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Portable strobes for Phamiya

faneuil

Member
Another vote for the Quantum T5dr. Super compact and long lived battery pack (the latest Turbo model)

Very nice wireless TTL with the canon.
No TTL that I can make work with phamiya and p45 digital back however.

Right now trying to get my T5dr to mount onto a Mola demi for portable headshots.
(Mola is about to release a swivel handle and mount to adapt portable flashes to the Demi model)

cheers,
Eric
 
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dogstarnyc

Member
I've been using them for years and all the above advice is spot on.

FWIW I use a couple o fHensel Porty Premium packs but with converted Profoto heads. I get the cost/weight advantage of the Porty Premium pack, but with the Profoto heads I get access to just about every light modifier in just about every rental house in the world, sadly Hensel don't have that complete network that profoto has.

Also the Profoto heads can give me very short flash durations, handy now as I have switched from Hassy H2 (1/800th sec sync) to Mamiya AFD II (1/125th sec sync).
(Come on Phamiya with the leaf lenses)

The Hensel Porty Premium has 1200W of symmetric and asymmetric power, that means you can adjust the 2nd head in relation to the first.

Very very sturdy, very well designed and built, truly shower proof.

Just expect to be asked lots of questions at airports... damn thing does x ray like a bomb (wires, lights.. big dense bit at the bottom)

:)
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
You guys are just toooooo funny! :rolleyes:

:)ROTFL:)

BUT! I have just received word we will have a quadra pack and head in Oregon to demo :thumbs:
 
J

Johannes01

Guest
uh..Thanks for your good ideas.Please wait for me checking it out.
 

gsking

New member
These may not be adequate for your needs, but I get good results with my Metz mecablitz system. Nice thing about it...I get full wireless exposure control.

I have a 70, a 50, and two 54's. I can use any one as controller on the camera, and the other three as slaves.

Keeping the Ni-Cd batteries charged for the 70/50 is a bit tough, though. The have Ni-MH now...not sure if they perform any better. In either case, the batteries can get pretty pricey.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
These may not be adequate for your needs, but I get good results with my Metz mecablitz system. Nice thing about it...I get full wireless exposure control.

I have a 70, a 50, and two 54's. I can use any one as controller on the camera, and the other three as slaves.

Keeping the Ni-Cd batteries charged for the 70/50 is a bit tough, though. The have Ni-MH now...not sure if they perform any better. In either case, the batteries can get pretty pricey.
How do you do that?

I have two 70s I'd like to use that way.

Thanks,

Marc
 

gsking

New member
Marc,

You have the 3952 adapter, right? I'm assuming it works on the new cameras the same way it works on my AFD.

The secret trick on the 76/70/50 is that it has built-in slave capability without the connecting controller attached. So, as just the potato masher, it will default to Channel 1 slave. Set the one on the camera to A and Co1, and it will trigger the remote.

I'm pretty sure it's 1:1 (no ratio), and I don't think it can be varied, but I'm not sure.

I haven't used it this way in over a year.

The 54 will work as a slave, but it needs either a matching module (3952 in this case) or 3083 slave module attached. IIRC-YMMV ;)
 

mark1958

Member
I think Marc will have to use the 3083 Slave module. I have a Metz 76-MZ5 and Metz 54-4. I have never tried as a trigger/slave. So I can use the 54 to trigger the 76 without the additional module? I am going to try this.

BTW the newer batteries are much better. However you need to charge/discharge a few times to bring them to max capacity.
 

gsking

New member
Yep. The 70 and 50 do it, so I'm sure the 76 will. You have to disconnect the cable from the potato masher. It's buried in the manual somewhere, in that rigid translation from German.

Put the 54 on your camera and try it on your stripped 76.

The 3083 will give added functionality, but then you'll have to deal with the cable flapping around.

Yeah, the cost of the Ni-MH batteries plus the charger is more than I can stomach. :)
 

mark1958

Member
You are right!!!!.. Found this in the manual

The Metz remote mode is supported by various flash unit types:
Mecablitz type Controller functionn Slave function
76 MZ-5 digital yes yes
70 MZ-5 yes yes
70 MZ-4 yes yes, with SCA 3083
54 MZ-... yes yes, with SCA 3083
50 MZ-5 yes ja
45 CL-4 digital no yes, with SCA 3083
44 MZ-2 no yes, with SCA 3083
40 MZ-... yes yes, with SCA 3083
34 CS-... no yes
28 CS-2 digital no yes
The flash units mecablitz 76 MZ-5 digital, 70 MZ-5 and 50 MZ-5
automatically become slave flash units if the handle mount is operated
without a control unit.


These may not be adequate for your needs, but I get good results with my Metz mecablitz system. Nice thing about it...I get full wireless exposure control.

I have a 70, a 50, and two 54's. I can use any one as controller on the camera, and the other three as slaves.

Keeping the Ni-Cd batteries charged for the 70/50 is a bit tough, though. The have Ni-MH now...not sure if they perform any better. In either case, the batteries can get pretty pricey.
Yep. The 70 and 50 do it, so I'm sure the 76 will. You have to disconnect the cable from the potato masher. It's buried in the manual somewhere, in that rigid translation from German.

Put the 54 on your camera and try it on your stripped 76.

The 3083 will give added functionality, but then you'll have to deal with the cable flapping around.

Yeah, the cost of the Ni-MH batteries plus the charger is more than I can stomach. :)
 

gsking

New member
Aha, looks like the 70 MZ-4 (no front fill flash) may not have this functionality. I seem to recall reading that. I thought the 50 had an MZ-4 version as well, but can't find evidence.

Both of mine are MZ-5's.

Note that the 54's need a module attached to be used as a slave (and obviously as a controller) I have the 3083 which works fine, but I suppose any module with Metz remote would work. It wouldn't care that the actuating camera was a different brand.

In other words, I could probably use my 54 with 3302 Minolta/Sony module attached as it has both Sony protocol and Metz Remote protocol built in.

I should give it a try.

Greg
 
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mark1958

Member
I am going to try it without the 3083 module tonight. I love the translation in their manuals. Words spelled wrong or not even translated.. ja---yes.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I use the Metz 54 with my Phase body , works nice but I am really looking at this Quadra's for all sorts of stuff. I will get a demo in Oregon and try them out at the workshop, might hire a couple models for this.
 

mark1958

Member
Greg... It worked as you described. I ordered the 3083 module so i could use my metz 54s as a strobe/slave combo. thanks
 

vieri

Well-known member
I use (and would definitely recommend!) Profoto: B2 for outdoors and D4 for studio work, with 3 Pro heads & 1 ring flash - they would give you as much raw power & flexibility as you might need for your work, but they aren't the smallest or lightest of the pack (nor the cheapest, if this is of concern to you).
 

gsking

New member
Greg... It worked as you described. I ordered the 3083 module so i could use my metz 54s as a strobe/slave combo. thanks
Cool. Yeah, I've used the 54 as a hair light with the 3083. It's easier to use than the 50 or 70, and also has manual level control. The 70 can be quite bright if placed too close.

Greg
 
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