Within the Z-1p I believe the TTL flash sensor is centre-weighted. So if
you're trying to flash a small object close to the lens, where the background
is comparatively much further away, the flash ends up overpowering the
subject to try and achieve an acceptable average over both foreground and
background, within the coverage of the sensor.
There has long been a rumor that F and FA lenses transmit subject distance to the camera body in the Pz and new er series (I'm not sure about the SF series.) If so, I've never seen any real point to that except in use of flash.
I do a lot of work with flash and the A* 200 macro, and it does operate as you describe. Fortunately the PZ-1p has a very easy to use flash compensation control, and I just dial in compensation based on geusstimates of the flash and background distances.
BTW - so far Pentax bodies have used off the film metering for TTL flash. The light from the flash bounces off the film and then into the TTL sensor. Obviously, the reflectivity of the film stock can make a difference here. It's a moot point for print film, since the film's latitude can easily accommodate slight mis-exposure, but it becomes material for slide film, especially formulations with very narrow latitude. See here for more info:
http://www.markcassino.com/essays/ttlflash.htm
- MCC
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Mark Cassino
Kalamazoo, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Photos:
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