Built in flash for digital cameras?

Question

just over three years ago I bought the Pentax 33wr water proof camera and it has done me very well. One thing that really annoyed me was the built in flash. Taking photos with the flash, say indoors and people sitting around a table, people at the head of the table looked dark. Other peoples cameras seemed to lighten it up way better. I thought It was just this model of camera and left it at that. 3 days ago I bought a Pentax K200D digital SLR and took some shots of friends siting around the table and the same result. People where not lit up as well as they should be. In my view pretty poor. My dads point-shoot canon took almost the exact same shot and seemed to do a much better job and subjects were lit up substantially better. What is going on here? Is this a Pentax thing or just my bad luck? I feel I should not have to buy a external flash for my DSLR for regular indoor shots

Answer 1

The built in flash for nearly every camera will at most extend 10 feet or so.  The built in flashes are meant to be fill flashes for the most part for cases of backlighting and the like.  

If you're shooting indoors, you should get yourself an external flash to slide onto your hotshoe.  I highly suggest external flashes anyways, especially one that has a tilt/swivel head, so you can bounce it off the ceiling for a larger light source and hence, softer light.

Answer 2

My Pentax is the predecessor to the K series and I do a lot of weddings. However, I do use my external flash for most anything that is more than about 6 feet away. One other thing, I seem to have noticed this past year, since I switched to 2k5 batts from the 2000 mAh I had been using, the built in flash seems to have better range.  

Answer 3

pentax thing

I have 4 canons

they have wonderful flashes

Answer 4

A lot of the compact cameras don't have the greatest flash.  Indoors you shouldn't be more than 6-8ft from the furthest subject to get decent light from the built in flash on them.