[sjovolde]

Hi
I have a K3 and a Metz 50 AF-1. When I attach the flash to my camera and set it to high speed sync it appears to prefire like it should, but it doesn’t seem to actually fire, at least not enough to light anything. I understand the range is greatly reduced, but I’ve tried it even under 10 feet. I’m using a 55-200 at 200 and my aperture is set from f6.3 to f8, the iso is 500 and shutter speeds were 1/200-1/400, so not extremely fast. I’ve tried both aperture and aperture/shutter priority. I’ve also tried standard flash, and trailing curtain (which I originally thought was maybe my problem) but neither seemed to work. I’m trying to use it for fill flash for bird photography so a faster shutter speed would be nice. Is it a compatibility problem or am I missing a setting somewhere.
Thank you

[maw]

Hi sjovolde,

It may be because the sync time is too high, try using slower times in HSS. Normally most DSLRs sync at 1/180.

Ciao M

[sjovolde]

Just to try it out. I pulled out my Cactus II triggers and set them to power sync. I could get the flash to fire all the way to 1/8000 shutter speed in manual and get a properly exposed image with some trial and error. TTL didn’t seem to meter properly it was always bright. I guess I could come up with a bracket system and use those. Any ideas what I’m missing?
Thanks

---------- Post added 07-19-20 at 09:16 PM ----------

Ciao
Hi isn’t the idea of high speed sync so you can shoot faster than the camera sync speed?

[nosliwmit]

I have a 50 AF-1 as well. I just plopped it onto my K-1 II and was able to get HSS to work. I tried Tv mode and got perfectly-exposed shots at 1/1000. Put my DA*300 on and tried TAV mode (at 1/400) and that worked too (I'd never tried that before - some intriguing possibilities). Manual mode also worked fine (with exposure trial and error).

This may be no help to you but at least it confirms that the 50 AF-1 is perfectly capable of HSS!

[Class A]

It may be because the sync time is too high,

The point of HSS is that one is no longer limited by the sync-speed.

TTL didn’t seem to meter properly it was always bright.

In PowerSync mode (which is not HSS), the Cactus V6II will always drive a flash at full power. If it didn't one would get black bands. The loss of power control is compensated by a) increased power output, and b) the ability to shoot at higher shutter speeds, even without an HSS-capable flash.

[Class A]

I’ve tried both aperture and aperture/shutter priority.

Have you tried M or Tv mode?

Are you sure the flash goes into HSS mode? You'd see a pre-flash even if it is just in P-TTL mode (i.e., is not in HSS mode). The flash has to be in "P-TTL HSS" mode, at least that's what the mode is displayed as on a Metz 58 AF-2.

IIRC, it can matter whether the flash head points exactly forward, i.e., neither up a notch or in a slightly tilted down position. I think only if it points directly forward you can activate P-TTL (but you seemed to have gotten so far already).

The ordering of steps can be important. Try getting the flash into P-TTL mode (camera may need to be on for that). Then turn the camera off (if it had to be on before). Turn the camera on. Now try whether a "P-TTL HSS" option becomes available on the flash. Sorry if that doesn't make sense for your flash model, it does for the Metz 58 AF-2.