| Latest Review Posted | Metz Mecablitz 52 AF-1
The previous reviewer was talking about the flimsiness of his unit, I'm not even sure we're talking about the same flash model. My Metz 52 AF-1 is rock-solid. The parts fit with precise tolerance. (Update: The red/ transluscent plastic on the front has some play.) The battery door is thick and worry-free. The foot is metal and slides in and out smoothly into and from the hotshoe. There is no chance that it will wiggle or slide out when mounted (tightens with the ring/knurled nut and locks in place with pin). The head articulates smoothly with just enough resistance. The slide-out reflector is thin, as mentioned by the previous reviewer. But it's not meant to be used by itself: it works together with the wide diffuser. So pull it out and push it back in together with the wide diffuser. You need not worry about breaking it.
The touchscreen is just brilliant! I used the flash in minutes without reading the manual. (Update: I started reading the manual and there's more to be learned there.) The flash is well-featured. Bounce and swivel, HSS, Master/Control/Slave, P-TTL, and full manual.
I've read horror stories about the unreliability of P-TTL, but that's not the case with my Metz 52 AF-1 (firmware 1.3) and Pentax K-S2 (firmware 1.2).
My unit arrived with firmware version 1.1. With that firmware, direct flash was exposing correctly but bounce was substantially overexposed. I updated to firmware 1.3 (released January 2015). Bounce still overexposed, but exposure is con... |
