metz 45ct-1 any users?

[deza]

any users out there using this flash with the 10d, i have been given this unit and wondered if it is safe to use etc im not sure about voltage problems and how to connect it if safe to use
thanks in advance
derek

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hi,

For what it's worth I decided to go for the 420 from Canon, I heard of so many conflicting stories about features that would not work with NON-Canon flashes I decided to not take the risc.

Greetings,
Frank

[DaveG]

deza wrote:
any users out there using this flash with the 10d, i have been given this unit and wondered if it is safe to use etc im not sure about voltage problems and how to connect it if safe to use
thanks in advance
derek

I have a Metz CT-1 (well two actually) and a CL-4 and I tried both just to make sure that they'd work if I needed them, and they did work well. I also used my Vivitar 283 for an assignment before I got my Canon 550EX and it was very nice.

But I bought the 550 (and later a pair of 420's) so that I could use the whole spectrum of features that the Canon offers with flash and the 10D. I've fallen in love with the wireless TTL and used it extensively at a commercial job last week.

I'll give you an idea of what the Canon flash system did for me last week at a three day shoot for a financial institution's regional meeting.

My first shots were a cocktail party and that was very simple and almost anything would do. Then we moved into the banquet room where the CEO made his opening remarks. I had the 550 on a Stobroframe bracket. I was using the Canon 70-200 f2.8L and I had all of this on a monopod. I had a 420 set up on a light stand in front of the CEO but about 20 degrees to his left. I was at first about 45 degrees to his right. I flagged the 420 with two Vecro mounted cards so that I wouldn't get flare coming my way from the flash, but I also didn't want the flash to spash the background with light either.

I set up the 550 so that the main flash tube wouldn't fire and only got light from the 420. Then I started shooting and got wonderful indirect light on the CEO. Then I changed the 550 to give me a ratioed exposure with the main flash tube firing. This created a fill flash that didn't over power the 420. I liked the look of the "420 only" light, but I also wanted choices later.

Then I moved my shooting position so that I was now about 135 degrees from the front of the CEO and almost behind him behind him. Again I shot with both fill and no fill, and these shots worked very well too.

What's the big deal about some shot of the CEO talking at a podium? It's about how bad those shots are if you just use a flash from the shooting position. There's no modeling on the face. Everything is flat and harsh. With my lighting there's a sparkle to it.

The next day I did more of this with various speakers. Then they had some awards. I've worked in darkrooms brighter than this particular place and counted on the 10D and the 550 to focus for me which it did flawlessly.

Then back to the meetings. The managers broke up into table discusssion and I just used the 420 on the light stand in almost the same way as the CEO shot. But I was able to just position the flash in sedonds and didn't have to run any flash meter tests, or lay down any power cables - not that I would have! Again I got routine commercial shots that weren't routine. Once more there was life to these shots and it cost just about nothing.

Now without the digital review I wouldn't trust the flash. What if I did get flare? What if it wasn't popping? So digital was needed to make this wireless TTL a tool that I'd use. But it's also a tool that changes the way that I work.