The Big Brother AF 540 FGZ

In the previous session we went over the Pentax AF 360 FGZ settings in detail. This session we're going to piggy back on that and discuss what the bigger brother the AF 540 FGZ brings to the table.



The Pentax AF 530 FGZ has all the same capabilities its little brother. The layout and buttons are almost identical infact so much that we won't be discussing any of that in this session as we covered it in the last session. The difference in the buttons is purely cosmetic and boils down to the switch on the 360 for the Master/Controller/Slave is a button on the 540 that toggles between the 3 roles and the LIGHT, ZOOM and the READY/TEST buttons are a little different. While the 360's READY/TEST LED is behind a clear plastic lens and a lot brighter the 540's LED is behind a less transparent cover that diffuses and reduces the LED's brightness. Other cosmetic differences include the S button and wheel, where they are recessed on the 360 they protrude a little on the 540.

The main differences between the 2 flashes is what makes the 540 the bigger brother. First off is power. The 540 boasts a Guide Number (GN) of 54 to the 36 of the 360. So now you see where the manufactures came up with the model numbers for the 2 flashes. So what does a GN of 54 do that 36 can't? More distance to the subject with the same f-stop or at the same distance a smaller aperture (more DoF). But by how much? Well a GN of 54 over a 10m distance gives you an f-stop of 5.4 (f5.6) and a GN of 36 gives you an f-stop of 3.6 (f4) so just a bit over 1 stop more light. At f4 the 540 gives you approximately (54/4=13.5m - 36/4=9m) 4.5m more throwing distance or about (4.5m x 3.28) 14.76 extra feet.

The other big difference is the swivel head. While both flashes sport a tilt head, the 540 also swivels (left or right) which is great for bouncing light of walls for diffused sidelight. With the 360 if your want to rotate the camera 90 degrees for a portrait frame the tilt only head changes the angle the light will come from. With the 540 you can tilt/swivel the flash head to the same position that you had for the landscape shot and the light source hasn't changed. That's a big bonus (to me at least) to have the same light in both a wide horizontal shot and a close vertical shot especially if the photos will be viewed in the same setting or running in sequence. Also with the tilt/swivel head the 540 allows you to bounce light from a wall behind you for a large soft front light when front light is what you want. With the 360 you are limited to harsher front lighting that requires a separate diffuser to soften the light.

Some smaller differences between the two flashes are the 540 allows you to change the auto power off settings a little while the 360's auto power off settings are static.

So now you can see why even though the 360 is smaller than it's sibling I love it just as much. It has all the same features for the most part and is very functional in most situations warranting the use of a flash and as a companion to it's sibling it's 100% functional for a lot less money. If you are going to buy 2 or more flashes buy one 540 and the rest 360s unless you know you will need the extra stop of light from each flash for a particular lighting setup.

Read the full article here!

The Pentax AF360FGZ In Detail

I started the Pentax wireless flash sessions but I just realized I have not discussed the flash or flash controls in any detail yet like I have for the camera controls.

So here we start the discussion on the AF360FGZ.



The AF360FGZ is a very capable flash as far as configuration goes. It supports all the modes it's bigger brother the AF540FGZ has but lacks the power and the swivel head for bouncing the light off the walls. It does have a tilt head for bouncing off the ceiling which for all purposes is better than front on flash.

For close flash work or for lighting product shots in a light tent environment it works very well but once you step out of it's power range you'll be wishing you had the extra stops of light the AF540FGZ has.

But power aside I love the 360 as much as it's big brother.

The Controls:

Power switch - The power switch does just that, turns the flash power on. If the flash hasn't been used in a while or was turned off right after a flash burst then the flash may take a few seconds for the ready light to come on. The flash will not fire until the ready light is lit. You can however setup the flash while the flash capacitors are charging.

Any MODE settings you have set are lost when the flash is turned off and the flash reverts to P-TTL mode. Settings like camera format and camera type are saved when powered off and even during a battery change. Extended battery removal periods have not been tested by me so I have no idea if they are permanently stored or not. I assume they are.

The power switch is also used to set the flash to wireless operation. For wireless operation set the power switch to the position between the on and off positions.

In normal operation the flash goes into standby after a few minutes of non-use but will come alive again when the shutter button is half pressed when attached to an auto-focus camera. In wireless mode the flash will turn off after about an hour of non-use. The camera shutter button has no affect in wireless mode. The AF360FGZ has no option to change the auto power off settings while the AF540FGZ does.

S Button/Wheel - The S button and wheel are used to adjust the values of the current setting being adjusted. The uses of this button/wheel will be addressed when discussing individual flash settings but in general pressing the S button will engage the value to be adjusted and turning the wheel will adjust the value. There are some settings where the button alone adjusts the value and the wheel has no function. There are other settings where neither the S button or wheel are functional.

The Setting Switch - Located on the right side of the flash (looking at the back) off to the right of the READY/TEST light the setting switch changes the functions of the LIGHT, ZOOM and READY/TEST buttons. In the up position it engages the white text at the top of the button and in the down position it engages the yellow text. We'll discuss this button more when discussing those three switches.

Mode Button - The mode button switches the flash mode between P-TTL, A, Manual and SB (spot beam) modes while in the On position. The SB mode is not available with wireless operation.

P-TTL is a mode where a pre-flash is metered through the camera and depending on camera settings, flash output and/or camera settings are adjusted for proper exposure. P-TTL can be tricked when the scene contains very reflective objects and you may experience under developed images. In P-TTL mode the S button/wheel adjusts flash compensation from -3.0 to +1.0 in half step increments.

With A mode (auto mode) you can set the ISO and aperture to match the camera and the flash will tell you what distance the flash needs to be from the subject for proper exposure. In A mode pressing the S button once allows you to adjust the f-stop value with the wheel. A second press will allow you to adjust the ISO value. Remember the flash ISO/f-stop must match the camera settings for proper exposure. Of course as with any settings you are welcome to experiment for different desired results but start with flash and camera settings matched.

Because the flash itself meters the light reflected off the subject the A mode will not work when shooting flash with umbrellas either reflective or shoot-through. Use P-TTL or even better manual mode when shooting with umbrellas, softboxes or any light modifier that blocks the view of the subject from the flash's sensor.

In manual mode you can set the flash power level from 1/1 to 1/32 power ratios in 1 stop increments. If you have a static studio setting manual mode is the way to go. Set the power so your exposure is in the ball park and then adjust flash to subject distance to fine turn it. In manual mode the S button/wheel adjusts the power ratio value. Press the S button to engage and turn the wheel to adjust.

SB mode is used in low light conditions (infra-red beam) to assist the camera while auto focusing. The flash will not fire in the setting and the flash is mounted on the camera. That said the camera to subject distance is limited for this to work. In SB mode the S button/wheel have no function.

LIGHT/FORMAT Button - The LIGHT/FORMAT button turns on the LCD screen back-light and lets you select what camera type you want to enable. In the FORMAT mode it lets you select the camera format.

The Light button when pressed and released will light the LCD screen back-light for about 10 seconds. Pressing it again while lit it will turn the back-light off. If the flash is mounted to the camera both the camera and flash back-lights will illuminate when either the flash or camera's light button is pressed. Since the camera's light button is easier to press while using the camera this is a very useful function.

When held for a few seconds the light button also allows you to change the slave type of the flash. To fire the flash in wireless mode with K series, *ist series, MZ-S/-L/-6 or ZX-L cameras use the S button to set SLAVE1. For optical slave mode set to SLAVE2. In SLAVE2 mode the flash will fire when it detects a flash strobe and can be used with any camera/flash with X-sync of 180 or below. Only A mode and Manual mode are supported when configured for SLAVE2 type. Use manual mode for the built-in flash when using SLAVE2 optical mode or the pre flashes will trigger the slave flash prematurely and the slave flash may not be recharged in time to fire during the actual exposure time.

When the Setting Switch is in the down position the FORMAT button will select the camera's frame format. You can choose between 35mm, 6x4.5cm, and 6x7cm formats. This changes the flash coverage reading as it is different for each format in each of the zoom positions.

ZOOM/CH. Button - The Zoom/CH. button sets the flash's zoom and what wireless channel the camera and flash communicate over.

The Zoom button cycles the flash zoom values from auto to manual 24mm through manual 85mm. In auto zoom the flash adjusts it's zoom value according to the focal length of the lens attached to the camera to provide the optimal flash coverage. Use auto zoom when the flash is being used on camera and manual zoom when off-camera. Set the flash zoom level where it provides the most even coverage of the exposed frame or for desired artistic results like isolating or highlighting a portion of the frame. When using an umbrella, bounce or shoot-through, set the flash zoom to spread the most light across the umbrella with out any light spilling over the edges of the umbrella. This is called the fill pattern.

The CH. button sets the wireless channel that the camera and flash communicate over. There are 4 channels (1-4) available. This will allow you to shoot independently with wireless flash with up to 3 other Pentax operators.

Unfortunately you can not manually set the wireless channel in camera. You have to attach a flash to the camera and tell the camera to read the channel from the flash. This IMHO is a severe limitation to this function as it does not allow the use of simultaneous flash setups to provide different lighting conditions by selecting the flash channel in camera without completely tearing down and re-building your lighting setup. However if you are into using multiple simultaneous lighting setups you're most likely going to use some other system with more elaborate controls.

READY-TEST/MODELING button - The Ready-Test/modeling button has 3 functions; to let the photographer know when the flash is charged enough to fire, to provide a way for the flash to be manually discharged and to provide a 1 second strobed burst of modeling light.

The Ready light is just that, the flash's way of letting the photographer know the flash is ready to fire when told. Be mindful to check the ready light on each flash in a multiple flash setup so the frame will be lit as intended.

The Test button will fire the flash. When in A mode (auto) the A indicator on the camera's LCD will be flashing to indicate the flash provided enough light. The test button can also be used to manually fire the flash to expose a long or bulb exposure. You can walk around in complete darkness (relative to the camera exposure settings) and pop the flash to light the scene. You can add different colored gels in between flash pops to provide colored lighting. Multiple pops in the same area will brighten that area. Be careful of overlapping flash coverage areas.

The Modeling light feature while somewhat useful as a modeling light is better suited to special effects photography. 1 second of strobe bursts provides a single frame stop motion image of moving objects. We're not talking high speed finely tuned sync flash for capturing images of moving bullets, but imagine capturing a bee or butterfly in motion as it moves past your frame. The power output of the flash in modeling mode is very reduced so the flash to subject distance will have to be very close. Think static wide-ish angle camera and hand-held flash following the subject at close ranges.

WIRELESS Switch - The Wireless switch set what role the flash is to play when in wireless mode. The choices are Commander, Master, or Slave. In Master or Commander role the flash needs to be attached to the camera, directly or via cable.

In Commander role the flash only controls the other flashes (which should be in Slave role) and does not contribute any light to the image.

In Master role the flash is the control flash just like the Commander role, but it also contributes light to the image. This role is great when some fill flash is needed in the image.

In Slave role the flash takes it's commands from the Master/Commander flash or the built-in flash of the K-10D which incidentally also can be in Master or Commander mode though the setting is named something different in the camera settings.

SYNC. - The SYNC. switch selects how the flash is to sync with the camera. The four sync methods are (from switch position left to right) front curtain or normal sync, Rear or Trailing curtain, Contrast Control, and High Speed sync. We're not going to cover each sync method in great detail in this session as each sync method will be covered in detail in later sessions but we will discuss each in enough detail so you have an idea how and when each method should be used.

In Front curtain or normal sync the flash fires when the front or first camera curtain is pulled back or in other words in the digital camera world when the exposure is first started. For 99% of your static images this is the mode you want to use. However if the subject is moving during a longish exposure there is a tendency to capture a ghostly trail which can ruin an image as the trail appears after the flash has fired and seems to be leading out to the front.

The Rear or Trailing curtain sync fires the flash right before the second or rear camera curtain closes or in the digital camera world right before the exposure is complete. This illuminates the subject last and leaves the moving ghost trail behind the subject. This mode is most excellent when photographing moving images and you want the effect of the ghost trail behind the moving object enhancing the illusion of motion.

Contrast control sync is used when a lighting ratio (1:2) is warranted when using two flashes. One of the flashes will fire at proper exposure and the other will fire at 1/2 exposure. One of the two flashes can be the built-in flash or another Pentax flash supporting Contrast Control can be mounted to the camera. The flash that you want to be the 1/2 ratio will be the flash set to Contrast Control sync. The other flash will be set to normal sync and provide full exposure. If only one flash is used the flash functions in normal mode even when in the Contrast Control position. P-TTL mode will be selected when using Contrast Control sync. If you're unfamiliar with off camera flash ratios and want a simple 1:2 lighting ratio with your K-10D and the AF 360 FGZ then this is a mode you will want to try out at first. As you gain confidence in flash photography you will graduate to using manual mode and setting your own lighting ratios when using multiple flashes.

High Speed sync is used whith shutter speeds above 1/250 second (X-sync) are used. High speed sync has its limitations however and one of these is as the shutter speed increases the power of the flash decreases. In order to maintain proper exposure levels the flash must be brought closer to the subject. For each stop of shutter speed increase the flash must be brought approximately half the distance closer to the subject in order to provide the same amount of light.

That about covers the AF360FGZ. Stay tuned for the details on it's bigger brother the AF540FGZ.

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Cleaning the Inevitable Dirty Sensor

Sooner or later it happens to all DSLR owners. The sensor gets enough dirt, dust and grime on it that it begins to show in your images and is taking too much time in PP work to remove.

A quick simple wipe of the sensor did the trick for me. Check it out in the full post.

I got tired of the accumulated dirt on my sensor and decided to do something about it. I was going to buy a cleaning kit, and still might, but before I did that I wanted to try it myself with a few items I had lying around the house.

I grabbed some cotton swabs and a bottle of window cleaner. "Woah there Nelly!" I'm sure some of you are saying, "That's a delicate instrument there and you don't want to mess it up". Well, I hear ya, but here is my reasoning behind why I thought this was OK to do.

First off, the sensor is behind several panes of glass (filters) so any contact is not done on the actual sensor itself. The IR filter is glass so why not use glass cleaner on it?

Second off, I'm sure the sensor unit is sealed and no liquid can get on in the sensor. Right?

Armed with this knowledge I decided to try the cotton swab alone to gently wipe the IR filter. As I suspected it didn't remove any spots. The camera's built-in sensor cleaner (the clunk-clunk) hadn't shaken any dirt loose so why would a quick gentle wipe with a Q-Tip do any better.

So I decided to just barely (feathered the spray) on the cotton swab and used my fingers to get the light mist to soak into the swab.

I then used a gentle sideways sweeping motion to clean the IR filter. It worked great. The only visible item was a fresh cotton fiber from the cotton swab. Another gentle swipe removed this fiber and the sensor was clean enough for use.

Even though there was no visible dirt on the sensor I wanted to see if any thing would become visible with an extreme contrast adjustment. Sure enough there was a smudge visible. But it's not enough to worry about. I most likely will introduce more lint on the now spotless IR filter. So I'm leaving it.


So why this experiment? To see if in dire straits the IR filter could be cleaned with cotton swab and glass cleaner when a kit wasn't handy. Do I recommend doing this under normal circumstances? Probably not. Buy a kit with lint free tip and cleaning solution that is approved for your camera. If you're stuck on a deserted island with a dirty sensor and a crate of Q-Tips and Windex washes ashore, go ahead and clean the sensor.

Until next time, go shoot something with your clean sensor!

Edit 29 Apr 09: Edited wording on sealed sensor and liquid getting in the sensor.

Edit 18 July 09: Windex Original MSDS

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OT: Teriyaki Chicken Fried Rice with Tomato Cucumber Salad

I know, I know, not photographic in nature at all but I literally threw some left over items from the fridge together and created a dish that turned out really great. I never even thought about photographing it or writing the recipie down until it was all eaten and I realized how good the combination was.

To see what I grabbed from the fridge read the rest.

For the fried rice portion:

- 2 eggs (the only thing not left over)
- 1 BBQ Teriyaki chicken breast chopped (already cooked, left over from BBQ)
- 2 cups left over rice
- 1/2 left over onion chopped
- 1/4 left over green pepper chopped
- garlic powder to taste (abt 1 tblsp)
- black pepper to taste (abt 1 tblsp)
- crushed red pepper to taste (abt 1 tsp)

- Fry chopped green peppers, onions and spices on med heat for abt 5 mins.
- Mix in the chopped Teriyaki chicken and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Pull the mixture to one side of the pan to make room to cook the eggs.
- Scramble the eggs and cook till just done.
- Add the rice and mix with the eggs and chicken. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Turn stove to low to keep warm.

For the salad:

- 3 1/4" slices of left over lettuce
- 1 small tomato
- 1/4 cucumber 3/4 peeled (left 1/4 of rind intact)
- Black pepper to season

- Chop the lettuce, tomato and cucumber into small chunks.
- Sprinkle with black pepper to taste.

To serve, place 1/2 the rice on one half of the plate and place 1/2 the salad on the other half.

Mix equal portions of the salad with the fried rice and eat.

Feeds 2 adults or 3 kids.

Someone please recommend a drink and it's a complete meal!

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Dual Strobe Lighting P-TTL

In the last article in this series we talked about using a single strobe in wireless P-TTL mode to light a portrait. Now it's time to move on to the first article in dual strobes, one to light the subject and one to light the subject.

As you can see comparing this photo to the ones in the previous article the background is fully lit and there is much better separation between the subject and the background. You'll notice some kick light on the subjects temple and hair. A kick light, or kicker, is a separate light that is used to highlight a certain spot on the subject. Similar to a hair light, a kicker is used to highlight certain parts like cheekbones, lips, jewelery etc, where a hair light will only be placed on the hair.

To use the background light dual purpose as a kicker you put an umbrella on it. Then position the umbrella so the main light falls on the background and the edge of the umbrella is pointing at the subject. You can also by repositioning or blocking the background light use it dual purpose only as a hair light.


The spill off the edge of the umbrella will add the kick. Now unlike a separate kick light you won't have much control of where the light spills, but you can feather the light to control, somewhat, the amount of kick light. Feather means to turn the light source so only the edge of the light is being used. The more you turn the light away the less light is being spilled on the subject. Depending on the umbrella size, distance and location, you may not be able to totally remove all the kick light. In that case you will have to shield the light from the subject by either removing the umbrella or using a gobo. A gobo is a lighting term for go between and is used to block light from areas where no light is wanted.

In the next article we'll use the dual strobes to light the subject on two sides and get some contrast shots. I hope you will join us then.

Read the full article here!

Single Strobe Lighting P-TTL

Let me start off this post with an apology for the large gap between posts in this series. The gap is so long that I recommend you quickly preview the previous article in the Wireless P-TTL series, Single Strobe Lighting (Preparation), so you can get caught back up. I know I had to read again it so there would be some sense of flow between the articles.

For this single strobe shot the light was placed halfway between the camera and the subject and the lens. I wanted a relatively large light source so I had to put the umbrella up close. The camera was positioned to shoot under and to the right of the umbrella which is just off frame enough for the lens hood to block the flare. The on camera flash was fired in this shot (accidentally actually) but added an almost ring light appearance seen in fashion shots that make the face kind of glow. It did however add a shadow to the background (seen just to the left of the subject).


As you can see it is quite possible to get good and usable results with just a single strobe and in this case, fill from your built in flash.

In this shot I set the built-in flash to not fire during the capture. This is commander mode. You can see the difference, the glow is different as there is no spectral lighting reflected off the face. It is lacking the "ring light" look but still a decent enough image to make a print of. At least my wife thinks so. ;)

If you wanted a little more contrast ratio on the face then just move the umbrella more to one side. You can position the light at the more traditional 45 degrees (side and up) for the Rembrandt look and use a white foam core or poster board as reflected fill. The possibilities are almost endless, especially if you incorporate some outdoor light into the shot.

These images were captured at f4 ISO 100 and the default shutter speed of 1/180. If you wanted to brighten up the background then you could drag the shutter a little to allow more ambient light on the sensor. This will have no affect on the strobe light as that is controlled solely by the aperture of the lens. However, if there was any ambient falling on the subject (as was the case here - shot under the carport on the north side of the house) then it will affect that lighting also. I wanted f4 to blur the background and any faster shutter speed would have made the background too dark. Any slower and the ambient would have taken precedence on the face. So we get what we get in the middle ground.

In the next article we'll talk about using a background light to get some separation between subject and background and even use the same light to provide a little kicker. See you then!

Read the full article here!