Suggestions for flash that works for both Canon and Rolleiflex?

I am looking for a single off-camera flash solution for both of my cameras:

1. Canon 7/7s TTL with accuracy within 1 stop (for slide film)
2. Rolleiflex 6008 (this will probably be manual, since Metz is the only TTL option, and I do have Metz but can't get it to fire off-camera)

More details:

• I generally shoot portraits outdoors in daylight so just need some fill in case the subject is facing away from the sun. Ambient light will provide most of the light, the flash will only provide a small boost to make the subject pop.
• Non-line-of-sight. Only have 3 minutes to shoot the subject, can't spend it fidgeting with line-of-sight to the flash.
• Tens of photographers in the area so need low chance for someone else to trigger my flash.
• Flash will be on a tripod/light stand with a shoot-through umbrella, a couple of feet from the subject
• I do have a flash meter, I can meter really quickly for the Rolleiflex manual case.

Reading online, this is what I know so far:

• Canon's ST-E3-RT is said to not fire on non-Canon hot shoes so probably won't work
• Yonghuo YN-E3-RT II is said to work in manual mode on non-Canon hot shoes so this might work
• Profoto Connect Pro for Canon ETTL is said to work on non-Canon cameras in manual mode when X-Sync option is enabled so this is also a potential solution but quite expensive.
• Haven't looked into Godox or Neewer, maybe they have something?

I do have Metz but can't get it to fire off-camera

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Have you tried this:

Take a look at the little Mieke MK320. They're not very expensive but offer a lot of features. They have a dedicated flash for Canon but is easily adapted to manual cameras with the array of settings. It has both tilt and swivel plus will also work a a remote flash.

The Mieke MK320 looks like it'll work, assuming the Canon version works in manual mode on a non-Canon camera. It looks pretty small and the 5-second recycle time seems long...so remains to be seen whether it'll be able to keep up. But usually shooting f/2.8 to f5.6 with the flash only a few feet away, so maybe won't need to fire at full power so maybe it'll work.

For the Metz, I have a handle-mount 50 MZ-5 (with no SCA adapter) to use as the remote flash and a I think 54 MZ-4? or something like that as the trigger, mounted on a SCA-3562 attached to the Rolleiflex body. Both flashes by themselves seem to work properly. I did try following the instruction manual on both and the Rolleiflex's manual as well, but couldn't get it to fire remotely...I'll try it all over again in case I missed anything.

Meike 320 for Canon doesn't seem to be easy to purchase here in Japan. And I think maybe they're also rebranded as Neewer? The Neewer 320 is also not easy to find, but Neewer has various other flashes on sale here.

It seems like you are considering mostly speedlights. Will any of those be powerful enough to provide decent fill in daylight though an umbrella? Have you considered a small, battery-powered strobe like the elincrome or Profoto units? Probably wouldn't work in TTL mode, but a lot more oomph.

Garb said:

Meike 320 for Canon doesn't seem to be easy to purchase here in Japan. And I think maybe they're also rebranded as Neewer? The Neewer 320 is also not easy to find, but Neewer has various other flashes on sale here.

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They probably come out of the same factory. Keep looking for something small but dedicated and doesn’t cost a fortune.

I haven't actually verified whether a small speedlight provides sufficient light through an umbrella. But without an umbrella, it works in TTL mode (at least, the "proper exposure" LED turns green on my Canon EX420. And comparing it to a non-flash photo in the same situation, it looks better. I can probably get another stop or two out of it. But I haven't actually tested a variety of flash power outputs to verify how close I am to the speedlight's limits. But overall, it seems to work. I tend to shoot in 2.8 to 5.6 with the light only a few feet from the subject, as close as I can get it without entering the frame, so I think I don't need a ton of power.

madNbad said:

They probably come out of the same factory. Keep looking for something small but dedicated and doesn’t cost a fortune.

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So in other words, if it's a Neewer flash and support Canon E-TTL, are you saying it's highly possible that it also supports manual mode on a non-Canon body? It sounds like you're saying probably any Meike/Neewer flash would work and that I don't need to search for some specific model.

So to close the loop on this, for the past few months, I have been using Godox XPro-C trigger and a V1 flash. In TTL mode, it always overexposes on the Canon EOS 7 in daylight and heavily underexposes indoors...perhaps even though it claims ETTL support, it only really works with digital EOS bodies? It is a significantly worse exposure than a Canon-branded flash.

For the Rolleiflex with manual flash, it has been working fine. Thanks all for the suggestions.

Any flash with auto mode (not TTL) should work with a remote trigger and receiver. You would need to set the camera and flash to the appropriate f stop as described in the flash’s user manual. The Rollei 6008 only works in auto mode with the Metz and its adapter, and probably not remote, only when mounted to the hot shoe.

The Rollei 6008 only works in auto mode with the Metz and its adapter, and probably not remote, only when mounted to the hot shoe.

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This seems to be in conflict with the Metz instruction manual (which ic-racer pasted an image of earlier in this thread).

Also, to close the loop on my poor experience with Godox V1C on the EOS7, this is fact what others have observed as well and is due to the Godox only being tested with ETTL2 and not ETTL1 (the former being used by digital bodies and the former by film bodies). This is based on the Godox being a recent piece of equipment. Other than very poor exposure in TTL mode, other issues I've run into is that sometimes the Godox does not fire (it fires more than half of the time), and inconsistent behavior when the HSS setting is enabled (sometimes the shutter speed cannot exceed the flash sync speed on the body when the flash is mounted until the HSS setting is enabled on the flash, but sometimes even if HSS is enabled on the flesh, the shutter speed is locked to max sync speed. But in either case, it never lights up the HSS icon in the finder). This makes it essentially not usable in either manual or TTL modes.

So now I'm going back to using two flashes, one for Canon and one for Rolleiflex, rather than finding a solution that handles both. Unfortulately, I'm afraid the radio trigger for Canon is too modren and might not well with a film body (not verified but read something to this effect online), so I'm stuck with the older transmitter that requires line-of-sight.