paul utkin

Metz SCA 3401 and SCA 3402 adapters. Which one will work with 3083?

Will 3401 work with my Fuji S2? Metz site says I need to get 3402. I

see a 3401 M4 on Ebay. I also found on Google that 3401 M5 exists for

some reason and somebody wanted to replace M4 with M5.

All this simply could not be more confusing. Metz site has no

explanations at all. Can anybody elaborate all this mess please?

Hi.

I need to solve 2 problems - I`m tired of PC cords in studio so it

would be nice to get something cheap and compact to trigger strobes

in studio. Secondary problem is to find a radio or infrared driven

slaves system for my Metz flashes so they could not be triggered by

other people who shoot at the event.

I looked at http://www.pocketwizard.com/ site so let`s keep it in

mind as solution number 1 for problem number 2. Looks to be too big

for problem N1.

What I would like to know - does anybody use or did anybody see

anywhere Metz SCA 3083 adapter? This is a link to its 'piece of art'

description:

http://www.metz.de/en/photo_electronics/neuheiten.139.html

Is this a radio slave? An optical slave? Does it communicate back to

master unit to support TTL on secondary flash? How many secondary

flashes can I have on multiple 3083 adapters? Does it have a jack for

PC cord?

What other solutions do exist? What about those things:

http://www.adorama.com/PAIIRT.html

http://www.adorama.com/JTIRTE.html

I suspect that my SP Studio strobes will ignore such IR transmitter

but for some reason I could not find an IR slave on sale what could

work with such IR transmitters.

What do you use?

Best deal for now is used Fuji S2 for $1300-$1400.

Its true resolution is close to 8-9 mp plus skin tones are great plus you get usable ISO800 and ISO1600.

That means - you focus on lashes and get blurred lashes and sharp ears on your shot. As simple as that.

Focus plane is 1.5-2" inches behind from the object you pointed auto focus sensor at - I measured it on 7' distance stocking several books together. It is truly unbelievable but it happens. $400 glass.

Shoot. :(

Sigma 105 micro 2.8 focuses just right with my camera. As well as some Nikkor lenses I tried. But I need 28-70 range at 2.8 constant for studio work and this Tamron is actually very good. But it is quite annoying to focus on the tip of nose if you need sharp lashes.

I do not understand the nature of this effect. How can it be possible? How to fix it?

Hi,

If you own this lens - does it backfocuses with your camera?

I have a feeling that my lens does this for about of 1.5" on 7'

distance at 74mm zoom position - it`s visible clearly at 2.8

aperture. Camera is Fuji S2. On 28mm everything appears to be OK.

Did anybody happened to have the same problem? Is there any way to

fix it?

Well, if anybody interested to know - Tamron is OK.

On wide end it`s close to perfect, on long end it has a tendency to backfocus a bit (say 1.5 inches on 7 feet) but if in focus quality is great.

I`ll keep it.

Look at new Tamron 28-75mm 2.8. Excellent lens.

Also 105mm macro is a great lens to have - Nikkor is perfect, Sigma is not too much worse.

Thanks everybody.

I just tried this lens with F4 and N80 bodies - same story. It simply cannot focus on 28mm position.

I sent it back to KEH and bought 28-75 Tamron on Ebay.

Will write how this new 'bargain' will come out in a couple of days...

If this is true it will go along with the general thread very nicely but I don?t think it may be so.

Even if it will be so - this camera is still a very capable tool.

And it would help if you could do a simple test - just focus at wide zoom position, take a shot with aperture wide open, zoom to tele, focus, zoom back and take a shot.

Do you see the same sharpness on both shots? Was 70mm image in viewfinder dimmed when you zoomed up?

Hi,

My camera is Fuji S2. I need an advice preferably from people who

owned such a lens and know what am I talking about. I got it

yesterday from KEH - 28-70 F2.8 TOKINA ATX PRO SV.

The problem - lens does not focus right on 28mm zoom position.

This is visible if you try to make a wide-open shot; at aperture 4

and above this softness goes away ? I saw no diff at all between test

shots.

If I zoom to 70mm position, focus and zoom back to 28mm I get a nice

sharp shot. Camera does not show that image is in focus as a matter

of fact if I press focusing button it goes back into that unsharp

position.

Is this a known feature of this lens? Is it not? Should I get 28-70

F2.8 SIGMA ASPHERICAL D EX instead? But I heard a lot of complains

about Sigma softness. Looks like a lot of people praise 28-75 F2.8

TAMRON but it is about of $320 and I wanted to stay within $250

budget (if I would have no budget restrictions I would get 28-70 F2.8

D ED AF-S right away but I cannot do that now so please don`t suggest

this).

I know that some cheap zooms do have such a behavior all the time.

Will this problem exist with Sigma and Tamron as well? Is it S2 to be

blamed or the lens? This particular lens or general Tokina design?

I mostly worked with pretty expensive optics in last 4 years and just

don`t know what to expect from those $250 bargains.

Can anybody elaborate this issue in bit more details?

Hi,

Subj.

I asked this question on lightning forum but got no answers.

Does anybody know if Metz has any radio slaves modules/adapters?

Do they support TTL?

Shoot.

I want specifically a radio slave and I heard many time that Metz has something like that.

If I would need a non-TTL optical slave I would simply bring my studio monolight with me on location.

I got 3170 first then got 4870, compared them and returned 4870.

4870 does better shadows but if you use it at 3200 dpi you`ll not gonna see a sharper image than 3170 delivers. Compared to Nikon or drum scan they look quite the same, I mean 4870 and 3170 results.

It`s up to you which one to choose.

Bu the way - I`m confused.

I looked at this picture

http://www.kbcamera.com/MecaluxII.jpg

and this thingy looks like a regular optical slave.

Is this a radio slave for sure?

It`s a radio slave for Metz flashes.

Metz site does not elaborate this product in details.

I use 3000 series adapter with 40mz2 and would like to be able to use

bigger flash gun placed on the side. Will my current 3804 adapter

(for Contax 645) communicate with Mecalux 11?

How all this works with Metz? Will radio slaved flashes support TTL

(will this mecalux communicate back to adapter on camera)?

I assume I can use this Macelux module to activate studio strobes,

right?

Nothing is wrong.

All this situation is ridiculous and the roots of this problem are in the corporate offices and current market technologies that do not care about dedicated services but care about mass sales only - hit and run.

It`s just a reality of the modern world coming into small old-fashioned business of photography. Same business model as in IT ? you buy a computer, you use it for 2 years, you throw it away and you buy a new one. Do you think it would be difficult to build a fully modular system that could work for 30 years and be upgraded part by part as say old MF cameras used to be built? Of course it is possible to do but they who produce `em will never do so. They don`t want us to use the tools we have. they want us to pay more and get new. They invent new form-factors so we cannot even use old cases for god sake.

They will kill current market and current generation of old cameras by the lack of support and then they will start it again with new price tags and new ?design features?. That`s the reason of frustration and that`s that concerns me personally.

Fuji has built a great system ? H1. Where is a digital solution for it? Why did they build 40mp digital back for GX680III system but don`t sell it for 'damn foreign devils' and didn`t make a version of it for H1 or Contax or old Hasselblad?

They are not interested in this ? they are interested to force you do sell your gear, buy a S2, next year sell S2 for nothing, buy S3, and so on until you drop dead.

Why modern water heater works only 5 years without trobles and heater in my parent`s house works OK for a 25 years already? This crap is everywhere.

Modular MF system is almost immortal and perfect for photographer but not for those greedy bastards who want only on thing ? to suck as much money out of your pockets as they possibly can.

Am I bitching for nothing? Yes I am. I know. I`m sorry.

All these discussions are quite pointless and I do understand it perfectly.

Capitalism is not the problem. Problem is in the heads of executives who don?t give shit to the demands of real life photographers. MF gear always was a quite small niche and apparently where is nobody of big players who may be interested in this niche anymore.

Phase One and Leaf is the same thing as Brabus for Mercedes - they will never produce mass market devices with mass market prices.

I just cannot understand why Fuji doesn`t do anything. They did build a great portable 40mp back using S2 sensor technology and apparently this back is available in Japan for $20K US. Where is this back here?

Why don`t they want to start building 12mp versions of such back for all cameras on the market? It could be so simple just to produce a stream of 22mp sensors and convert broken ones into 16, 12, 6 mp versions. Everything is possible for big companies but they don`t see us - they simply don`t care who their customers are and this is the part that pisses me off, personally.

That`s correct.

And if one spends $30K on annual film expenses it makes total sense to get one for such price...

The problem here is with justification of such an expense for somebody who spend $2K-$5K on film per year considering that most probably in 3-4 years this $30K back will cost about of $2K - just like 4 year old scanning backs do cost today.

Plus idea of reinvesting into completely different system kinda pisses off a lot of people including myself. 1 120 propack costs $17, processing costs $60, I burn about of 2-5 propacks per month during the summer season. Sinar back with its portable solution is $20K investment ? it`s way too much as well.

I really cannot understand why Kodak or whoever else cannot produce 11 or 16 full frame sensor for people like me and sell it for $5K-$8K. Why not? I don`t really need 22mp back neither I need PJ style 35mm camera. I don`t shoot this style. And I don`t want to use 35mm viewfinder in studio. I just want to continue to use the tools I already have, lenses I have and I don`t want to reajust the camera after I change one back with another - what in the world is wrong with that? Why the entire world suddenly decided that everybody have to dump all the tools they have and buy new stuff?

The real answer for today is Mamyia 645 afd with Kodak 645M or contax 645 with Kodak 645C.

Used Kodak backs still have support from Kodak so it`s not all that bad. It is difficult to find a used 645M or 645C back but still possible.

I highly doubt it will be possible to find used 645H for H1.

you also can consider Sinar 54S - I think it`s the cheapest one on the market right now - 22mp for $14K. I`m not sure if Sinar has any discounts.

That`s a sad story - prices are quite high and they are not going to ge reduced any time soon I bet. Remember the price of first D30 camera? How many years did it take to get at $999 level?

Jaques,

I do believe that Kyocera abandoned Contax brand in the race for fast profits. They`ve stopped supporting this system long time ago.

Nothing of what has been promised by Kyocera was delivered. But Contax 645 is a truly nice machine and it works well and I like it so it`s the end of story. :)

I just feel fooled by this market and this sense of total ignorance of big brands to regular photographer�s needs. I think we have very good chances that Canon will kill all MF market in next 2 years and all this wonderful world full of options will be lost forever. How many years will old cameras work without support and proper maintenance?

Well, let`s live and life will show the right answer.

Any modern camera will be OK. I also support Contax with exception that H1 is better from business investment perspective and probably has better future than Contax.

But I choose Contax anyway becouse of its 120 Zeiss macro.

This is a lens I was dreaming about for my entire life. :)