> My Nikon SB15 lit the flash ready signal on Nikon FM/FE bodies way > back in the 1970s. > > Lighting the flash ready signal is not the same as responding to the > body's flash control protocol for Flash EV Compensation, setting the > exposure time and lens opening automatically, allowing HSS, etc, that > are what a "dedicated" flash unit would imply. What Bill was looking > for was a flash that would do those dedicated features while using > its in-built Auto Flash sensor system, bypassing the P-TTL flash > metering. > > Perhaps the Metz units will do that with the right SCA module, but I > haven't seen any proof of that yet.
the question is what "dedication" implies. a flash that once was "dedicated" to your nikon FM/FE bodies actually nowadays still is, even when it takes a little more for a flash to be "dedicated" to name-your-favorite-modern-body. I guess the bottom line is that "dedicated" by itself is an empty phrase. "dedicated" is not an absolute notion, but a relative one. it is relative to a (family) of camera body(s). regarding the features you mentioned: those features are supported by metz sca flashes of at least 13 years old, except flash ev compensation and HSS, afaik, both with ttl and when bypassing ttl (flash on automatic). it worked (no, still works) that way on Z1 -- my last body before k10d. (Z1 does not offer flash ev compensation, that needed z1-p) for me this is sufficient dedication. if ttl flash would still work, also the older sca-300 based flashes would offer sufficient ease-of-use, at least for me (meaning: switch flash to ttl and be done with it). setting exposure time and lens opening does not take much more than flash readyness, see bodies of that time (me-super already?) passing iso/aperture and other stuff that allows the flash to do its own computations while using its own sensor takes more. I guess that is the difference between what is passed through sca 300 and what is passed through sca 3000 and sca 3002. HSS needs, I guess, more capable flash hardware than I at least had at that time (and still have) (the other features only require sufficient communication beteen flash and body.) I wonder whether flash exposure compensation is done using special support in the flash control protocol. in ttl mode that would not be necesary, it seems, and neither would it with p-ttl. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
