Favorite non-Canon flash units

I have been using a Metz CT60-4 for 15 years with my EOS-1 and it has always worked flawlessly. Hundreds of weddings and never a problem.
I just got my first digital camera, a 1Ds this weekend and picked up a module to connect the Metz. I will be doing some test next week and let you know how it works.
I really would have to rave about my past experience with the Metz for sure (there's a reason why they call it "the f/11 flash").

Well, I'm pretty happy with that ProMaster. Wish I had known what the FP synch was all about before getting it, but I am impressed with this little bugger. This was at a distance of about 50 feet at night in a church with normal church lighting, shot with the 17-85mm IS USM at 85mm, ISO 800, and flash WB, 1/60 @ f/5.6. It was a little warm from the lights right overhead these kids, but I corrected it in DPP.

I made a fairly professional-looking bounce card from photopaper and find it is very pleasing at closer distances using it, although I find I like to give it +2/3 stop FEC. I read that a lot of folks add a bit of FEC with several different flashes when bouncing it, so I guess that's normal. I like it! And at Amazon prices, it's a real gem. Had I to do it over again, I would likely have gotten the Sigma, but now I can use the lack of HS flash synch as an excuse for not getting fill flash portraits as good as Schmomelzel. It's not me, it's the flash, see??

You guys are a wealth of knowledge, thanks again.

John

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Even "cheapo" medium format cameras (e.g. Seagull) have synch times around 1/500

How much do the cheapo digital medium formats cost? Is there a thriving used market? I mean are they easy to buy & sell lenses and accessories for? Do they do 8fps?

Got a link?

First of all, apart from one 1950s Agfa "Clack" Medium Format P&S, I do not own any mf cameras myself, but I've been looking into the cheap MF camera market for a while

Basically, there are three types of "cheapo" MF cameras:

- Eastern German cameras.
These include the Pentacon Six, Exakta and several more. There is a wide range of available relatively high quality lenses for these, namely Zeiss Jena, Schneider Kreuznach etc. Consider these cameras to be on the high end of "not-so-expensive" MF cameras - a former workmate of mine owns a Pentacon 6 and is really happy with it.

- Former USSR cameras,
namely the Киев (Kiew) 60 and 88. The Киев 60 is a copy of the Pentacon Six, the Киев 88 is a Hasselblad imitation. Both are alternatively available with the Pentacon mount (instead of M42), so you can use the high quality lenses available for the DDR made cameras. The Киев models suffer from very poor quality control - and with "very poor" I *mean* "very poor". Expect the advance handle to jam sometimes, which can be fixed by repeatedly bashing the camera against a hard surface. This is soviet camera technology - the user should be able to fix it with very crude tools
Some importers offer refurbished cameras with adjusted mechanics and calibrated light meters (don't expect this to be done by the factory) which make for quite good cameras, though to a little bit higher price, of course.

- Chinese cameras
The probably most known brand here is Seagull, which manufactures several kinds of TLR cameras. Lenses are non-changeable, but the more expensive ones apparently use copies of German lens designs.

All in all, you can get a refurbished Киев camera with a decent set of lenses for about 500 USD, which is quite a good kit price, IMO Just don't expect too much of it, there is a reason why a Hasselblad body costs so much more money.

That was Soviet tank technology, too! Consistency in manufacturing technology; something that Detroit has been trying to get right for years!

I want leaf shutters back. My canonet syncs at 1/500 with the flash and it cost 18 dollars.

Hi John,
we have a newspaper photographer here in Luray whos name is John Collins thought you maybe him.
This is a good site for learning about E-TTL II
http://www.photoworksh​op.com/canon/index.htm​l

Those cameras use leaf shutters, not focal plane shutters. In a focalplane shutter, once you exceed a given shutter speed (which is X sync speed) the shutter doesn't leave the entire frame exposed at a single instant. Leaf shutters, located inside the lens, do allow the entire film/sensor area to receive light throughout the exposure. The only issue with them is to ensure that the shutter's fully open during the flash exposure so you don't have a smaller effective aperture.

>>I hope to put it thru its paces in ETTL mode, and see what its capabilities and limitations are. I'll try to post a report in the next couple of weeks after thorough testing.<<

Well I did some testing over the holidays, and I feel more comfortable with Metz 54MZ direct flash and ETTL in all camera modes, but I still think the 'jury is still out' in terms of totally characterizing performance.

I set up a MacBeth color checker and also a grey card in my family room (painted off white) with sofa and other objects in the scene and with no highly reflective surfaces. I tested with camera in all modes (P, Av, Tv, M) and with CFn for shutter speed to Auto and to 1/250, with CFn for Evaluative and for Averaged, with EC at various levels and with FEC at various levels, and with and without diffusion.

First, based upon results, I'd say that I need to have a few more scenes set up (e.g. with wall in background much more distant, to be like shooting a wedding reception). While I used a test protocol to make sure I had all the permutations tested, I need to add a few more variants on settings, before I jump to a conclusion. The result so far was not quite consistent enough to draw even preliminary conclusions (other than the continued reliability of Metz on Auto!)

Second, trying to use a diffusion softbox over the Metz 54MZ will not succeed unless (perhaps) some modification to standard settings is needed, and this will also be incorporated in testing.

I was somewhat surprised that the MacBeth and grey cards were exposed pretty well in all shots regardless of mode of flash or camera but the backgrounds seemed quite variable in comparison. But as I was conducting testing on a day where the sun was peeking thru the clouds in a very sporadic fashion, the test conditions were not as consist and unvarying as I would have liked. So one major thing is for me to redo my test AT NIGHT so that outside lighting does not enter the picture (so to speak).

That's the status report of my testing so far. More to come!

>>How much do the cheapo digital medium formats cost? Is there a thriving used market? I mean are they easy to buy & sell lenses and accessories for? Do they do 8fps?<<

No medium format mirror is small enough to be exempt from Laws of Physics in moving larger heavier things rapidly thru space with rapid acceleration and deceleration...you are lucky if 2 fps can be achieved in medium format SLRs.

Digital medium formats...few have been offered until fairly recent years. Hassy H1, Pentax 645 Digital, and some aftermarket backs.

>> It will be interesting to see what the M3 does, which the M2 cannot do with my 20D. But that will be Phase 2 of the testing, after characterizing performance of the 54MZ-4 w/ 3102 M3 on 20D, in all modes and with and without softbox diffuser.<<

It turns out that the 3102 which I bought, in order to use my Metz 45CT with Canon 20D, is the M3 version after all! (The label on the side says so, doh!) So I will not be able to do 'Phase 2' to see what functionality gain comes by virtue of the M3 upgrade.

Since I have TWO of the 3102 M3 modules and I have no need for both, one is up for sale at a less-than-new price (although the unit is less than 2 months old!)

Would you still need a wein safe sync adapter with an auto thyristor flash?

Yes. They're still triggered the same way, by contacts in the hot shoe or PC terminal. If the voltage there is too high, you can fry your shutter (not necessarily all at once - it may happen over time).