Small flash for aria

[ltsdnce]

CAn anyone recommend a good flash for the Aria?
I would prefer to have a small, reasonably priced flash that will do TTL. Will use it mainly for fill-flash.
Thanks for your input!

 

[jeff]

> I use Sunpak and one of the older Contax TLA 30's. I'm happy with both and the Sunpak's cost a lot less. Jeff

 

[redwood]

> Hi,

I bought a tla 30 a couple of months ago for £50. I used it for a wedding and very happy with results.

Regards

David Moore

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

Susan, I have been using a Hanimex TZ1-34-C/Y TTL module with my RX, 139Q and G2. I bought this many years ago and had a problem with a leaking battery, which severely damaged two of the battery terminals so after cleaning out the crud, I put it away in a drawer to be repaired later (about 5 years as it happened). I bought a TLA200 last year to use with my RX and was a little disappointed with quite of lot of rather washed out looking photos, particularly close ups. I decided to get the Hanimex out and repair the terminals to see if it a) would still work and b) was any good. It did still work and to my considerable surprise produced, on average, better photos than the TLA200. I therefore, uniquely for me, sold the TLA200 for more than I had bought it for. The Hanimex has a tilt and zoom head with diffuser holder and to be fair, could more accurately be described, as nearer to medium sized rather than small but it obviously has first class electronics. It produces just as good flash photos, within the limitations of its range and basic TTL facilities, as my huge and very expensive Mecablitz 45CL4/SCA3208 combo. Wilson

 

[swoolf]

> > I use Sunpak and one of the older Contax TLA 30's. I'm happy with> both and the Sunpak's cost a lot less.

Me too! Except my Sunpak is one of the big hammerhead ones - the TLA30 can be had second hand for very reasonable prices if you look around , its also not to big and has full TTL dedication of course..... Steve

 

[nicolas]

I've found that any Yashica brand "dedicated flash" that has the flash ready contact to be very handy - and they are all reasonably priced. The flash ready contact signals the body that there is a flash attached and adjusts the shutter speed so there's less chance of overexposure, especially for daylight fill-in flash. With non-dedicated flashes, the camera does not adjust from the ambient light levels.

 

[joanjordi]

I have a 44 MZ-2 Metz flash. It works very fine in TTL mode with my RTSIII and my 139Q both. It's like the TLA360 but much cheaper (including SCA 3802 Contax adaptor, and in Barcelona). There are also some other Metz flash (32 Z2, 32 MZ-3 if you need a lighter flash than TLA3609, or 54 MZ-3 if you need a more powerful flash) that support the SCA system.

 

[mikel]

Susan,

Seems like you already got tons of recommendations, but noone mentioned another important issue here. Getting small flash is not always a good idea. I have an Aria and have been contemplating getting the small flash as well. After much thinking, I decided not to. Why? First of all, because in all situations where small flash won't do - I will need a bigger flash. Which would mean - I would need to have two flash units. That means - more money out the door and still, when I take with me the small flash and not the big flash it would mean that if I run into situations where bigger flash would have been more useful - I will be sorry I didn't carry along the big flashhead instead. So, eventually I may end up carrying BOTH units, which makes little practical sense. Then, I would start carrying only the big one and the small one will collect dust. Thus, what's the point?

Now, what small flash often doesn't give you? Fast recharge times, tilting and rotating head, various bounce adapters, flexible and easy to use flash power adjustments and more control modes (e.g. Auto, TTL, full-manual, reduced power settings, etc), secondary head (often with light-reduction filter), higher light-source point (no red eyes, guaranteed, less direct light into eyes of your subjects as well - thus less annoying them).

So, I have Metz 54MZ-3. It has tilting and rotating head, secondary flash head with "switchable" light-reduction filter, different TTL modules (I also had pentax system for a long time and canon for a short time, so it was useful that I didn't have to buy new flash for each of these) and I also have bounce-adapter card for it that I use most of the time. It doesn't balance too well on Aria, but considering Aria's design - almost any decent flash won't balance well. But it's something that takes getting used to, after that it's okay.

Only really small and light flashes will work okay on Aria as far as weight balance is concerned, but it will be way too restrictive in my opinion. Considering that flash photography is fairly complex and takes a lot of practice to do well, getting some dumb and small flash might be a bad idea.

That's just my 2 cents.

Mike.

 

[bobbl46]

Hi Mike .. a good 2 cents worth!

Considering Susan's original requirements, I think the TLA30 will fill the need. It is a "cracking" small flash, with most of the features you mention in the larger guns, built in. If you need more separation/angles from flash to camera, there are many extension leads that will allow this, with the both the TLA 30 or TLA 20.

Is GN30 enough? Well! Over the 17 years of Contax use, with many models and lens combinations in my kit over those years, I can't remember many occasions when I wished I had more. Granted, I haven't done much studio portraiture work, but I have found this flash to be versatile enough to cover anything from small aperture macro work to “happy snappy†family shots, mainly on 100 ISO film.

I often wonder where the appeal of this flashguns successors’ comes from when you look at their specs and price (!). It's a bargain, and when seen (infrequently!) for sale "secondhand", are snapped up quickly by those that know!

Cheers, Bob.

 

[ltsdnce]

Thanks to all for your help...I love this forum!
I'm leaning towards the TLA30 or TLA20 because of size and cost. Not having seen either of these in person, can anyone tell me if they are "plug and play"...can I just turn them on and shoot or what? What if anything is needed to do fill flash?
Thanks again for all your helpful input!

 

[mayebaza]

> The perfect small flash for the Aria is the Metz mecablitz 32 Z-2, its low centre of gravity provides the perfect balance for the lightweight Aria. With the SCA 3802 adaptor, you get the TTL hi-tech features such as auto switch on/off. The only thing you need to adjust is the manual zoom and the on switch.

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[swoolf]

Susan , I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "plug n play" but I think the answer is yes . When you turn the flash on once its mounted on the hot-shoe , the camera will default to the sync speed , put the switch on the TLA30 on TTL , adjust your aperture to suit and away you go........ Fill in ratios can be adjusted by the cameras exp. comp. control in TTL , if you shoot in Auto mode , just adjust the dial and tell it you are shooting one stop more than you actually are , if you wanted one stop less for instance . Steve

 

[will8700]

>>Fill in ratios can be adjusted by the cameras exp. comp. control in TTL , if you shoot in Auto mode , just adjust the dial and tell it you are shooting one stop more than you actually are , if you wanted one stop less for instance . Steve

I'm in the same position of needing a flash for my Aria that will do fill. I thought using the camera's exp. comp as described would adjust the overall exposure, not the flash output. Can you clarify how that works? -- thanks, Will

 

[dfm]

You should meter the scene, engage AE lock, THEN use the exposure compensation dial to adjust flash output. That way the comp only affects TTL flash output and not the overall exposure. At least that's how it works with the 159 and RTS I, II and III.

 

[swoolf]

I thought using the camera's exp. comp as described would adjust> the overall exposure, not the flash output. Can you clarify how that> works? -- thanks, Will

It does work in manual mode , but not sure of AP/AEL - their has been some debate about it and I'm still not certain . Anyway , I only ever really use Manual as I see no merit in having to override stuff all the time....... Steve

 

[mayebaza]

> I agree. I shoot in manual with the Aria. I meter up normally at a 60th of second the TTL recognises the strong presence of ambient light and only releases a small amount of flash giving fantastic results.

 

[ltsdnce]

Does the Metz 32 Z2 have a way to do automatic fill flash?
Is it smaller than the Metz 32 MZ3?
Thanks.
Susan

 

[edmond]

I used Metz 32 Z2 for my Aria. It weight only 320g (incl 2CR5 battery and SCA 3802 contax adaptor). It can perform TTL fill flash but you need to decide fill % or compensation rate by manual adjusting the knob at SCA 3802 from -3.3 to +1.3 step. Not difficult, Canon's old type flash (like T-90) is usually tuned at up to -1.5 step for daylight TTL filling. So you could try -1.0 to -1.3 as TTL filling rate for outdoor daylight photos. The actual fill rate should depend on the % area of the object. Canon's old flash take max -1.5 which is aimed to cater for a single person stand on the day time backlight situation which occupies min. at about 30% of the film area.

32 Z2 is an acurate and also the lightest flash available for Aria for this power range and with fill % adjustment.

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

Edmond,

Thank you for this information. You have made my mind up and I will get a S/H Metz 32 Z2, especially as I already have an SCA3802 for my big Metz 45CL-4 and we have a number of NiMH 2CR5 batteries and a charger around the house for various bits of equipment (after we got tired of being ripped off for lithium batteries). I can use this then on my G2. The very large 45CL-4 is OK on my RX but looks/feels very silly on the G2. Wilson