be wired, correct?</p>

<p>also, what about high speed sync in wireless with just the build in flash? possible?</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>If no built-in-flash at all, you need wires or or a second controller flash on the hotshoe. Even that hotshoe-mounted controller flash however will have a small amount of output (like the built-in) but at least it can be bounced instead of direct.</p>

<p>That's a good question--can the high speed sync be engaged on a wireless slave if the built-in flash is used as controller...I should try it. Should be easy enough to verify that one if you have the equipment though. I don't think the camera would let you increase shutter speed beyond 1/180 if it doesn't think HSS is engaged.</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>Christopher, it appears that as I expected, you can't raise shutter speed higher than X/Sync unless a HSS-capable accessory flash is hotshoe-mounted or wired. As far as I know you can do wireless as well but you need two HSS-capable accessory P-TTL flashes for that.</p>

[matthew miller]

<p>Yes, that's correct — the built-in flash can't do HSS, so it can't act as the controller for HSS wireless, even if it's in controller mode and not contributing to the exposure. I've confirmed this with Pentax tech support just to be sure.</p>