Wireless flash for Pentax?

Canon Bob

Canon Bob

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I'm trying to suss out (but coming up blank) what Pentax or 3rd party offerings there are for Pentax bodies that replicate the functionality of Canon's ST-E3 or Nikon's SU-800.

Can anybody offer some direction please?

Bob
 
Are you thinking K-1? (y)

I don't know Bob, but it's a very good question. And Pentax needs to come up with some good answers if the K-1 is to be taken seriously. As a general comment, apart from Canon and Nikon, and Sony now beginning to show with third-party manufacturers, for other brands it's a mostly barren outlook.

Have you looked at Cactus? I've never used it, but their V6 system gets positive mentions now and then and lists Pentax. Not quite what you're after perhaps, but... http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/studio...ies/cactus-wireless-flash-transceiver-v6.html

Edit: Just off the top of my head, might the Yongnuo 560 system work as a basic manual-only radio/remote-control trigger? Nikon version may be favourite, just a guess tho http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yongnuo-YN5...=1459346999&sr=1-3&keywords=yongnuo+560+nikon
 
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Thanks for the pointer, Richard. I've actually got a 645Z on the way (scratching a long term itch!) but the user guide is pretty vague about OCF options other than popping a gun on the hotshoe to fire slaves (unless constrained by a cable). I thought I'd put feelers out before hacking the strobe of a decent speedlight and just using the IR/videolight part as a master......assuming that the data burst is from the IR/videolight and not in the pre-flash.
I'll investigate what Cactus might do for me......I've been Canonised for so long that ST-E2's and ST-E3's are the norm.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
Thanks for the pointer, Richard. I've actually got a 645Z on the way (scratching a long term itch!) but the user guide is pretty vague about OCF options other than popping a gun on the hotshoe to fire slaves (unless constrained by a cable). I thought I'd put feelers out before hacking the strobe of a decent speedlight and just using the IR/videolight part as a master......assuming that the data burst is from the IR/videolight and not in the pre-flash.
I'll investigate what Cactus might do for me......I've been Canonised for so long that ST-E2's and ST-E3's are the norm.

Bob
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Sweet :) I remember you dwelling on this, but expressing lack of long term confidence in Pentax for such an investment. But I agree, the camera is really tempting now and with Ricoh's backing things are looking up for Pentax. Everyone is obsessed with pixels these days, but if it's image quality you're after, just go bigger. Effortlessly stunning. You just gotta pay.

ps Just the thing for your birding LOL

NB See my edit above, crossed post with yours. Might be worth looking at.
 
And on the manual/radio/remote control theme, another guess might be Godox speedlites. Mike Weeks is your man for guidance on that.
 
HoppyUK said:
Sweet :) I remember you dwelling on this, but expressing lack of long term confidence in Pentax for such an investment. But I agree, the camera is really tempting now and with Ricoh's backing things are looking up for Pentax. Everyone is obsessed with pixels these days, but if it's image quality you're after, just go bigger. Effortlessly stunning. You just gotta pay.

ps Just the thing for your birding LOL
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I'm not replacing the Canon gear as I'm much too far into it to consider taking that step. The 645Z runs about the same cost as replacing my 1Dx's with MkII's and I think I'll get more fun for my outlay going down this route.....I've already got a clutch of 645 lenses and about a dozen or so Pentacon Six mount CZJ and Meyers which will work (if only for their rendering and not their resolution). I'm sure that there are folks out there who could get better shots with my old Agfa Billy Record than I can with a 1Dx and top end Zeiss but it doesn't stop me enjoying the challenge.

I'll read through the links that you've posted (and @gary996 ) and see what I can work with......thanks both.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
I'm not replacing the Canon gear as I'm much too far into it to consider taking that step. The 645Z runs about the same cost as replacing my 1Dx's with MkII's and I think I'll get more fun for my outlay going down this route.....I've already got a clutch of 645 lenses and about a dozen or so Pentacon Six mount CZJ and Meyers which will work (if only for their rendering and not their resolution). I'm sure that there are folks out there who could get better shots with my old Agfa Billy Record than I can with a 1Dx and top end Zeiss but it doesn't stop me enjoying the challenge.

I'll read through the links that you've posted (and @gary996 ) and see what I can work with......thanks both.

Bob
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I love your spending logic Bob - don't know how you'd get by without a brace of new 1DX Mk2's :)
 
I can't imagine I'd want to use a Pentax 645 in a 'run and gun' mode, I reckon manual remote flash ought to do fine.
 
HoppyUK said:
I love your spending logic Bob - don't know how you'd get by without a brace of new 1DX Mk2's :)
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I got the strait-jacket out of the loft the very day that they announced it, Richard.
 
Phil V said:
I can't imagine I'd want to use a Pentax 645 in a 'run and gun' mode, I reckon manual remote flash ought to do fine.
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Thanks for the input, Phil. I have to admit that I'm an 'available light' type of person by choice but often get an invite to events......invite +1 as long as +1 happens to have a lens attached! If there's space available then I'll put something together but it's frequently the least obvious place that someone might kick a lightstand over. It's possibly (probably) a limitation in my skills but I find ETTL gives me the most consistent results in such scenarios. Over here (I'm in France BTW) there's almost always a varied ethnic mix from pale, through mediterranean shades to sub-saharan black and I find that the 'one setting for all' doesn't quite match up to a metered flash. 'Canonwise' I've got 4 600EX's and a couple of ST-E3's along with a whole host (maybe a dozen) of older 540/430EZ's that I use in manual for various things. It looks like the Cactus V6's might at least allow me to tweak things without wandering from flash to flash whilst the victims get bored.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
Thanks for the input, Phil. I have to admit that I'm an 'available light' type of person by choice but often get an invite to events......invite +1 as long as +1 happens to have a lens attached! If there's space available then I'll put something together but it's frequently the least obvious place that someone might kick a lightstand over. It's possibly (probably) a limitation in my skills but I find ETTL gives me the most consistent results in such scenarios. Over here (I'm in France BTW) there's almost always a varied ethnic mix from pale, through mediterranean shades to sub-saharan black and I find that the 'one setting for all' doesn't quite match up to a metered flash. 'Canonwise' I've got 4 600EX's and a couple of ST-E3's along with a whole host (maybe a dozen) of older 540/430EZ's that I use in manual for various things. It looks like the Cactus V6's might at least allow me to tweak things without wandering from flash to flash whilst the victims get bored.

Bob
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I have to say, if that's how you're used to working I'd recommend sticking with what you know and use the Pentax for available light and more formal studio settings.
 
Phil V said:
I have to say, if that's how you're used to working I'd recommend sticking with what you know and use the Pentax for available light and more formal studio settings.
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Of course that's the simple option Phil but it misses the point a little. You're communicating with a 'nerd' here :( Regular stuff with regular lenses is fine but I like to mix it up a little. I've got a modern copy of Petval's 1840 lens along with several home made lenses (including 100/2, 120/1.8 and 140/1.8) that don't start to show their real character (that's Bob speak for 'flaws') until the sensor is beyond 35mm....the centre of the image doesn't highlight the aberrations that a quasi-medium format 4:3 will hopefully capture.

Right now you're sighing out loud and wondering why someone would put pair up an 1840's lens (or a cobbled up 60's Russian projector lens) with an expensive 'state of the art' body......can't rightly answer that one sir.

Bob
 
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If anybody's still interested then here's the outcome......

I've been testing the communication between the Canon ST-E3 and the 600EX's. It seems that the 600's retain the power settings from the last time that they received data from the ST-E3 and will continue this way until they get new information. If I pop the ST-E3 on the Pentax 645 hotshoe via an isolator with a sync input connected to the P645 sync socket then I can use the ST-E3 to configure the 600's and fire them......no more button pushing/dial turning than doing a little FEC on a Canon body. The ST-E3's test button also reconfigures the 600's if I don't want to waste a shot sending the new settings.
Total cost 7 Euros.

Bob
 
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