Metz 50 – help! :(

Hi All,

Although I’ve been a DSLR user for a couple of years, I’m a complete noob when it comes to hot-shoe and wireless flash photography; I’m so without a clue I am thinking of attending a flash photography class.

I do have the simply amazing Cateye LETS for pop-up flashes, designed and engineered by Bristol University student Eric Eckstein. It does a great job (example photo).

The next logical step seemed be to buy a ‘proper’ flash and so, after a bit of research, I have purchased a Metz 50.

Unfortunately my initial impressions of the Metz 50 are disappointing…

- Photos are underexposed. I have to manually override the EV all the time which seems crazy!
- ISO defaults to high and grainy. Manually lowering the ISO looks much better, so why the high default ISO?
- In wireless SL mode, results are a bit random. Sometimes the Metz 50 fires too early for the camera to capture it. Also, I assume wireless mode requires the pop-up flash (i.e. there’s no infrared trigger from my K20D?) I note there’s an option on the K20D to turn off the pop-up flash from being included in the photo.

On top of the above, I find the menu system very fiddly, e.g. the two finger button press is just bazaar!

Can anyone help? I am already thinking of selling the Metz 50 and purchasing a more basic flash that will allow me to get to grips with the basics first.

Many thanks,
M.

Hi Matt,
The K20D (and K10D) are very 'highlight' sensitive in their exposure
It's one of the reasons I wrote my e-book guide

Correct. It's wireless, but requires light, and line of sight.

I don't know the Metz 50 (though I do have the 'beast' Metz 50MZ5), but it should have 'basic' modes too.

I did put a few stickies on flash with Pentax, but my ebook should help a LOT

Matt

Ditto with metz 48 have never got to grips with it so fiddly not really helped being a thick git

Thanks for the replies.

Whatsthisbuttondo - you don't give me great hope, but I'll struggle on!

Matt - Your book sounds very interesting but please could you give a bit more detail before I click buy.

Cheers,
M.

The 48 is simple to use once you get used to the menu system.

Press the two centre buttons together to cycle through the menu then press + - to change the settings.

You don't say which mode you are using the camera in, it sounds like one of the auto modes. I find manual mode works best with flash.

I don't know the 50 or 48 and I make no claims to expertise but my experience with the 58 on a K10 has been fine, so hang in there.

You don't say what use you're making of it.

Mine was bought mainly for snapshot pictures of grandchildren at our house. After some initial experimenting I now leave the menus alone.

Flash is set on P-TTL The camera is in Av usually at f8 or f11 and on ISO 200. Flash is bounced off the ceiling with the reflector card deployed.

I find that the room and ambient lighting make a lot of difference.

One room has very pale walls and on a bright day there is a tendency to overexpose slightly. On a dull day or at night exposure is about right or maybe slightly under.

Another room is much darker in terms of walls and ambient daytime light. I find that there is a need to adjust exposure by up to +2. I also find better light if the flash is slightly forward of vertical.

I don't find it a big problem to adjust exposure (now I know the characteristics of the different rooms I do it automatically) and it's easy enough to take a test shot.

When adjusting the EV, should I do this on the flash (using the -/+ buttons) or on the K20D either using the flash compensation options or the EV -/+ compensation button?

Many thanks.

I don't know about 'should' but I use the camera EV -/+ button.

It's a walk through the concept of flash - how early flash guns functioned and metered, how P-TTL works, and suggested camera+flash configurations for various modes of working.

It's not a "push-this-button" kind of guide. Hopefully I convey the understanding of flash so you can intelligently use any flash with the Pentax gear (rather than getting frustrated!)

Matt

Thanks Matt, sounds very interesting I may well take up your offer. I've being practicing over the last few days and things have improved.