New Toy ... now what?

[velvet4269]

I'll probably buy the 70-300mm lens within the next month, since it's on sale (yay for $100 off!), but today, I bought ... *drum roll please* the Metz 48 AF-1 flash (read: My first flash!).

I don't have the cable to make the flash "off camera" as of yet, so I've been playing with it on-camera, and I'm utterly perplexed. I know most reviews said the manual was pretty much useless, and while I'm usually pretty good at putting 2 + 2 together, this is pretty vague. Even my Olympus manual isn't very helpful.

So ... anyone have a primer on the Metz 48 that's written in English for the flash noobie? I came across the flash photography tutorial on here a while ago, and I'm trying to track it down now so I can go through it again, but anything is helpful at this point

[xinman]

I'm really not sure about that flash but if it has an Auto TTL setting start with that. That's what I have done with mine and that seems to work pretty good to get started. I have been playing with power levels and other settings now but taking my time to try to understand it all.

I'm really curious though, why did you get this flash over the Olympus FL-36R? They both are right about the same price so I'm wondering if you know something that I don't? I have the FL-36R and so far I am very happy with it. It can do some wireless stuff which I've played with a bit and of course on camera which is pretty good if you bounce it. I'm not sure what all the settings are but I will learn them as I can.

On a side note I ordered my 70-300 just Friday and I can't wait till it comes in.

[velvet4269]

Bigger guide number (48 vs 36 @ ISO 100), and a fairly fast refresh time. My main lens is my 105mm macro lens, so a little more power was a bonus. As well, the Metz had pretty good reviews. Of course, the lack of an 'Automatic' feature is causing me much confusion. It's $200 more for the 58 (and even the FL50R), and that's more than I want to spend right now.

Remote means nothing to me, since my camera (the E500) doesn't have that as an option, and since the camera still works great, I'm NOT buying a new camera.

I'm mostly a "use the ambient light & expose correctly for it" person, so even the on-camea flash is a bit of a mystery to me. I was just wanting something for fill lighting for macro shots. I guess I'm just going to have to play with it until I can (hopefully) make something work.