Originally posted by swhang The Metz seems to have more features plus it has swivel. However, it looks huge. The Pentax AF-360 has most of those features, minus swivel, but seems to be a LOT smaller and lighter.
The Metz 48 is a little longer than the 360FGZ, but the 360FGZ has a beer belly where the 48 AF-1 has a washboard stomach. With batteries in the flash, the Metz 48 AF-1 weighs 2.5 oz more than the Pentax AF 360FGZ.
Originally posted by panoguy I own both the Pentax 360FGZ and the Metz 48 AF-1. The Metz wins - hands down.
- *Much better build* quality on the Metz! (The battery door closes & stays closed, it easily slides on and off the hotshoe, and the whole thing doesn't feel like it is always about to break)
- Swivel must not be underrated. If you think you can do without it, try any non-swivel flash for 15 minutes and you will want the swivel.
- Very fast refresh time with fresh batteries (under 4 seconds vs. 6+ for Pentax and Sigma)
- Better balanced light and diffusion when used straight on - the Pentax is harsh unless bounced.
- Manual was written by a human being
The pluses for the Pentax are:
- Better interface (more buttons, easier to see your current settings)
- Cheaper (typically)
- Comes with a bag and little stand (the Metz does not)
I don't see much if any difference in the build quality. They both are just plastic boxes. The Metz has the traditional four square layout for the batteries where the Pentax has a three and one layout for the batteries. The Metz battery door however, gets in the way of putting all four batteries in the flash at the same time. You have to put the two rear ones in first and then put in the front two. This kind of makes it a wash between the two for battery insertion ease in my opinion.
I can't comment on the refresh rate as I don't need the flashes to be fast for what I do.
As to better straight on, I don't use the flash head on, but I would have to say it is really subjective.
I didn't find either manual to helpful other than in determining what the buttons do.
The Pentax flash's interface is easier to work with except for changing EV values. The round wheel on the Pentax is impossible for me. I curse it every time I have to use it.
Originally posted by SOldBear Does any of them have auto mode (having its own light sensor)?
The Pentax AF 360FGZ has Auto Mode.
There are differences in wireless operation between the two. The Metz is a wireless P-TTL slave only and it doesn't have support to be a controller or a master. The Metz is only P-TTL in wireless. It can do -3 to +3 FEV in this mode to provide more control over the lighting of the scene as well as the addition of the camera's FEV.
The Pentax has wireless P-TTL mode and a simple optical slave mode. In wireless P-TTL the flash can be P-TTL with contrast control increments of 1/3, 2/3 , and 1/1, plus has FEV settings of -3 to +1 as well as the camera's FEV.
In this wireless mode as well, Manual and Auto modes are available. How these modes work with the P-TTL wireless is beyond my understanding, but my simple assumption is it is a digital optical slave mode when used this way.
In the simple optical slave mode, the S2 mode, Auto and Manual modes are again available, but the flash requires a single main flash trigger without preflash.
The Metz can do contrast control when wired, or at least I think it can only be done when wired, since once the flash enters wireless, this option is no longer available in the menu structure. The Metz flash provides 2/3 of the light for the scene and the other flash provides the rest. The AF360FGZ offers contrast control in wireless with contrast control increments of 1/3, 2/3 , and 1/1, and wired where the ratio is 1:2 between the flash on the camera, on board or external, and the remote 360FGZ.
The Metz offers a flash bracketing option. This is completely separate from the camera's bracketing. Basically once the option is set on the flash, the flash outputs three levels of light, one level for each of three photos. The difference of FEV used between the three photos can be set from 1/3 to 3 apertures in 1/3 increments.
The Metz has a zoom feature that lets the flash use the next lower zoom level instead of the level indicated by the actual focal length. This is a separate setting than adjusting the display for cropped sensors. Metz says this in the user manual about the reason to use this option:
"The resulting expanded and broader light coverage provides additional dispersed light (reflections) inside rooms so that a softer flash illumination is possible."
The Metz and the Pentax both offer a SB mode and AF assist. There is a difference in the beam of the two flashes however. The Pentax beam is more than 2/3 larger than the beam of the Metz for a given distance. The light pattern is also different, with the Metz being only vertical bands of light and dark where the Pentax has vertical bands only in the center of the beam with horizontal bands of light and dark emanating away from the center. I'm going to assume the SB of the Metz will allow for greater distance than the Pentax, but the Pentax would allow for the possibility of catching more contrast areas within its range.
Both flashes have a manual mode. The difference between the two for power settings being that the Metz goes from 1/1 to 1/128 and the Pentax goes from 1/1 to 1/32 in power output. With the Metz, manual on the flash can be used in any camera mode. With the Pentax, manual and auto flash modes are disabled for any camera mode except; manual, bulb, and x-sync. The Metz has a digital footage read out for subject distance that at ISO 6400, f2.8, and full power, gives a footage of 199 feet. The Pentax only has a scale that ends at 22 meters / 75 feet and a marker for "here be dragons". I find working on the Metz in manual mode to be much easier than on the Pentax as long as I don't need to set rear curtain sync. The use of manual zoom is a wash because I find the dual push of the buttons on the Metz to be as troublesome as using the dial on the Pentax.
Both flashes have an auto off, but the Metz gives you control over it. You can even set the Metz so that the flash will stay on all the time. The Pentax flash's auto off has no user control. It auto shuts down every three minutes of inactivity for every mode except wireless slave. In wireless slave, the auto off is set to one hour inactivity. When set to wireless slave, the Pentax flash deactivates the hot shoe. Only in Wireless master or controller is the hot shoe active, but again in these modes, auto off is set to 3 minutes of inactivity.
Both flashes have the pin that drops down into the camera's hot shoe to secure the flash in place. The Metz has a traditional securing ring that, as it screws down, drops the pin into place. The securing ring has to be unscrewed all the way to clear the pin and allow the flash to be removed from the camera. The Pentax has a faster half turn lever that secures the flash and drops the pin. It too must be moved completely to the left for the pin to clear the camera.
The Metz has a couple of other features that I find very user friendly and sorely missed on the Pentax. If any of the three setting buttons are pushed on the Metz, the LCD will automatically light up. The flash also remembers the way it was set before it was turned off.
The 360FGZ has a separate light button that must be used to light up the LCD and on power off, the 360FGZ loses all settings. On start up, the flash defaults to P-TTL mode. This is also true with the flash auto off when the flash is off the camera. When on the camera and flash goes into sleep mode, it does thankfully keep its settings.
Thank you
Russell