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Mecablitz 54 MZ-3 question on a film M


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Does anyone know how to use the Manual mode to make the least powerful fill-flash so that on a reasonably bright day I only need to stop down an extra stop in order to compensate?  Do I simply set the aperture on the flash to a wide open f-stop?  The "partial light output" settings really throw me bc, while it seems to allow for the adjustment of the light output, there are so many increments.  I am guessing that the farthest from 1/1 that I go the weaker the flash output I will get, but I don't know the extent.  Anyone have a sense?  I will want to use the HSS setting for this.  Many thanks, Adam

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You need this sca Adapter for HSS ( only used with the M7 )

http://www.metz.us/sca-3502-leica-module

 

The Manual:

http://www.metz.de/index.php?eID=tx_nawsecuredl&u=0&file=fileadmin/fm-dam/Download/Homepage_Englisch/Photo_Electronic/Bedienungsanleitung_GB/SCA_Adapter_GB/SCA_3502_M5_Leica_GB.pdf&t=1429273445&hash=adef12bd77c6e18b2f2da3518396d05772b6b7b8

 

I have the adapter, and as far as i can tell none of the settings on it matter if i use it on M mode in HSS

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thanks.  I read this.  I am trying to figure out how many feet to set the flash at to achieve the appropriate fill flash.  I think I will just conduct a formal controlled experiment.

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Will this work with a Leica SF58 attached in A mode for fill flash?

 

Not sure about A mode but it does at least apparently work at HSS speeds (see here) but it is a while since I owned an M7 so it is not something I can personally verify either way. What I do know is that the M7's HSS capability in practice (I have used the M7, 54MZ-3, and 3502 combination) is that it seems limited in it's usefulness whilst out "in the field" and involves quite a bit of mental calculation. The latter, of course, will become easier the more you use the HSS system. 

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I think I will just conduct a formal controlled experiment.

Yes, I think that is the way forward. It is a long time since I did my own (not very exhausting) experimentation with this combination but I remember it being a bit of a hassle and limited in scope, to say the least. That said, working from the published guide numbers I did at least confirm that the HSS did work as advertised and my flash exposures were as expected (I would have been shooting E6 then so I had less latitude to play with). 

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What I do know is that the M7's HSS capability in practice (I have used the M7, 54MZ-3, and 3502 combination) is that it seems limited in it's usefulness whilst out "in the field" and involves quite a bit of mental calculation. The latter, of course, will become easier the more you use the HSS system. 

 

Well, I figure that it would be fun to play with.  I have visualized some images in my head that I think that I can get.  To give you a flavor, if I can get something like this at 1/50 I am thinking that I can kick it up a notch with a shutter speed much much higher  :p

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Well, I figure that it would be fun to play with.  I have visualized some images in my head that I think that I can get.  To give you a flavor, if I can get something like this at 1/50 I am thinking that I can kick it up a notch with a shutter speed much much higher  :p

 

Go for it – nothing to do lose with a bit of experimentation. :)

I seem to recall that the problem I ran into was that the flash output in HSS mode is only a fraction of the normal output. Even when used for fill-flash the effective working distance of the flash in this mode was often too limiting for the kind of photographs I wanted to take.

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Thanks for the input.  Without any formal experimenting, my intuition is that, with a meter b/n me and my subject, I should stop down a full stop or 1.5 stops beyond what I normally would shoot at (which in NYC is generally about a half of a stop or a full stop more exposed that the meter reading) and set the distance on the flash to about 5 feet.

 

To get more scientific and actually learn something, I have made myself a grid with 3 columns, one for no exposure adjust, one for 1 stop underexposed and a third for 2 stops underexposed.  The rows of the grid represent distance increments of 2 feet, 4 feet, 6 feet and 8 feet.  So that's 12 experimental shots of my son at about a meter away.  I will sell my results on Amazon :D

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