Metz flashes

claudermilk

Anyone have any experience with the Metz hotshoe flashes? I'm looking at the mecablitz 54 MZ-4/4i as it seems with the interchangeable foot I could use the same unit with both the 20D and 645Pro (yeah, no TTL, but that's ok). Seems like a good concept if it does in fact work.

Art Scott

If you get it with the singl pin module it will be great....but you should beable to get it dedicated for the canon and use it manually on the 645 Pro..as all flashes have a central pin just to fire them....Or ahs Canon now gone the way of the newer Konica Minolta (pre-sony) cameras with a NON ISO flash attachment??

Have you tried your current canon flash on you Mamiya?

It should fire just fine...all my sunpaks that were dedicated to my Nikon worked great on my Kievs...but on one model I had to use a sync cord as its shoe wasn't hot.

ziggy53

There are two different "dedicated" flash specifications:

Dedicated auto
Dedicated TTL

The dedicated auto flashes have just enough connection with the body so that the body knows a flash is attached. The flash still makes its own exposure decisions based on the "auto" module.

Dedicated TTL flashes actually use the host camera to sense exposure information using the exposure system of the camera itself.

Hooking a dedicated auto flash system works pretty well on a standard ISO hot shoe, but most dedicated TTL flash systems only provide very basic functions on a non-supported camera, usually as a manual only flash, if that.

It appears that the mecablitz 54 MZ-4/4i only provides E-TTL with the 20D, not the full E-TTL II, so that distance information is not fully incorporated. (It looks like the SCA 3102 module is appropriate for Canon.)

It also appears that there is an "auto" capability for that flash, so you may be able to use the auto mode or fully manual mode on the Mamiya 645 Pro. (Looks like the SCA 301 module is required.)

The Mamiya 645 Pro TL, has TTL/OTF, so you might be able to get an appropriate SCA TTL module for that camera. (I couldn't find a definitive answer about that.)

I highly recommend a flash with full E-TTL II specification (as well as lenses which provide distance information) for the 20D, like the newer Canon flashes and the Sigma 500 series flashes. (Some folks are on record as saying the Metz auto mode works better than E-TTL.)

ziggy53

claudermilk

Thanks. Still in research mode, no flash yet (well, except that silly little one on the prism...which sometimes surprises). Looks like when I get nearer a purchase it will be worth bugging them; I like the idea of a flexible unit that can be used with both systems.

QuinnPorter

The Metz 54 is outstanding, but large and heavy. If you don't mind the size, I highly recommend it. The auto mode in the Metz gives excellent exposures and I find it better than Canon's E-TTL or E-TTL II.

ziggy53 wrote:

It appears that the mecablitz 54 MZ-4/4i only provides E-TTL with the 20D, not the full E-TTL II, so that distance information is not fully incorporated.

This is not an issue. E-TTL II resides in the camera body, not the flash unit.

ziggy53

QuinnPorter wrote:

... This is not an issue. E-TTL II resides in the camera body, not the flash unit.

Two exceptions to this:

1) If the flash reports to the camera that it is an E-TTL unit, instead of E-TTL II, the camera may respond by "throttling back" to E-TTL operation, disregarding the distance information of E-TTL II. Some flash manufacturers "trick" the camera into thinking that the flash is an E-TTL II unit, which allows the camera to perform with most of the benefits of the more advanced mode. This behavior was noted when E-TTL II was introduced, but I don't see much discussion now. It may be that the Metz Mecablitz 54 MZ-4/4i is using this trickery. You would know it if the camera shows "E-TTL II" mode with that flash attached with the appropriate module.

2) Even early Canon flash units didn't use the newer fully integrated E-TTL II, which includes the "crop factor" of the body, and relays this to the flash for more appropriate automated zooming of the flash head. For instance, the Canon 550EX does not have this feature, and the zoom stays wider than necessary to cover the field of view, wasting flash energy. The Canon 580EX does have the crop compensation, and zooms to telephoto more accurately on crop bodies, when direct flash is desired.

I am not sure what level of integration the Metz Mecablitz 54 MZ-4/4i uses. (According to some sources, the "display" can be adjusted for the format/size of the chip/film, but I don't know if that affects the zoom spread or not.)

ziggy53