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Metz Mecablitz 45 CT-4
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:45 am    Post subject: Metz Mecablitz 45 CT-4 Reply with quote
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Mecablitz


Pic from camera-wiki



I just got one of these today and I'm waiting on another couple of bits and pieces to add to the semi-automation of it. It's basically a big old flash that was made in the 80s with a GN of 45, large enough to do weddings, press gatherings, events of all sorts. It was made at a time when German products weren't made down to a price - they were made up to a standard (and whatever the price happened to be; that was what they were worth). Marvellous bit of kit - even though it's been well-used, it isn't falling apart and still works perfectly, and these old guns are quite repairable even if it does need attention at some point.
However, the Jewel in the Crown of this system is the ability to add various modules on top of the camera to communicate via the hotshoe and not just trigger the flash, but control it properly. As cameras developed, so did the flash systems, and Metz allowed for an upgrade add-on path with their units to keep pace.
I won't get full P-TTL monitoring with this, but I will get full auto in the gun itself, and with an adapter, get flash-ready and AF indications in the camera. So, that's good enough.
It would have cost me well over €400 to get a fully digital version, but for this, including bits and pieces, a total of €60 is good enough for 90% of the functionality.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Is that an extra fill-flash below the actual flash head? How do you control it?


PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kansalliskala wrote:
Is that an extra fill-flash below the actual flash head? How do you control it?

Just a 1 - 2 switch on the back of the head - it's controlled in the same way as the main flash, by thyristor cut-out. The voltage and the fill-flash were the two reasons for choosing this model.
My other twin gun uses the fill-in flash to very good effect and it's even tilt-able. The Metz one is fixed, though.
Included were diffusers for both flash lenses.
Today, I wait for the other bits to make it work with the Pentax.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Congrats on the spud masher Dave.

What are you using it on? I ask as a pal of mine, fried his Nikon D70s using one and that's supposed to handle 250volts. You may want to invest on a `Wein safe'.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
martinsmith99 wrote:
What are you using it on? I ask as a pal of mine, fried his Nikon D70s using one and that's supposed to handle 250volts. You may want to invest on a `Wein safe'.


it is the CT-1?


PostPosted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
martinsmith99 wrote:
Congrats on the spud masher Dave.

Ta; I've wanted a real one for a while.
Quote:

What are you using it on? I ask as a pal of mine, fried his Nikon D70s using one and that's supposed to handle 250volts. You may want to invest on a `Wein safe'.

This one is on a Pentax K10D - safe voltage for them is around 30V and the trigger voltage on this hammerhead is 12.4V (might be higher with alkalines, as I've seen them quoted as 15 and 18V).
The CT-1 was a high voltage beast apparently, but Metz tamed them a bit. Even in film days, such a high voltage was a bit stupid for the weeny little trigger contacts in the camera and Metz weren't alone in having trigger voltages above 250V.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The old Metz gear was made to last but all electronics play up eventually.

Last edited by jjphoto on Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:48 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Excellent results and interesting to see how you set them up.
I'm totally convinced of the efficacy of these units - always was, but couldn't afford them until now, when the earliest ones are cheap (but still upgradeable).
GAS kicked in and I really wanted a digital version of the 45, but it's more than I want to pay, but I'll persevere with the earlier ones, having seen what can be done with them and very cheaply at that.
As part of a bundle I got a SCA 3007A connector unit - the camera end sits on a Pentax module, is linked to a flash unit base, to presumably give it camera info, but I cant see what flash units they would be. I'm temped to pick up and old Cullman or two to find out.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Farside wrote:
Excellent results and interesting to see how you set them up.
I'm totally convinced of the efficacy of these units - always was, but couldn't afford them until now, when the earliest ones are cheap (but still upgradeable).
GAS kicked in and I really wanted a digital version of the 45, but it's more than I want to pay, but I'll persevere with the earlier ones, having seen what can be done with them and very cheaply at that.
As part of a bundle I got a SCA 3007A connector unit - the camera end sits on a Pentax module, is linked to a flash unit base, to presumably give it camera info, but I cant see what flash units they would be. I'm temped to pick up and old Cullman or two to find out.


Old flash gear is generally fine.

Last edited by jjphoto on Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:49 am; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some great results there.

I'm glad you didn't use the `S' word for your off-camera flash work. Laughing


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
jjphoto wrote:
I regularly use 5 x Metz 60 CT4's for my work


Can you post a photo of your battery charging station. Shocked


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
martinsmith99 wrote:
Some great results there...



Thanks.

martinsmith99 wrote:
...I'm glad you didn't use the `S' word for your off-camera flash work. Laughing


Which one, Strobe or Strobist?


kansalliskala wrote:
jjphoto wrote:
I regularly use 5 x Metz 60 CT4's for my work


Can you post a photo of your battery charging station. Shocked


I'll take a pic tomorrow and post it.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jjphoto wrote:
Strobist?

Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad

Blasted gimmick names. lol


PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
martinsmith99 wrote:
jjphoto wrote:
Strobist?

Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad

Blasted gimmick names. lol


Although it is a Trademark name it has come into common usage (by those who don't know any better, ie new to photography) to mean flash photography.

Whenever I read some one using the term it tells me that they're new to flash photography, that probably everything they know comes from the internet and that they've probably never read a book about photography.


PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's an American thing. I knew of the strobe tube at school many years before I used one as a flashgun, but the market in America had been taken over by the name.

It goes back even further than I thought...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobe_light although it doesn't say when xenon started to be used.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 7:52 pm    Post subject: Sigh of relief Reply with quote
Phew ... I didn't bust the camera.
I'd stuck a Metz SCA 374/2 AF adapter on the K10D to fire the 45 flash, with the object of having a flash-ready light in the viewfinder and it also over-riding perhaps wrongly-set shutter speeds when the flash is on.
It worked fine, as promised, but then it stopped working. The flash still fired ok, but the ready light didn't work. Testing the adapter on a Pentax film body showed that it worked ok there, but not on the K10D. Bummer; began to wonder if I'd over-taxed the digital body's circuitry.

Arrived in the mail today - another Metz adapter, the SCA 372, which made the flash-ready light work again. Excellent - and in TAv and Tv mode the shutter speed is dialled down to 180th when the flash is switched on.
Superb - it's almost like having TTL - the camera acknowledges the presence of the flash and sets a parameter by itself; easy to check result and dial aperture accordingly.

I've now taken about 300 flash pictures of my curtains - I must get out and actually use it Smile


PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:02 am    Post subject: Re: Sigh of relief Reply with quote
Farside wrote:
I've now taken about 300 flash pictures of my curtains - I must get out and actually use it Smile

I've done that many times. Laughing Laughing Laughing
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