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11-10-2011, 09:47 AM   #1
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Metz CL45 digital vs Metz 58af 2 digital

I am looking at these two Metz flashes and wonder what is the benefit ,apart from moving the head/ lens relationship and red eye, of buying a hammerhead?

the GN is lower on the 45, so what is this big and heavy piece of engineering got going for it the 58 does not?
[I am aware of the rechargable battery]

11-10-2011, 10:47 AM   #2
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Much less stress on the hotshoe of the camera.

Actually, I believe the 45 CL flash is really a left over of an older technology although as you've noticed it is bigger and heavier and therefore the components are probably more heavy duty.

You could buy a camera bracket and the Pentax flash cable extenders and mount a 58 AF-2 on the bracket and you would have virtually the same as the CL4.

I have a couple of the older Metzs and love them but just from a collectors point of view, I use my 58 AF-2 (Pentax) & AF-1 (Nikon) for all serious work. (and fun work)
11-10-2011, 01:29 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by adwb Quote
the GN is lower on the 45, so what is this big and heavy piece of engineering got going for it the 58 does not?
Not necessarily.

The 45 has GN of 45 at 35mm FOV (135 format).

What is the 58's GN at that FOV? I bet you it's not 58. - Editted to add: found it. It's 35.

Metz recently followed other flash makers, inflating GN by measuring it at the narrowest FOV.

Case in point: my 40MZ-1i (GN of 40 at 50mm FOV) has the same power as my 54MZ-3 (GN of 54 at 105mm FOV).

Last edited by SOldBear; 11-10-2011 at 01:47 PM.
11-10-2011, 05:28 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by SOldBear Quote
I bet you it's not 58. - Editted to add: found it. It's 35.
Impressive, the old 45 series still put out a LOT of light then as well as being built like,well, something that's built for the long haul.

11-11-2011, 03:19 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by mtansley Quote
Impressive, the old 45 series still put out a LOT of light then as well as being built like,well, something that's built for the long haul.
Well dispite the quide number quoted previously I'm not sure about the light.

Since I posted the question , I have a Metz 48 and a couple of YN 560 and I borrowed at CL45 from a friend to try.

At night in the pitch dark on the same body all three on manual full power, narrowest beam [full zoom setting] on the 48 and YN.
On inspection of the images the yn560 and the 48 lit up objects further away than the 45. since the 45 does not have zoom head I tried all 3 with a 10mm iwde angle lens and set the others to at their wide angle settings and then they are all pretty equal both in distance and width of cover.
11-12-2011, 11:26 PM   #6
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Both flashes are fantastic, I own and use both of them equally. You can read my review of the 58 AF2 here for my opinions on that flash, but I'd like to point out a few advantages the 45CL has over the 58, and why I still use it.

First, the classic potato masher design is just fast and easy. The 45CL just plugs right into the PC socket of my K20D, but you can also get a SCA module to have TTL functionality and with that, it mounts on the hotshoe which may be important to the K-x/K-r crowd. The SCA system will also allow you to use the CL45 with other camera brands whereas the 58 is "dedicated" to individual brands. The 45CL doesn't require a light stand if you want the flash off camera, but I would recommend getting a coiled sync cord, the one included with the flash is woefully short.

As was mentioned, the 45CL is actually a stronger flash than the 58 AF2, it just lacks a zoom head. For basic headshots, say in the 50~105mm range, the 58 AF2 has the GN advantage, but for lighting a whole scene at 35mm, the crown goes to the 45CL. I think the only other flashgun that can beat it is the Metz 76 MZ-5, but you could buy a whole studio kit for what it would cost you to purchase it new.

Speaking of studio lights, the 58 AF2 as of firmware 2.0 "features" preflash suppression. What that means is you can't trigger it with studio lights because they only fire one burst, and the 58 will think that's the preflash and just sit there waiting for a second burst that's not coming. You can make it work with a radio trigger, but it's just cumbersome, and depending on your radio trigger, may be costly. With the 45CL, you can buy a 10 dollar optical slave and plug it right into the sync cable and you've got another light for your studio setup.

The last thing that I really love about the 45CL is in auto mode you can "lie" to it. Say you're shooting outdoors on a sunny day at f/8 and you want to soften the shadows but not destroy them. You can set the flash to f/5.6 and it will just take your word for it, and give you a nice pleasing fill light. The 58 will do the same thing, but you have to have it set up wirelessly. If the 58 AF2 it's connected to the camera, either on the hotshoe or on a bracket via TTL cord, it knows the aperture and will just blast away at f/8. To me this kind of diminishes the usefulness of the feature, I like "dumb" auto mode better.

I will also say that if you can find a used analog version of the CL45, it works just fine, and it's cheaper. Pentax thankfully shielded their PC sockets against high voltages (31 volts is the figure I've heard, but it has never been officially released). I've been using the analog version of the CL45 for 3 years on my K20D with no problems, but I wouldn't try it with a Canon or Nikon, I hear they fry at around 8 to 12 volts.

Price wise the 58 AF2 is a better deal if you buy both flashes new, it just has more features, but you should be able to find plenty of analog and digital 45CLs on the used market for considerably less as everyone ditches them for the latest-and-greatest new thang, and as others have mentioned, they're built to last. Hope that helps.

Last edited by maxfield_photo; 11-12-2011 at 11:51 PM.
11-12-2011, 11:41 PM   #7
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Agree that the 45CL (in fact, all models in the 45 series) is a fantastic flash.

QuoteOriginally posted by maxfield_photo Quote
I think the only other flashgun that can beat it is the Metz 76 MZ-5...
You need to include the Metz 60CT series, the Quantum QFlash series, and the Sunpak 6xx series.

But among flashes that do not require an external battery pack, in terms of power, nothing beats the 45 series (except for the Sunpak 6xx series, but the cycle time with 4 C-sized battery cells is sooo loooong).

Adding a Mecamat to a 45 flash will change it from a fantastic flash to a tripple-fantastic flash.

11-13-2011, 12:00 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by SOldBear Quote
Adding a Mecamat to a 45 flash will change it from a fantastic flash to a tripple-fantastic flash.
I've seen them, but never quite understood how they work. And which one would you use for a 45CL-4? Do you need the proper SCA foot?
11-13-2011, 12:21 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by maxfield_photo Quote
I've seen them, but never quite understood how they work. And which one would you use for a 45CL-4? Do you need the proper SCA foot?
I have 2 45-20 (for 45CT-1) and a 45-46 (for 45CL-4). It took me a while to collect them.

It has a hot foot that is attached to the camera's hot shoe, and a coiled cord that is plugged to the right side of the flash unit. You can't use it with the SCA.

The 45-46 offers (45-20 is similar):

- Light sensor that can set at 12 or 25 degrees.
- Aiming device to aim the light sensor accurately (e.g. for macro photography).
- 11 aperture settings in auto mode (e.g. F/2 to F/64 for ISO 100) vs 6 aperture settings on the flash unit.
- In manual, 7 power ratio settings from 1 to 1/64 vs 1, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/40 (W) on the flash.

A fringe benefit is that I added a small circuit in the Mecamat 45-20 to bring the trigger voltage of the 45CT-1 from 180V down to 7.5V (there's no space inside the 45CT-1 for this circuit).

11-13-2011, 01:40 AM   #10
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Thank you to all the contributors for answering my question, one last one, fitted on a k5 the digital verion of the CL45 using the sca module, set in ttl mode not auto, how do you decrease the power? there is no power adjustment that I can see reading the manual?
11-13-2011, 11:50 AM   #11
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Why would you want to reduce power in TTL mode?

To underexpose on purpose? I'm quite sure that dialing flash ev compensation on the camera will achieve that effect; I don't have the mentioned flashes so can't be sure; a quick test shows that it seems to do so with the AF540 (although it's notr reflected on the AF540's display).
To preserve battery life? TTL (and auto) will only use as much as is needed for correct exposure; reducing power will only result in an increase of flash duration.

So not being a flash expert, I might be missing something?
11-13-2011, 07:19 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by SOldBear Quote
Not necessarily.

The 45 has GN of 45 at 35mm FOV (135 format).

What is the 58's GN at that FOV? I bet you it's not 58. - Editted to add: found it. It's 35.

Metz recently followed other flash makers, inflating GN by measuring it at the narrowest FOV.
Here's a comparative visualization of GN by focal length from my flash guide:




And the 48 AF-1 for good measure:




QuoteOriginally posted by adwb Quote
Well dispite the quide number quoted previously I'm not sure about the light.
I think it's reasonable to expect a reputable company like Metz (or any Japanese camera company that is part of CIPA) to state their GN ratings within ±1 GN.

QuoteOriginally posted by adwb Quote
Since I posted the question , I have a Metz 48 and a couple of YN 560 and I borrowed at CL45 from a friend to try.

At night in the pitch dark on the same body all three on manual full power, narrowest beam [full zoom setting] on the 48 and YN.
On inspection of the images the yn560 and the 48 lit up objects further away than the 45. since the 45 does not have zoom head I tried all 3 with a 10mm iwde angle lens and set the others to at their wide angle settings and then they are all pretty equal both in distance and width of cover.
One would expect the GN 48 to reach about 10 feet further than the GN 45 flash at ISO 100, and considerably more than that at higher ISOs. Width of coverage is interesting and would be worth measuring precisely.
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