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philg@mit.edu
Reader's Comments
You can have wireless TTL flash with Canon and Nikon too. Ikelite has a product (sold by B&H and
others) that will "watch" the main flash (hard wired to the camera), and both fire AND quench TTL
compatible remote flashes. The cost is high, but if you want to avoid the rat's nest, and you already have
Canon or Nikon, it is cheaper than buying a complete Minolta system.
-- Glen Johnson, May 1, 1997
The Ikelite works well enough, and while the unit itself is specific for Canon or Nikon, it doesn't much
seem to care what you set it off with. So you can have a Nikon SB-24 on the Ikelite and it will be
controlled by your Minolta, Rollei, etc, or by any other strobe in the room. In some cases, of course,
such as at a wedding, that's the bad news. The Metz 40-MZ2 and MZ3 and the 50-MZ5 have an
accessory available that takes this one step further. Both strobes must be one of the above -- non-Metz
strobes will not work and other Metz strobes will not work. If, for example, you have two Metz 40-series
strobes, one of which was on-camera, you simply put the other (with the TTL slave accessory) on a
stand or table top, positioned to aim at your subject. Then fire the on-camera strobe once. This "ID's" the
on camera strobe and registers the oncamera strobe as the only one which will set the slave off from then
on, until you turn off the slave. That way, you can set up your slave wherever you like and only your
oncamera Metz will set it off. Otherwise, this system quenches the slave at exactly the same time as the
on-camera flash.
-- David Spellman, June 25, 1997
The Metz 40-series strobes and several of their other handle-mount and on-camera strobes either have or
can be ordered with a small secondary strobe reflector. The 40-MZ2, for example, has a large reflector
that swivels and tilts and a tiny secondary reflector for filling in shadows under bounce conditions. It
also includes a pair of neutral density filters for the small reflector to adjust the light output. The Nikon
SB-16 also has a small secondary reflector, but there are no filters included to cut its light output. I
prefer to use a small, vertical "bounce card" behind the large reflector. This is NOT angled forward, by
the way, but still manages to catch just enough light to fill in eyesocket, under-nose and under-chin
shadows in bounce situations under about 10 feet. I'll also frequently aim the strobe at a wall to the right
or left of the subject and keep the fill card behind the strobe beam. This gives the subject soft, directional
lighting and fills in some of the darker shadows on the sides away from the wall. Please note that
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