Metz 48 AF-1 Shoe Mount Flash for Canon E-TTL II Compact Digital Cameras, Guide Number 158'

2010-03-12T19:00:00

Great flash, and at a cost saving over the canon 430 EX II. The Metz has greater reach then the canon also. It is nice that you can do firmware upgrade to this flash when you upgrade your camera body, since it has a usb port. I found this flash very easy to use. With both a tilt and swivel head, you get allot of adjustment. Bouncing off a 16ft white ceiling is not a problem with this powerful flash. It can also be a wireless slave flash, for off camera lighting. But like the 430 EX II. It can not be a controller. The spec on this flash matches or exceeds the 430 EX II specs. Only thing is the metz is a bit bigger then the 430 EX II. The build quality is very good. This unit does not feel cheaply made. As it is made in Germany, which was a nice change of pace for consumer electronics. The ETTL work fine, had no issue with compatibility while some other less expensive dedicated flash has some compatibility issues.It is nice that it has a built in defuser and bounce also. Same set up that you get from the canon 580 EX. I would seriously look at the metz 48, even if you were not looking to save some money over the canon.

Jamie M.

2010-01-16T19:00:00

I've used it mostly for night photography and other "more creative" purposes, and it has performed flawlessly. The up/down, left/right flexibility of the head is a life saver, and the controls are very intuitive (though probably not easy to work if you have gloves on) and the button-activated back-lighting of the screen comes in handy while saving battery life. I think it's rated at around 400 flashes at full power, but I spend _most_ of my time at 1/4 power or less, and I probably topped 1000 fires on fresh Duracells. The white popout reflector doesn't make much difference, in my experience, but you can easily slide out the diffusing plastic to see a reasonable difference in softness. If you can bounce it off something (or otherwise modify the light), it does wonders. As others have said, the Metz seems considerably warmer than the Canon flashes, which is a huge plus! Most of the time, I have it wirelessly triggered, but I have occasionally popped it on the hot shoe, and the communication between the camera and flash is a blessing. If you're documenting any kind of event (photojournalism, parties, close-range sports, etc.), being able to avoid constantly fiddling with the output power is invaluable.

Patrick

2009-08-08T21:00:00

In use, the flash is eerily quiet when it recycles, as others mentioned. Power seems to be adequate for my use, so far. I haven't used the flash straight on, but have always bounced it off of a wall to light my subjects. This is where the swivel function really comes in handy. Other reviewers are correct when they say that the flash's tilt lock is pretty weak. This is a non-issue for me because I don't plan on using any heavy modifiers. I picked this flash because I wanted a relatively light weight flash for on-camera use that swiveled. Most flashes tilt, but not so many swivel, as well. I also wanted manual mode in addition to eTTL. Based on these characteristics and price I narrowed my choices down to the Canon 430EX II and this one. I picked this one because it swivels 30 degrees more clockwise than the Canon version. When used on-camera, this gives a little bit more flexibility when bouncing off of walls. In the clockwise direction, it can swivel 120 degrees. It would be even better if it did the full 180 degrees in the clockwise direction. It seems like you have to jump up to Canon's 580EX II to get that. Even Metz's top of the line flash only swivels 120 degrees clockwise. An auto-thyristor would have been nice, too, but that was also out of my price range if I wanted eTTL on the same flash. One note with the original Canon 5D: when the flash is set in HSS mode, the range reported by the flash's LCD, when the shutter speed is 1/200s, is reduced. This should not happen because 1/200s is the max sync speed of the 5D. It should still be using a single flash rather than the multiple bursts used in HSS mode. I plan to send an e-mail to Metz asking them if this is just an LCD display error or if the flash is actually in HSS mode at 1/200s on the 5D. If they decide to fix this issue, then the USB port will really come in handy.

TIMOTHY G.

2007-12-18T19:00:00

The Metz 48 AF-1 digital is a powerful flashgun with a lot of settings. It produces well exposed shots. Wireless master/slave functionality, second curtain synchronization, modeling light, flash bracketing, built-in diffuser and reflector card are all there. You get the whole package with this unit. Basically this flash looks good, feels good and performs good. And for the money it is well worth considering. So just watch out for the weak tilting lock, make sure you like the user interface and don't mind the "for Can" inscription.Cannot post pictures here so for the detailed review and lots of picture of the Metz 48 AF-1 digital please visit [@]

glsmaster