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Product Reviews:

   
An outstanding flash gun, February 23, 2006
Reviewer: Chris Hann

Perhaps I'm no expert on flash photography, and I'd prefer not to have to be one, so my ideal flash would do the right thing without any interferance from me. Just like this one does.

I have an EOS-20D and the dedicated version of this flash with the M3 adapter. I'm not particularly fond of the standard hot shoe method of attaching a flash, but it seems secure enough. Once you work out how to get the flash into E-TTL mode (mode then selector wheel) everything just works. Set P or full auto mode and away you go. Direct or bounce flash is all handled automagically by the E-TTL system. Basically the camera monitors exposure and when it has had enough light it tells the flash to switch off.

I haven't used manual or strobe modes, except when messing with the controls to see what they do. Charge and recharge are fast, I'm using 2500mAh NiMH batteries, it takes four. I can't say how long they last because I've always recharged them before they were flat.

The flash is well constructed, no rough edges, no cheap parts, no loose bits. The carrying case is just enough protection for a device that spends its life being humped around in a camera bag.
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The best flash lighting I have ever seen,  May 21, 2006

K Larkin - Professional Photographer

 
Metz Flashes are a German made flash and in my opinion as a professional Photographer Metz makes some of the best flashes in the world.  I used 3 Metz 45CL-4 flashes, with radio control, for wedding and family photography for many years.  The 45CL-4's with the plastic wide angle diffuser, that comes with them, snapped on the front of the flashes does the best job of lighting that I have seen.  It's like the flash lays the light on smoothly without harsh highlights.  I have used a lot of flashes and have never found another flash that could do a job like this. 

I used my Metz flashes with Mamiya medium format 6x45 and 35mm Pentax cameras with the use of flash brackets.  The flash should be mounted above the camera and not beside the camera as it would be if you used the mount that comes with the Metz flash.

Metz newer and more powerful flash adds TTL and automatic adjustment of the flash beam width and one that I have considered upgrading to is the Metz 70 MZ-5.   Now this is real power!

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More Technical Details:

   Back to Metz Mecablitz 54 MZ-4 - Hot-shoe clip-on flash - 54 (m)