Do Pentax users prefer flash or LEDs?

I'm old-school. I used to use flash when necessary for lighting purposes.
Both in a studio, and for (say) macro-work, etc.

Now I'm experimenting with LEDs instead. At least for macro-work.

What do others here use when natural light isn't enough?

The first image shows a modular system . Each unit fits into a shoes and has a further three shoes. The shoes are for support, not control. Each unit is independently switched and dimmable.

(It is very unlikely that the structure below is useful! I'm just showing the flexibility).

Andoer 49 LED Dimmable Camera Fill Light

The second image below is a useful alternative to a Ring-Flash .
(I have the Pentax AF160C Ring Flash, but nowadays I rarely if ever use it).

I think I could even use this with my Ricoh GRIII. It simply screws into the filter-thread of the lens, and the step-up discs cover most filter sizes up to 67mm as standard. The filter size on Ricoh GRIII lens adapter is 49mm.

(It wouldn't fit the Pentax 150-450mm lens! Who would want it to?)

JJC LED-Ring attached to a Pentax 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens

What about studio portraiture?
I've been using four Bowens Studio Flash units with all the extras.

Are LEDs taking over for studio work?

They have benefits for video, but they tend to be a strain on the eyes of the subject.
The pandemic has stopped my studio work.
If/when I start again, I may continue to use flash.

I still like silver or gold reflectors when appropriate, or white board. Otherwise if I'm forced to use flash, for indoor work I've got an umbrella with modeling light and built in flash that i can go through or bounce along with a bar mounted af360 on camera, along wirh 3 2ft x 3ft soft boxes. I find myself leaning towards the 3 softboxes more than the flash type config anymore. Real time preview and tuning for what the softbox gives is a delight and no anticipation blinks when doing portraits.  The obvious downside is setup time and needing ac cords. Still, I really like the softboxes best. I even use them on 3 sides of a photo tent for product shots and its just perfect. I can even use my cell phone for photo tent work with that setup and the results are fine for web posting.

TBLF wrote:

I still like silver or gold reflectors when appropriate, or white board.

I forgot that option!

I have a small Lastolite collapsible silver/white reflector that packs into a small bag.

My problem has tended to be trying to hold the reflector and operate the camera.

Otherwise if I'm forced to use flash, for indoor work I've got an umbrella with modeling light and built in flash that i can go through or bounce along with a bar mounted af360 on camera, along wirh 3 2ft x 3ft soft boxes. I find myself leaning towards the 3 softboxes more than the flash type config anymore. Real time preview and tuning for what the softbox gives is a delight and no anticipation blinks when doing portraits. The obvious downside is setup time and needing ac cords. Still, I really like the softboxes best. I even use them on 3 sides of a photo tent for product shots and its just perfect. I can even use my cell phone for photo tent work with that setup and the results are fine for web posting.

I also have a small photo tent, that I haven't used yet:

POLAMD Portable Photo Studio Mini Foldable Shooting Tent

(I'm probably over-stocked on lighting for small objects and macro-work!)

I also have one of these tents.

Don't use it very often. This is an example where I used it:

I did image stacking for this photo to get more DOF. If you look close to it, you will recognize that I should have used a few more steps/photos for it. There are a few areas where sharpness is missing a little.

Most of the times I work out in the field and handheld. But for table top photography it is a good help for quick solutions.

Best regards

Holger

I’m still using the AF160C ring flash and its Canon equivalent for dedicated macro shoots in the field but I find myself using the small Pentax AF200 more often. Its high enough to clear the lens hood on the DFA 100 macro and serve as a surrogate pop up flash for the K1 and K3II. I did pick up a shoe mount torch light with an adjustable beam but have yet to test it in the field. Since I retired I don’t think I have I have used my in home studio to the point where I might take it down and use the space for something else.

Torch light with adjustable beam.

Barry Pearson wrote:

I'm old-school. I used to use flash when necessary for lighting purposes.
Both in a studio, and for (say) macro-work, etc.

Now I'm experimenting with LEDs instead. At least for macro-work.

What do others here use when natural light isn't enough?

I have 3 Vivitar 285HV flash units. (I also have a Pentax AF540fgz, but I don't use that much.)

Here's a few macro shots I took years ago with my Pentax K100d. Camera handheld and Vivitar 285HV handheld as well. LOL.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697288479/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697289547/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697290897/

The first image shows a modular system . Each unit fits into a shoes and has a further three shoes. The shoes are for support, not control. Each unit is independently switched and dimmable.

(It is very unlikely that the structure below is useful! I'm just showing the flexibility).

How do you find the LEDs for the amount of light?

I know that I like flash because it provides so much light that I can dial in a small aperture and get really sharp images.

Here's one from my Nikon camera with a Nikon flash off camera.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/22020300979/in/album-72157631300869284/

The second image below is a useful alternative to a Ring-Flash .
(I have the Pentax AF160C Ring Flash, but nowadays I rarely if ever use it).

I think I could even use this with my Ricoh GRIII. It simply screws into the filter-thread of the lens, and the step-up discs cover most filter sizes up to 67mm as standard. The filter size on Ricoh GRIII lens adapter is 49mm.

(It wouldn't fit the Pentax 150-450mm lens! Who would want it to?)

What about studio portraiture?
I've been using four Bowens Studio Flash units with all the extras.

+1

I don't own studio flashes.

But for some paid portrait sessions, I rent monolights.

I liked the Bowens. But the place I was renting closed down. The new place I rent has Elinchrom.

To get the look I want, I have to be far away from the subject. Which then kinda pushes the lighting back a bit.

I am finding I really want 500watt monolights to get the amount of light I want to shoot at f/8.

Are LEDs taking over for studio work?

What type of LED system would allow for this?

They have benefits for video, but they tend to be a strain on the eyes of the subject.
The pandemic has stopped my studio work.
If/when I start again, I may continue to use flash.

For my Pentax set-up, if I use flash, I mainly use my Vivitar 285HV flash units.

They are old. But so simple to set-up the way I want, especially for studio work.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/7785576014/in/album-72157631300869284/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/5487868316/in/album-72157631300869284/

If I want TTL, I use my Nikon set-up with a pair of Nikon SB-800 flash units.

Flash is so powerful that it really does make a lot of things easy.

For me, I picked up flash by watching The Strobist. And a lot of this gear I picked up long ago, and for less than full retail. LOL. But they have served me well.

Take care & Happy Shooting!

I am in the middle of a kitchen reno and shopping for pot lights.  Essentially all I can find are LED panels.  I think this will be the future for photography as well.  Are we there yet?  Not sure.

Doug

LED lights are fine for video and macro work but quite limiting for other settings. Speedlights are stronger than most LED light and studio strobes are even more powerful and give a lot of options—but studio strobes are big and heavy. I used to use Cactus V6II sender/receivers +remote AF-540s+umbrella/diffusers for taking pictures of a playing child.. but eventually got sick of the AF performance on Pentax. Recharge time on AF-540s were also disappointing. Now, I use Godox Xpro+remote flashes+umbrella/diffusers on my Sony.

To cut recycle times and battery consumption I went to dual flashes on each light stand. Here is one of my light stands setup with Pocket Wizard TT5s for Canon ETTL but by using regular Pocket Wizard receivers the lights work with Pentax but not PTTL. These worked well in locations where electric power was unavailable like old barns and such.

TacticDesigns wrote:

Barry Pearson wrote:

I'm old-school. I used to use flash when necessary for lighting purposes.
Both in a studio, and for (say) macro-work, etc.

Now I'm experimenting with LEDs instead. At least for macro-work.

What do others here use when natural light isn't enough?

I have 3 Vivitar 285HV flash units. (I also have a Pentax AF540fgz, but I don't use that much.)

Here's a few macro shots I took years ago with my Pentax K100d. Camera handheld and Vivitar 285HV handheld as well. LOL.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697288479/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697289547/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/4697290897/

The first image shows a modular system . Each unit fits into a shoes and has a further three shoes. The shoes are for support, not control. Each unit is independently switched and dimmable.

(It is very unlikely that the structure below is useful! I'm just showing the flexibility).

How do you find the LEDs for the amount of light?

For macro-work it is OK because the light is near the subject.

For studio-work, I'm told that, to keep the light far enough away from the subject to avoid clashing with anything else, the LEDs can be so bright that they can be unpleasant for the model.

I haven't (yet) used them myself.

I know that I like flash because it provides so much light that I can dial in a small aperture and get really sharp images.

Here's one from my Nikon camera with a Nikon flash off camera.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/22020300979/in/album-72157631300869284/

The second image below is a useful alternative to a Ring-Flash .
(I have the Pentax AF160C Ring Flash, but nowadays I rarely if ever use it).

I think I could even use this with my Ricoh GRIII. It simply screws into the filter-thread of the lens, and the step-up discs cover most filter sizes up to 67mm as standard. The filter size on Ricoh GRIII lens adapter is 49mm.

(It wouldn't fit the Pentax 150-450mm lens! Who would want it to?)

What about studio portraiture?
I've been using four Bowens Studio Flash units with all the extras.

+1

I don't own studio flashes.

But for some paid portrait sessions, I rent monolights.

I liked the Bowens. But the place I was renting closed down. The new place I rent has Elinchrom.

To get the look I want, I have to be far away from the subject. Which then kinda pushes the lighting back a bit.

I am finding I really want 500watt monolights to get the amount of light I want to shoot at f/8.

Are LEDs taking over for studio work?

What type of LED system would allow for this?

Google for:

led lights for studio photography

They have benefits for video, but they tend to be a strain on the eyes of the subject.
The pandemic has stopped my studio work.
If/when I start again, I may continue to use flash.

For my Pentax set-up, if I use flash, I mainly use my Vivitar 285HV flash units.

They are old. But so simple to set-up the way I want, especially for studio work.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/7785576014/in/album-72157631300869284/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/5487868316/in/album-72157631300869284/

If I want TTL, I use my Nikon set-up with a pair of Nikon SB-800 flash units.

Flash is so powerful that it really does make a lot of things easy.

Yes!

For me, I picked up flash by watching The Strobist. And a lot of this gear I picked up long ago, and for less than full retail. LOL. But they have served me well.

Take care & Happy Shooting!

Same to you.

Barry Pearson wrote:

TBLF wrote:

I still like silver or gold reflectors when appropriate, or white board.

I forgot that option!

I have a small Lastolite collapsible silver/white reflector that packs into a small bag.

My problem has tended to be trying to hold the reflector and operate the camera.

These goose neck double clamps work a treat for me!

https://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Lighting-Clamps-AGG1160/dp/B00ET8NMYU/ref=sr_1_168?dchild=1&keywords=Reflector+Holder&qid=1602356534&sr=8-168

Eric

Otherwise if I'm forced to use flash, for indoor work I've got an umbrella with modeling light and built in flash that i can go through or bounce along with a bar mounted af360 on camera, along wirh 3 2ft x 3ft soft boxes. I find myself leaning towards the 3 softboxes more than the flash type config anymore. Real time preview and tuning for what the softbox gives is a delight and no anticipation blinks when doing portraits. The obvious downside is setup time and needing ac cords. Still, I really like the softboxes best. I even use them on 3 sides of a photo tent for product shots and its just perfect. I can even use my cell phone for photo tent work with that setup and the results are fine for web posting.

I also have a small photo tent, that I haven't used yet:

POLAMD Portable Photo Studio Mini Foldable Shooting Tent

(I'm probably over-stocked on lighting for small objects and macro-work!)

Rahto wrote:

To cut recycle times and battery consumption I went to dual flashes on each light stand. Here is one of my light stands setup with Pocket Wizard TT5s for Canon ETTL but by using regular Pocket Wizard receivers the lights work with Pentax but not PTTL. These worked well in locations where electric power was unavailable like old barns and such.

Certainly, it helps to cut down recharge time and power usage for each exposure and its fine to go this route if you already have several AF-540 flashes. But a much “cleaner” alternative is to go on full route to Godox. Their flashes are reasonably priced…. even lower than the price of one Cactus V6II. Plus, their flashes work with their own radio system, so no additional receiver/transceiver is needed. Just one XPro and few Godox flashes and you are good to go. If you have another system in addition to Pentax, you would just need another transciever (one) and thats all. All Godox flashes will work for your other system as well (with TTL). Recharge time on even the cheaper Godox flashes is three-four times faster than AF-540FGZ.

Thanks for the feedback and I hope Pentax users of third party PTTL flash equipment don’t run into the same issues I have had with Pocket wizard/ Canon setup. My setup in the picture was put together in 2010 long before these other systems we see today existed. What I did not know was the transmitters and receivers needed firmware updates for any new Canon body that came out and the update may follow the camera release by several months. Hopefully the K-new won’t have this issue but is something to be aware of if you own 3rd party flash equipment.

I use the Pentax AF240FT similarly on bodies that don't have built in flash or ones I want a little more power.  Also has a nice 1/4 power setting for fill-flash. But for macro I acquired a Phoenix RL-59P ring flash made for Pentax that works pretty well.

Kent

KentG wrote:

I use the Pentax AF240FT similarly on bodies that don't have built in flash or ones I want a little more power. Also has a nice 1/4 power setting for fill-flash. But for macro I acquired a Phoenix RL-59P ring flash made for Pentax that works pretty well.

Kent

What I'm noticing is that as cameras and lenses gain better dynamic range and low-light capability, and more of them provide image stabilisation (in-lens and/or in-body), I need on or near camera flash less and less year-by-year.

JasonTheBirder wrote:

A lot of people have mentioned the superior power of flashes. However, the biggest advantage for the flash is that it freezes motion. It's quite helpful for things that move like slowly moving insects or flowers that might sway a little in the wind. For high-powered macro, even random vibrations can mess up an image.

+1

That is a good point to remember!

Take care & Happy Shooting!

JasonTheBirder wrote:

A lot of people have mentioned the superior power of flashes. However, the biggest advantage for the flash is that it freezes motion. It's quite helpful for things that move like slowly moving insects or flowers that might sway a little in the wind. For high-powered macro, even random vibrations can mess up an image.

The flah freezes motion if you let the flash control the light at 100%. If you want the flash just for brightening shaddows depending on the exposure time you may get a mix of not sharp aspects as well as frozen aspects from the flash. That's some kind of a ghosting effect. Of course you can use this effect for creative results - but in general it's soemthing you want to avoid. If your camera-flash combination allows HSS - shorter exposure times while using flashlight - you may overcome this problem. But HSS at shorter exposure times reduces power of the flash significantly.

An advantage of LED would be that you can work in boost mode and do any of the newer techniques that combine multiple photos like in-camera HDR, Image stacking for larger DOF etc.

Holger Bargen wrote:

JasonTheBirder wrote:

A lot of people have mentioned the superior power of flashes. However, the biggest advantage for the flash is that it freezes motion. It's quite helpful for things that move like slowly moving insects or flowers that might sway a little in the wind. For high-powered macro, even random vibrations can mess up an image.

The flah freezes motion if you let the flash control the light at 100%. If you want the flash just for brightening shaddows depending on the exposure time you may get a mix of not sharp aspects as well as frozen aspects from the flash. That's some kind of a ghosting effect. Of course you can use this effect for creative results

+1

Sometimes that can be a really cool effect!

If you can either get the person's face in the dark so that when there is no flash, their face does not get exposed to the ambient light you can do flash with a longer(ish) exposure -- drag the shutter for a neat effect.

That is what I did with this Dumbo Ride shot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/9254285718/in/album-72157631300869284/

1/4 second shot. Flash to get some light into my daughter's face. The slow shutter speed to drag in the ambient light in the background.

- but in general it's soemthing you want to avoid. If your camera-flash combination allows HSS - shorter exposure times while using flashlight - you may overcome this problem. But HSS at shorter exposure times reduces power of the flash significantly.

+1

Here's a shot using HSS on my Nikon.

It was shot during the morning.

The gym is not really dark. The lights "are" on.

But HSS over powers the gym's lighting and makes the gym look like the lights were off. LOL.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/16027064033/in/album-72157631300869284/

Not the usual shot from the gym. LOL.

An advantage of LED would be that you can work in boost mode and do any of the newer techniques that combine multiple photos like in-camera HDR, Image stacking for larger DOF etc.

Here's a couple of times I went for a more creative look with the flash with my Pentax . . .

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/7785576014/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tacticdesigns/3035326957/

LOL.

Flash and LED both have Pros and Cons either way.

And sometimes the Cons can be turned into Pros if you get creative! LOL.

Take care & Happy Shooting!