Relatively new to the professional flash world, German strobe manufacture Priolite is wasting no time in making a name for itself in the big leagues. Their latest product, the RC-HS/P, is a transmitter/controller for their lights that enables high-speed sync (HSS) with the Pentax line of cameras, and most excitingly, Pentax’s digital medium format 645Z.
High-Speed Sync for the Smaller Guys
The Pentax 645Z has been atop the review list for many people, but its weakness compared to its medium format brothers has been the relatively slow flash sync speed, which is limited to just 1/125 of a second. Prioite is changing that with their new controller which will allow users to sync at up to 1/4,000 of a second with the 645Z, and 1/8,000 of a second with Pentax DSLRs. An important detail is that those sync speeds are available at any power setting on a Priolite strobe. Thats not even something Profoto can say about their B1 or B2 series.
Pricing is set to be $273 for the transmitter, or you can get a set that includes the transmitter, a MBX500 (which is their 500W/s strobe), and some other basic accessories for $1,970. Seeing as Pentax users are left out of the wireless TTL control by some of the other big flash manufactures, this could be a game changer for them, specifically in the medium format market where a potential customer could have passed them by because of the limited sync speeds. I would personally love to test this combo out in the field, and see what the workflow is like.
Sample images shot by Alex Munoz, and provided by Priolite:
[via Priolite]
It's good to see Pentax getting some love again.
no offense to priolite at all, I'm glad to see a possible solution out there... but I sure would like to see pocketwizard get involved with a solution for the 645z to work with the strobes I already have. But back to the priolite…does it allow for rear curtain sync for the 645z as well?
Hey Joseph, I would love to see pocket wizard figure something out as well. Or for Profoto to expand its offerings to other brands as well with their air remote/HSS system. I didn't see anything about rear curtain sync in all of the research I did, but It might be something you can configure within the Pentax menu itself.
not that I found. I'll have to read through the manual again but on camera I didn't find anything for rear curtain sync. Just one more opportunity lost to use the 645z…back to the 1D-X! Been really frustrating that I can't use the Pentax when I want to.
Ok, was just wondering. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
In the 645Z manual (Pg. 65) it has the option for rear curtain sync with all Pentax flashes so Im not sure why you would think that it wouldn't function with this new flash system. I use the Metz 64 and slow speed sync works fine with my K-3.
If they had to go and reverse engineer the wireless system to function with Pentax's software I would think it would function like my Metz which switches to rear curtain sync from my camera settings just like all the other flash systems designed to work with Pentax do.
From what I understand, that function is controlled at the flash. I am talking about studio strobes, not a pentax flash which is what this article is pertaining to. Canon is the same, use their flash heads and curtain sync is controlled at the flash. To utilize rear curtain sync on a strobe like the PCB Einsteins I use, you have to program a pocket wizard tt1 mini to rear curtain sync.
get a cheap Pentax flash that will accommodate rear curtain sync and slave your big strobes off it, simple.
Yes, as far as rear curtain sync that is the only way I could make it work. But as to my original post, it would be nice if this one device can handle both issues like a pocket wizard tt1 makes both possible for Canon functioning with studio strobes.
Just as a follow up, I went ahead and emailed Priolite to see if rear curtain sync could be achieved with this device/lighting set-up. The answer is "no". It was developed expressly to deal with shooting at speeds faster than x-sync. They said that they may address the issue in future models but could not say if or when that may be.
Wonderful news!
I really wonder how this works. The 645z stops triggering the flash above 1/125s...
This article was written around the Profoto B1, but Priolite is using similar tech with this system, so it should still help you understand the basics of it. Definitely worth a read! https://fstoppers.com/originals/demystifying-high-speed-sync-68527
This solution is not realy a holy grail. There are some issues: http://www.valentino-photography.com/priolite-mbx500-hot-sync/