[sebas77]

It must have been 2-3 years since the last time I wrote on this forum, exactly the time since I stopped photographing. Now that I wanted to try it again, I went through all my gear and tested them. Of course, I forgot/didn't know what flashes must be used every now and then.
Luckily all my cactuses are still working, even a super cheap yongnuo it is. My semi-broken Metz 58 af1 is still working too, but unfortunately, my Metz 58 af-2 is not firing anymore.
I thought to ask to someone good to swap the Af2 capacitor with the AF1 one, but then I realised that the front light is still working.
Does the metz 58 af-2 have two separate capacitors for the front and main light or do I have to search for the reason for the failure somewhere else?
Another clue is that even with fresh batteries, the gun shows the low battery warning.

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Last edited by sebas77; 09-20-2022 at 01:38 PM.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

It must have been 2-3 years since the last time I wrote on this forum, exactly the time since I stopped photographing. Now that I wanted to try it again, I went through all my gear and tested them. Of course, I forgot/didn't know what flashes must be used every now and then.
Luckily all my cactuses are still working, even a super cheap yongnuo it is. My semi-broken Metz 58 af1 is still working too, but unfortunately, my Metz 58 af-2 is not firing anymore.
I thought to ask to someone good to swap the Af2 capacitor with the AF1 one, but then I realised that the front light is still working.
Does the metz 58 af-2 have two separate capacitors for the front and main light or do I have to search for the reason for the failure somewhere else?
Another clue is that even with fresh batteries, the gun shows the low battery warning.

Have you tried to clean the contacts in the battery housing? I sometimes have to with my Metz flashes. What batteries did you use? Sometimes with rechargable batteries Metz's are bit "sensitive".

[blumoon722]

I agree about cleaning the contacts.
Put in fresh batteries, turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Sometimes it takes time for the capacitor to recharge after sitting unused.

[sebas77]

Hey, I tried that.

I think the important bit where I say that the front flash works has been overlooked. Today I also noticed that the main flash actually triggers every so often but rarely.

[inkista]

Dunno if this is useful information, but:

Strobist: How to Keep Your Old Flash from Exploding

[Lord Lucan]

Dunno if this is useful information, but:

Strobist: How to Keep Your Old Flash from Exploding

He lost me when he referred to "Speedlight". "Speedlight" is a brand name of Nikon flash units, so I'm not sure if he meant just those (bearing in mind he had just given instructions for another specific brand) or is using the term generically, as many people do.

Just to add to the confusion, Canon call their flash units "Speedlites". Canon and Nikon have a habit of using almost identical names for their kit, I don't know which of them is most to blame, and I don't know what the point of it is.

[inkista]

He lost me when he referred to "Speedlight". "Speedlight" is a brand name of Nikon flash units, so I'm not sure if he meant just those (bearing in mind he had just given instructions for another specific brand) or is using the term generically, as many people do.

Just to add to the confusion, Canon call their flash units "Speedlites". Canon and Nikon have a habit of using almost identical names for their kit, I don't know which of them is most to blame, and I don't know what the point of it is.

Yes, yes, we all know about the brand names, but IMO, speedlight is now the kleenex of flashes: It's the brand name that's become the generic one and has graduated to lowercase usage. And David Hobby has the additional excuse of having been a long-time Nikon shooter.

I would also posit that the guy who revolutionized/popularized using speedlights for off-camera flash lighting, studio-style, might know just a wee bit more about flash and flash technology than the average. And his knowledge of analog electronics is solid. HIs advice on how to rebuild the oxide layer in your strobe's capacitor, and the difference between how you do it from a speedlight vs. a monolight is good reading.

Also, as someone who was a technical writer professionally for over a quarter of a century and can nitpick word usage long past the time when anyone else would have dropped it, I'd also say that I far prefer using speedlight to "hotshoe flash" or "cobra flash." One word is stronger than two when describing a specific thing.

Now if I could only persuade everyone that that bit on the bottom of a speedlight is actually a foot, not a hotshoe (the shoe is the foot goes into, be it hot or cold), I'd be a happy woman. (sigh). Godox, I blame your weak English translation for starting the spread of this and B&H and Adorama for echoing it [primarily in listings for replacement foot assemblies, calling them replacement hotshoes], and now even Rob Hall (who really should know better) is calling it a shoe. [eyeroll]. At least Godox finally stopped calling every sync port under the sun a "PC sync port"—even if it's 2.5mm or 3.5mm (eyeroll).

Oh, and the current game of internet telephone that's got so-called 'experts' calling slow-sync flash "dragging the shutter"? That needs to die the fiery death of a thousand suns.

[Lord Lucan]

IMO, speedlight is now the kleenex of flashes: It's the brand name that's become the generic one

Maybe where you are (USA?) but in the UK "flash gun" is the generic term. I tend to say "flash unit" when writing as the "g" word can feak out some websites.

I would also posit that the guy [David Hobby?] who revolutionized/popularized using speedlights for off-camera flash lighting, studio-style, might know just a wee bit more

Depends on what you mean by revolutionized/popularized. My father was using a flash unit aimed into a white brolly in his studio when David Hobby must have been in nappies. I use that same brolly myself now. Ought to get a new one. Anyway, I'll take another look at that website.

Now if I could only persuade everyone that that bit on the bottom of a speedlight is actually a foot, not a hotshoe (the shoe is the foot goes into, be it hot or cold), I'd be a happy woman.

I'm with you there. It is like in IT, the word "hacker" was originally meant to be a white hat computer expert and "cracker" was meant to be a black hat one. But those who understood the difference were fighting a losing battle, because the media thought that anyone who could get into the workings of a computer must be up to no good, so "hacker" came to be first the generic word for both good and bad, and finally to mean a bad guy.

[Dale H. Cook]

My father was using a flash unit aimed into a white brolly in his studio when David Hobby must have been in nappies

The white brolly is one of my favorites. I would note that both staffers at my local camera shop here in the US refer to a photographic umbrella as "brolly" as do I. They are both amateur photographers with more than 50 years experience, as am I. I don't know if all three of us are Anglophiles, but I suspect that many US photographers have used the term "brolly" for decades.

I use up to three modified Vivitar 283s for off-camera flashes. I have two white brollies for key and fill, and a choice of snood or mini softbox for the backlight as the edges of a brolly might protrude into the image.

[inkista]

It is like in IT, the word "hacker" was originally meant to be a white hat computer expert and "cracker" was meant to be a black hat one...

Actually, as someone who got an EE/CS degree in the '80s [grin] "hacker" was originally a derogatory term for a programmer who wrote bad inelegant code: IOW, a hack, someone who would rely on brute-force algorithms rather that something faster/smarter. Since most early hacking was brute-force style, that's why the term was applied, and later became the generic term for someone attempting to break through security. The white hat/black hat distinction came a lot later.

As for Hobby, he was doing the speedlight off-camera thing for the Baltimore Sun Times back in film days, probably around the late '80s/early '90s, when most folks still assumed you only lit off-camera with studio strobes (he just got tired of hauling his monolights out on assignments). And he's certainly the first person to write about doing so, particularly with PocketWizards. Just because the Strobist blog started in 2006, that doesn't mean that's when he started using speedlights off-camera.

[Dale H. Cook]

Actually, as someone who got an EE/CS degree in the '80s [grin] "hacker" was originally a derogatory term for a programmer who wrote bad inelegant code: IOW, a hack, someone who would rely on brute-force algorithms rather that something faster/smarter.

I took my first college computer programming classes at MIT beginning in 1967, but I don't recall if I then and there heard a specific term for those who wrote bad code.