Metz 45 CT-4 Flash advice

[sury]

When I neighbor moved few years back he left some of his lenses and camera (Konika) and a Metz 45CT-4 flash. A $10 battery holder on eBay made the flash working. Is there any specific work flow or setting I should be using or just try test shots till I get it right? I have A900, A700 and A100 bodies. The flash seems to be firing using PC sync cord but I am not able to control the flash output. Any advice?

With best regards,
Sury

[Greg Beetham]

You'll probably need to get to know your Metz 45 CT4, because if yqu are going to use it on the A900 it's M mode only of course (you will need an ambient exposure to work from as a baseline), the flash will regulate it's own output via it's own sensor, (of course you will need to match settings on the flash to the settings on the camera), and it's fairly necessary for the subject/subjects to be arranged in a fashion that will allow it to work to it's best, it isn't going to spot regulate the flash output, it will only do an output based on about 25deg. field of view, so if the subject/subjects don't fill the majority of the field (the field as seen by the flash sensor not as seen by whatever lens camera FOV is in effect at the time), it will probably render some exposure anomalies, and that is to be expected. (legendary flash BTW)
It might be best to use an equivalent FOV/focal length lens setting at first, one that has a similar FOV to the flash sensor, so you will be looking at a field of view/composure that the flash is also going to base it's output on.
Greg

[sury]

Greg,
Thank you. That is very useful. For the first time I appreciated the significance of fov numbers given for lenses. So looks like the lens is better useful when using a zoom lens than a wide angle lens. I have now some thing to go with and experiment.

Sury

[pakodominguez]

nothing better than reading the owner's manual:
http://www.metzflash.co.uk/pdffiles/Mec ... igital.pdf

[sury]

Pako,
Thank you for the reference. Mine turned out to be Analog Flash. Never the less, I am going to set the flash as suggested in the manual.

With best regards,
Sury

[Dusty]

Not to be a stickler, but shouldn't this be moved to the Flash section?

Dusty

[sury]

Mea culpa. I did not go to the bottom of the list and therefore did not see the Flash section. My apologies. Can move the topic or is it something Forum Admin needs to do?

With best regards,
Sury