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Metz mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital Review RSS Feed

Metz mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital

Reviews Views Date of last review
8 28,090 Mon April 14, 2014
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
100% of reviewers $344.80 9.00
Metz mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital
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Description:
The Metz 58 AF-1 Digital features a USB interface for updating software via the Internet, a built-in wireless remote system that can be used in conjunction with the commander mode on your camera, flash, or other 58 AF-1 units, an Auto Thyristor sensor for accurate flash metering, cutting edge secondary reflector technology, high-performance energy management, the latest generation of multi-zone AF measurement flash, full bounce/swivel, special functions and much more.


Metz 58 In-Depth Review


Flash nameGuide Number (meters ISO 100)Flash controlFlash exposure comp.Flash coverage (24x36)
Metz mecablitz 58 AF-142 in 50mm zoom position
54 in 105mm zoom position
P-TTL
TTL
Autoflash
Manual (1/1 to 1/256 power level)
Yes24mm lens,
18mm with built-in
wide-angle panel
Rotating flash headModeling lightAutofocus spotbeamConnectionsHot shoe pins
Rotate and swivelYesYesUSB for firmware
updates
5 (incl. ground)
BatteriesDimensions (W x H x D)WeightIn production
4 x AA
External power pack available
71 x 148 x 99mm355gNo
Price History:



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Sort Reviews by: Date | Author | Rating | Recommendation | Likes (Descending) Showing Reviews 1-8 of 8
Junior Member

Registered: January, 2011
Posts: 45
Review Date: April 14, 2014 Recommended | Price: $175.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: high quality, accurate PTTL, 2nd reflector, Beeps, Smart A mode, wireless
Cons: fewer buttons to control,

I had it before and now I have AF540FGZ. I prefer Metz's.
It worket perfectly with my previous Kx, K7. But made overexposures with K5 and sold them together. Because the Smartest A mode ever works perfect with the K5.

2ndary reflector helps filling the frame.
Beep sounds notice me when exposure went correct or not and even charged. very helpful. Now I need to see the red light on AF540FGZ to see if it is charged.

A mode is perfect if you don't need high shutter speed. A mode is limited under 1/180th of second. withing this range, A mode works flawlessly. even with Manual lenses. Perfect Perfect and Perfect.

I will highly recommend this flash to everyone.
   
New Member

Registered: February, 2013
Location: Tarnow
Posts: 4
Review Date: April 8, 2013 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: N/A 

 
Pros:
Cons:

I need some help. My problem is that i want to buy a flash for my K 5II and don't know whether this model suits my camera. has anyone had any experience with the flash and the camera, and if so, what are your impressions.
Or, maybe you can suggest any other flashes tah can be used wit K 5II without problems. What do you think of Samsung? I can afford only the model whose price is not higher than the mentioned Metz....
   
Forum Member

Registered: January, 2010
Location: Akershus
Posts: 69
Review Date: January 25, 2012 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Powerful, fast recycle time, quite robust
Cons: optical trigger is rubbish

Great flash, but comes at a price, and this time not only monetary, since learning curve could be rather flat. Manual isn't all that well written and controls could be quite intimidating. But once mastered, this flash offers pretty much anything u might ever want, except from optical slave, which, although present, can be triggered only from so close distance it's not all that useful.
   
Forum Member

Registered: December, 2008
Location: Fishtown, Philly PA
Posts: 55
Review Date: April 5, 2011 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: firmware updates, versatile, powerful, many modes, adjustable
Cons: menus hard to work through under pressure, manual not so good, cost

The last time I bought a flash I was shooting an ME Super and the year was like 1986. The unit was the compact Vivitar 2500. I got back into photography with a K100d and knew right away I wanted a good flash.

All the reviews were favorable on the Metz and it had a bit more power than the 540gz, so I went with that.

I haven't been disappointed in the choice. The thing does everything I need and often I find it easiest to set it to "A" mode, adjust the EV stops to a pleasing effect, and blast away.

I especially like the USB port firmware upgrades. I have done that process twice now and each time it seems to improve in areas that are noticeable--if sometimes subtle.

I must say that it works better with my k20d than it did with my k100d but I assume that is due to the camera capabilities rather than the flash unit.

So far I have used the flash for nightclub work--rear sync works great, some night time street parades, portraits, and some concert shooting.

no issues with any of this.

I do not like the P-TTL very much. This isn't because I have issues with the exposures provided, but because all the quick flashes of the strobe are annoying and people tend to blink and it blows the shot.

I have not tried the high speed sync, the strobe modes, or any of that more esoteric stuff.

I have got the off camera slave settings to work and they seem good as long as you can figure out the camera settings and make sure that the camera is in range and proper orientation.

using it with the cheap ebay flash triggers is easy and with the M mode you can just dial the power output to wherever you need it for a given environment.

I got a gary fong whaletail diffuser but suspect that the stofen might work just as well. If you can bounce with this and use the secondary reflector for fill you get great results that are more pleasing than the diffuser (but this may not always be an option).

the focus assist is great in the dark and it is fun to light people up like the movie "Predator" with the laser beam.

I really like the fact that there are many ways to avoid "thinking" with this flash and that you can basically fire it up, set it to A minus 1-2 ev and get good results very quickly.

When I had the old vivitar 2500 back in the day, I recall having to set up all kinds of settings and it taking a while to start shooting. and no way you could get a nice exposure up close and then turn around and fire at something 50 feet away.

Like the latest DSLRs vs film, with this metz af-58 you can blast away, check the lcd, make an adjustment or two and have it dialed in with a few shots.

Of course, the more technically minded will be able to really tweak it out to meet their demands rather than using the "spray and pray" method of the amateur.

if there is a downside to this flash, it is that you are toting around a piece of equipment that is worth a lot of cash and maybe if you can think things through you don't always need all it can do. It may be overkill for some people and they may be better off with a cheaper unit with less bells and whistles--like the metz af 48.

For this reason, I am thinking my next lighting purchase will be an old pentax 280t flash which I can use in A or M. It would take up less room in the bag, and you wouldn't be so freaked out carrying it around in a club, on the street, or at a concert. I am sometimes hesitant to take the camera and flash because it seems really vulnerable perched on that hot shoe when you are walking through a crowd, taking it in and out of the bag, etc.

In short, the metz af-58 1 works great as one would expect from a top of the line unit. I do not regret the purchase at all and if you have the means I recommend it.

Much better to have a flash you will not outgrow and that will do everything you need--even if you may not know exactly what you need right now because you are just getting back into photography (like me.)
   
Site Supporter

Registered: February, 2010
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 1,902
Review Date: August 17, 2010 Recommended | Price: $400.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Fantastic lighting, uses AA batteries
Cons: Cannot be used as a master for off camera slaves

This is a really nice flash.

The controls require some navigation to get to what you want, and honestly usually require a glance at the manual, which is why I'm ranking it a 9 out of 10.

It has more throw than the AF 540FGZ, and does a little better wide angle, or so I'm told.

Mostly, I just mount it to the camera and shoot away. I'm sure I'll get more into the wireless aspects later. I've had it about two months and used it probably 6 times.

It beats the tar out of the on camera flash.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: September, 2006
Location: EU/Slovenia
Posts: 774

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: May 17, 2010 Recommended | Price: $390.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Auxillary flash, smart Auto mode
Cons: Inability ti use it as "dumb" slave

First some product images:


Obviously a box.


On a side are the power pack (lower) and mini usb (upper) plugs. The usb has a rubber cover while the power has a slide door with a spring.


The flash has a rather small reflector and bulb. A double fresnel lens makes the light somewhat softer.


The fifth pin goes in the hotshoe hole on camera and keeps the flash in place when screwed on camera hot shoe.


This button locks tilt whenever the head is in 0° position: It also locks swivel if the head is in straight forward position.


Flash is well protected against misplaced batteries.


Test button glows in green when flash is ready.


First press of any button lights up the LCD.


Mounted on K100D Super with DA 14/2.8

Feel and appearance:
The flash is smaller than expected especially in width. It's also lighter than expected - definitely noticeably lighter than AF500FTZ. Build quality appears to be good. Battery door is firm and stays attached to flash when opened. Tilt and swivel clicks are well defined and don't sound or feel like you're breaking something. Menus are easy to navigate and LCD illumination is just right. When charging you won't hear that typical high pitched sound. You can however set the flash to beep when ready. Flash is made in Germany which is a rarity these days.

Operation:
The flash can operate in three auto exposure modes: TTL, P-TTL and Auto (built in sensor). The P-TTL mode exposes rally well as does the Auto mode. The later is smarter than the one in AF360FGZ - it actually reads settings from camera so you don't have to change them every time you change aperture or sensitivity. You can as well dial in exposure compensation which brings auto mode very close to TTL in my opinion. Lately I'm using "A" mode a lot when shooting scenes with people because unlike P-TTL it doesn't cause lazy eyes and often even exposes better. A great plus for this flash.
What I found disappointing is that this flash can't operate as a simple "dumb" slave triggered by any other flash. I know the newer Pentax flashes can do that and I believe Sigma flashes as well. Manual mode goes all the way to 1/256. The rest of the modes (HSS, contrast control, rear curtain) work the same as AF360FGZ.

All in all I don't regret purchasing this flash. Not a bit. It proved it's worth in the field.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: May, 2007
Posts: 2,280
Review Date: April 9, 2010 Recommended | Price: $360.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Excellent flash coverage even at the far end, added front reflector, good build quality
Cons: The tilt/swivel lock is on the wrong (=right) side for me

Compared to my ProMaster 7500EDF exposures are better - no more 1.5 stops under exposure. The reach on the Promaster dropped dramatically once the front reflector was switched on, the Metz seems to remain as powerful with- as without the secondairy reflector switched on.

The Metz P-TTL implementation seems a lot better than the Promaster's, no surprise.

The unit has a solid feel to it except for the batterycover, but that is an issue with pentax flashes as well. The focus assist works exceptionally well and the menu is a doddle. The only thing I preferred on the Promaster was the slider switch to engage the second reflector - on the Metz this is buried in the menu.

All in all a giant leap forward for me, with consistent flash exposures with or without omnibounce. Have not tried the flash in straight-forward bare bulb mode yet, but I have confidence exposure will be as good as with bounce flash.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: February, 2007
Location: Freehold, NJ
Posts: 856
Review Date: March 26, 2010 Recommended | Price: $399.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Well built, powerful, fast recycle time.
Cons: Confusing menues, steep learning curve, settings not saved when replacing batteries, short battery life (when powered by AA's)

Once you get comfortable with the controls (the manual, as with almost all Metz products, is useless and poorly translated into English) it is a great flash. It has all of the power needed and it is relatively easy to use as a slave.
My only major gripe with the unit is the battery meter does not seem accurate and all settings are lost when changing batteries. There is also no off - flash power option other than the Metz P-76 power pack or a Quantum pack. It is a shame that there are no affordable packs that take disposable batteries. Both the Metz and Quantum options are priced in the stratosphere (both being more expensive than the flash unit itself).
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