[jjhenders]

My daughter bought the Metz 58 AF-1 because she wanted a modern, automatic flash to help with her photography. She paid for a new one and has already thrown in the towel on learning how to use the flash. She is quite tech phobic and her dad (me) is only slightly less so. So I promised I would learn how to use the flash and then teach her. We both shoot with the Kx. I read the manual, which I find is not very helpful (it's not exactly a flash for dummies book) and shot hundreds of shots on Christmas eve and some of them were even correctly exposed (but of course i have no idea why!). What I'm hoping for is that someone knows of a tutorial video, article, something helpful on pentax forums, a book--anything--that would help us learn how to use this flash. Even if someone knows of something useful that is not specifically for this Metz flash, but has easy to understand info. that would be transferable to this flash , that would be wonderful. What I'm looking for is a "dummies" book, video, or article that will help us get going with this flash. Can anyone point me to something? I thank you for whatever help you can give.

[abmj]

Which camera is she using it on? I have that flash and find that the "A" setting (auto) is more accurate and gives better results than the (P)TTL setting with my K-5.

[jjhenders]

We both shoot with a Kx. During my night of trying to figure the thing out, I was having better luck with the A setting. Everything shot with PTTL came out way too dark, so I figured I must be doing something wrong. I thought the PTTL was supposed to be the most automatic setting on the flash. Is there any setting on my camera that I might need to adjust?

[abmj]

Try using "P" (program mode) with PTTL. Manual is better for experienced shooters but perhaps not for a beginner. If you consistently get under or over exposed flash pictures, you can adjust the flash compensation on the camera a stop or two to correct for it. In general, you just have to accept that Pentax DSLRs prior to the K-3 have rather poor flash consistency and find a way to adjust. We all have our ways to do that. I use "A" and set up the camera on "M"anual to get the depth of field I want with a relatively high sync speed, set the flash compensation down a stop and just do some test shots.

It is surprising to me that the on-board pop-up flash can get good exposures but the hot-shoe flashes are so inconsistent. One of the few things that Pentax does poorly.

[kkoether]

I just got a new Metz 58AF-2. One thing I've found out about PTTL. Watch out for ANY reflected light. I was shooting outside it the snow the other night and the light being reflected off the snowflakes was enough to mess with the flash and cause it to throttle down its output. Anything that reflects the flash is enough to cause the flash to reduce its output thus underexposing the shot. Good Luck! I really like my new flash myself.

[Karet]

What I'm looking for is a "dummies" book, video, or article that will help us get going with this flash. Can anyone point me to something? I thank you for whatever help you can give.

I found this helpful:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/index/flash-photography/
And this:
Strobist: Lighting 101

Articles on nightclub photography helped me to balance ambient light with flash. In short: shutterspeed rules ambient light, aperture rules depth of field and flash exposure compensation is used when the subject is too bright or not bright enough. Have look here:
A guide to nightclub photography. - David Walker Photography Blog

Regards,
Karet

[HSV]

Last night in my insomnia, I was playing around with my AF540 and a Olympus body (since I don't have an Olympus flash) with the A mode. The exposure is very consistent, way more than P-TTL, and it seems to expose "properly"...in other words, it is not fooled by white parts of the scene and it does not try to "make an 18 gray" type of exposure. All the white parts came out white.

Tried the same thing with the K-5 iis, and reached the same conclusion. For some reason, when shooting a scene with lots of whites or blacks, the P-TTL seems to try and make it grey. Using bounce or direct flash yielded the same results.

I think this has to do a lot with how the metering system works. Even when without flash, the K-5 iis seems to underexpose a tad, with the flash is even worse. Also, the A mode is very consistent....giving the same output over and over again, reflective surfaces has no influence on its output.

On the other side, P-TTL is metering on a limited portion of the scene, which is also in focus (some elements, at least)...while the A mode is presumably metering overall ambient light. Seems to make sense that the overall ambient light varies very little, while P-TTL depends on whatever you put in front of the lens (composition), which varies a lot.

[jjhenders]

Thanks so much for the input everybody. You all have given me hope that maybe we can work this thing out, starting with working with the A setting. Still seems crazy to me that one can spend that much money on a flash and not get automatic consistent results. But I guess that's the way it is. Thanks.

[MSL]

Thanks so much for the input everybody. You all have given me hope that maybe we can work this thing out, starting with working with the A setting. Still seems crazy to me that one can spend that much money on a flash and not get automatic consistent results. But I guess that's the way it is. Thanks.

You're not the first to come to this conclusion, especially if you've had any experience with old TTL systems which seemed to work a lot more reliably. I'm still wondering whether between the flash issues and some focusing issues with the K5 I may have to upgrade at some stage just to have a more reliable autofocus/flash system.

[kkoether]

Playing with my new Metz 58AF-2 I'm noticing in pttl mode the system attempts to properly expose the area directly in front of the center AF point where the camera spot meters. If I take a picture of a wall then put my hand between the lens and the wall and take another picture. The first picture will have the wall properly exposed and the next picture will have my hand properly exposed and the wall will be underexposed. This seems to follow Pentax's philosophy of properly exposing the part of the picture your focusing on. It seems I remember reading somewhere that when using a flash the camera reverts to spot metering. I would have to agree with that statement based on my observations using pttl mode.

[RGlasel]

Watch out for ANY reflected light

I'll second and third this advice. Been there, done that. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/125-flashes-lighting-studio/245393-how-ge...n-picture.html

I remember reading somewhere that when using a flash the camera reverts to spot metering

Apparently it's the opposite all incoming light is used by the P-TTL metering system. I have a 52 AF-1, which doesn't have an "A" setting on the flash, but I found that P mode is alright if you don't care about aperture. If I don't have any of the other flash pitfalls like reflected light, bright electric lighting and so on, I get the results I expect with Av mode as well and I can control the depth of field. You also have three types of exposure compensation to play with, in the camera for ambient light, in the camera for flash (built-in or external) and on your Metz flash.

Strobist: Lighting 101
This is an excellent introduction to organized lighting for photographers.