Overriding Pre-Flash....

xibo · Nov 23, 2006

How do I do it? Is it even possible in my camera? I'm using a Pentax DL. I can't find any way to override this STUPID pre-flash!! Which means the AC slave and $300 dollar flash I bought are pretty much useless right now. Unless I use the B setting and trigger the slaves myself!! How can I shoot living things like that?? If there's no way to override this pre-flash, are there any alternatives so that I can still use the slaves?

JIP · Nov 23, 2006

A pre-flash is usually red-eye reduction so if you can turn that feature off you probably get rid of the pre-flash. This is usually indicated by an eye symbol on your display.

xibo · Nov 23, 2006

It's not the red-eye function. I made sure that was off. It's a pre-flash. It's prety much imperceptible when watching the camera go off but it fires just a bit before the shutter actually goes. It's to gather information such as white-balance, exposure, etc. It's different from red-eye reduction.

Johnboy2978 · Nov 23, 2006

Are you using the on camera flash to trigger the slave? I have an alien bee 800 strobe that I attach to the camera by the hot shoe adapter and then it triggers the sigma ef 500 dg super flash that I have set up as slave (when I use both). I'm not sure you can disable the preflash.

xibo · Nov 23, 2006

Okay, that was what I wanted to know. I was almost positive there was no way to disable the pre-flash. I just was hoping that I wasn't going to have to buy more stuff to make what I already have usable. So, if I mount a flash on the camera, it won't do the pre-flash crap? I have an old crappy flash here made by Astral? Astral cb-21. Can that be put on my camera? If not, what's a flash I can buy that is really cheap to put on there? I don't want to use the flash that I will be using on my camera to light the pictures. I'll be covering it with an infrared filter so that it just triggers the slaves but doesn't contribute to the picture.

Johnboy2978 · Nov 23, 2006

Depends on the flash I guess. I would be careful using old flashes though b/c of the voltage. Don't want to fry the camera. I think you would have to use a hot shoe adaptor and sync cord like I am using for the primary flash/strobe and let it trigger any other auxilliary flashes you are using.
Never heard of what you are using. I use a Sigma EF 500 DG Super and an Alien Bee studio strobe (primary).

http://www.alienbees.com/beginner.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=352100&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

xibo · Nov 23, 2006

Okay, I have the same flash (the sigma one). The astral one, I don't even know how old it is or where it came from!! Does anyone know what flashes are compatible with the pentax DL? For in the hotshoe I mean. I just need something cheap that I can put a filter over so that it will just trigger the slaves and not affect the pictures. How much does a hot shoe adapter cost? It sounds like I'm going to need one of those to run a cheap flash off of.

xfloggingkylex · Nov 24, 2006

xibo said:
Okay, I have the same flash (the sigma one). The astral one, I don't even know how old it is or where it came from!! Does anyone know what flashes are compatible with the pentax DL? For in the hotshoe I mean. I just need something cheap that I can put a filter over so that it will just trigger the slaves and not affect the pictures. How much does a hot shoe adapter cost? It sounds like I'm going to need one of those to run a cheap flash off of.

so the popup wont trigger the slaves?? sorry if I am missing whats going on here. I dont have much experience with flashes, but will be getting the sigma 500 soon for my very own DL.

xibo · Nov 24, 2006

The pop-up triggers the slaves, but prematurely. With the camera I'm using the built-in (pop-up) flash does a pre-flash which goes off a bit before the shutter actually opens (you can't really see this by just looking, but it does). This means that the slaves are triggered before the shutter opens and, therefore, they don't register. If you want to shoot long shutter speeds it's fine, I guess, but if you want to shoot a faster shutter for living things (like I'm looking for) then it really sucks.

If I mount a flash on the hotshoe then I can get past the pre-flash but I'm wondering what flashes are compatible with a pentax DL. Are any of the cheap older ones okay? I mean, I'm not using the flash that is mounted as anything except a wireless trigger so I don't care about it at all, except as a trigger. I really don't want to get into wires.

ANY cheap flashes?

gizmo2071 · Nov 24, 2006

I had this problem the other day in the studio.
Lots of people using D70's. It's like they fire a curtain flash and that sets the monoblocks off early or too late.
I had the same problem using a Canon 350d.
My lecturer fixed the problem on the Nikons by changing one of the settings(after over an hour messing with all the settings), but I couldn't find a setting for this anywhere on the canons.

So I had to use some elses camera and having to buy a hotshoe adapter.

AluminumStudios · Dec 8, 2006

I don't know about your camera, but on my Nikon D50 I have to go into the menu and switch the flash mode from iTTL to manual. On manual mode the flash doesn't pre-fire. I dont' know if you may have a similar situation.