For Mark on Metz

[Mark McCall]

Originally Posted by Latinbob

Are you hand holding at these shutter speeds?

This thread is extremely informative by the way!

Bob,
I'm shooting on a tripod for altar shots, but handheld the rest of the time.
I usually use 30th or 15th at receptions.

Originally Posted by larwhi

Mark, hello. I have the 54MZ-3 with the SCA 3102 adapterf or Canon. Is that the standard adapter you are referring to in your post?

If the adapter has 5 pins on the bottom, it's the Canon adapter.
If it has only 1 pin, it's the standard adapter, which is what you want. I think it's part #SCA300. (About $17).

[Mark McCall]

I also would like to mention that I shot the awards banquet at the New Hampshire PPA Convention with a borrowed Nikon D200 and SB80, and was impressed with the exposures.
Hardly a clinical evaluation, but the exposures were impressive.

[craigsexton]

Mark, while shooting handheld at such low shutter speeds how do you keep camera shake and ghosting to min.? I've never wanted to go below 1/40th handheld myself.

Oh by the way, my last wedding I used the 45cl4 and got some awesome portraits of the bride and groom! I still used 1/60th though and found myself having to shoot ISO 100 on camera and 300 on flash though. I've still got some learning to do and will be practicing more.

But with the success of the 45cl4, I'm looking at getting 2 of the 54mz3's for all on camera work.

Craig

[Mark McCall]

Craig,
Your going to get much better images at 400 ISO.
That allows the camera to record ambient light much easier when you drag the shutter. (See the new thread "Draggin' the Shutter")
Focal length plays a huge part in ghosting.
Ghosting is far less prevelent in wider focal lengths.
My receptions are shot mainly with the Tokina 17-35mm F2.8.
First dance shots are captured with the Canon 70-200 F2.8. Sometimes I purposely move the lens during the exposure to capture motion. That that type of shot, it works beautifully.

[Kiron Kid]

Mark

I know of a few Nikon shooters, that swear by the consistency of their Nikon flashes. And I have a few Canon shooter buddies, that envy the consistency of the Nikons and complain about the inconsistency of their Canon flashes. How common is this?

Kiron Kid

[PavelOlavich]

Originally Posted by Mark McCall

Nope.
No TTL mode is consistent, regardless of metering mode.

To make flash work with digital SLR's of any brand, and do it consistently, you'll need to use an automatic style flash that can meter itself, and keep the camera on manual.

Imagine shooting an entire wedding without changing a single thing on the camera or flash, with the expection of the occasional change in shutter speed to lighten or darken a background.

Trust me guys....this works, and it really is that simple.

Mark is 100% right....the only caviate is flash head changes, from where to bounce. For my wedding work, I set the flash to E-TTL auto, body manual, and keep the shutter around 1/30 - 1/8 composition depending, and like Mark said, one can often shoot an entire wedding with little or no changes, save for the head for bouncing. I find that my 580EX needs a 1/3+ comp in nearly all the shots however. I don't remember this requirement for the 550ex, an old flash that I loved.

As for consistency, I've not found one make or the other to be better, however I know of other pros that swear by 3rd party offerings, like Metz, and quantum...and it is these 3rd party makes that I personally need to play with, as I would love to get better flash performance over what Canon/Nikon can provide, with their own flas units.

[Kiron Kid]

Originally Posted by Nikonfreak

Mark:

Seriously looking at the Metz 54 MZ-4

It looks like it has a lot of power (certainly more so than my Nikon SB 800). Are you using such on or off camera or both and if so are you using a bracket to elevate the flash on camera?

I'm impressed with the specs on that flash unit.

Julio

Julio

I'm not doubting yours or Marks reasoning and logic. But I am curious about the Metz unit. However, according to the Metz and the Nikon specs, the Metz unit has the identical power as the SB-800. Not anymore...

Kiron Kid

[Mark McCall]

Originally Posted by Kiron Kid

Mark

I know of a few Nikon shooters, that swear by the consistency of their Nikon flashes. And I have a few Canon shooter buddies, that envy the consistency of the Nikons and complain about the inconsistency of their Canon flashes. How common is this?

Kiron Kid

I've heard the same thing....ALOT.

Canon is notorious for inconsistent exposures with the 550EX and 580EX.

I shot the NHPPA convention award ceremony with a borrowed Nikon D200 and SB800 flash, and was BLOWN AWAY at what the combo produced. I bounced back and forth between manual and TTL.
All exposures were outstanding. (and I'm a Canon shooter).

I did miss my dual head Metz, though.

[craigsexton]

Mark, I just grabbed the 45cl-4 and the 5D from the bag and took some snap shots in my home with the shutter speed on 1/30th, f/5.6, ISO 400, flash ISO 400 f/4.0 in auto mode. Bounced from the cathedral ceilings with wink flash on.

WOW!!

I never would have thought that 1/30th and even 1/15th shutter speeds would produce such sharp images hand held! I was always under the teaching of nothing under 1/60th handheld. But with the metz it's just simply awesome.

If anyone reading this has any thoughts of buying the 45cl-4, do it, and do it right now! This single piece of equipment has completely replaced my studio strobes for weddings. Like Mark says, it just works!

Mark thanks again for all of your help. Your an awesome guy to take so much time to help us all out.

Craig

[Mark McCall]

You go Craig!

Wait until you use the flash in conjunction with slow shutterspeed at a wedding, with ambient light in the background.

You'll have to pinch yourself to make sure your not dreaming.