Got a Metz Auto 544 flash for Rollei.. Question?

[ToddB]

Hey guys,

I was talking to my boss in regards to finding a flash for Rollei. He had a Metz Auto 544 flash, pretty nice flash. The flash has auto mode on it and a sensor in front. The question I have is .. it's pretty obvious to match the Fstop to camera and flash as discribed instructions. However.. do I put the shutter speed on the typical 60 setting like you would normally? or something else. I didn't finish roll yet to find out. Any guesses out there if I'm on right track?

ToddB

 

[E. von Hoegh]

The leaf shutter on Rolleis synchs at all speeds, as long as you select "X" synch.(If there is a selector.)

I'd advise you to download a copy of the instructions for the flash (and the camera) if you don't already have them.

 

[ToddB]

Done that..Thanks EVH. Pretty excited about what I have. I'm a big fan of bounce flash.

ToddB

 

[Noble]

Hey guys,

I was talking to my boss in regards to finding a flash for Rollei. He had a Metz Auto 544 flash, pretty nice flash. The flash has auto mode on it and a sensor in front. The question I have is .. it's pretty obvious to match the Fstop to camera and flash as discribed instructions. However.. do I put the shutter speed on the typical 60 setting like you would normally? or something else. I didn't finish roll yet to find out. Any guesses out there if I'm on right track?

ToddB

With leaf shutters you can fire the flash at any shutter speed.

Which rollei do you own? If you own one of the older Rollei TLRs then using a flash should be really straight forward. There aren't that many things you can do with it. If you are using one of the new Rollei SLRs like the 6008i, 6008i2 or the 6008AF then things can get a bit more complicated depending. Actually they can be as simple or complicated as you want. With some of the Metz flashes there are special Metz hotshoe adapters that allow the flash to do TTL OTF metering so you can do things like fill flash. Conversely you can just connect any auto flash to the flash sync port and use the auto functions of the flash independently of the camera.

In the simplest setup I set the aperture I want on the camera based on DOF. I set shutter speed on the camera based on how much I want ambient light to show up in the picture. If I just want all flash I just set shutter speed to 1/500. I then go to the flash and set the ISO of the film and the aperture I am using. That's all the flash needs to know to get good results in auto mode. If you are going to use auto mode do not use the SCA 356 or SCA3560 adapter. Just connect the flash to the camera with a sync cable. Now you have to keep in mind if you use an aperture of f/11 and you are far away from the subject your flash will probably not have enough output to properly expose. It will try... but fail.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Done that..Thanks EVH. Pretty excited about what I have. I'm a big fan of bounce flash.

ToddB

Using a slower shutter speed will allow you to pick up more of the ambient light, faster = less. I really like leaf shutters for this feature, even my Nikkormat 35mm synchs only up to 1/125. With a bit of experience you can make very nicely lit photos. Just keep notes until you know what to expect.

 

[ToddB]

I Have a 3.5F and T model. I currently have it on 4.0 and 60th sec as per auto mode on flash dail.

Todd

 

[Mike Wilde]

With fast shutter speeds you can actually inadvertently end up with a smaller than expected effective aperture, if all of the shutter blades are not fully turned open when the flash is fired.

So test for your own results. I know that all speeds should be synched at, but there are some caveats at the fast end.

 

[ToddB]

Ok guys... I need to experiment some more. I souped up my film, and the 4 frames I shot with auto mode on flash were way under exposed. So I'm thinking doing FULL on manual mode to see what happens.

ToddB

 

[ic-racer]

f4? This is a pretty weak flash, no? The proper Rollei flash (E36re) is f16 at its LOWEST setting.