User manual METZ MECABLITZ 45 CL-1

[. . . ] Flash fired directly in front of the eyes of a person or animal can damage the retina and lead to severe visual disorders - even blindness! Only use the approved power sources listed in the Operating Instructions! Do not expose batteries to excessive heat, sunshine, fire and the like!Exhausted batteries should be immediately removed from the flash unit! [. . . ] Six working apertures are available in the automatic flash mode. Turn the adjusting knob for film speed (fig. 3) assigns the adjusted f­stop with the corresponding maximum flash range on the distance scale. For group shots where there can be several rows of people behind each other, we recommend an aperture of f/8. Wait for flash readiness - the green LED lights up.  The subject should be within the middle third of the distance range. This gives the electronic control sufficient scope for compensation should this be necessary. There is a certain measure of overlap between the individual automatic apertures. As a result of this overlap it is always possible to place the subject within the middle third of the range. Due to their design they can cause a loss of light in the order of up to one f-stop. Furthermore, the effective aperture can also vary, depending upon the adjusted focal length. In this mode the flashgun will emit its full power. The flashgun can be adapted to the actual picture shooting situation by setting the corresponding aperture on the camera. If the displayed value does not coincide with the actual distance, then the aperture and/or partial light output level have to be changed accordingly. the decisive points for partial light output are: · The distance to the subject · Turn the adjusting knob for film speed (fig. The aperture to be adjusted is indicated on the scale above the given flashto-subject distance. At a flash-to-subject distance of 5 m (as in our example), an aperture of f/8 has to be set on the camera.  The adjusted aperture must be corrected when the wide-angle diffuser is used. Use of the secondary reflector is advantageous to avoid disturbing dense shadows with bounced flash, for instance under the eyes and nose of portraits. It is advisable to check prior to the actual exposure whether the light is sufficient for the selected aperture. Photos shot with full frontal flash are easily recognizable by their harsh, dense shadows. This is often associated with a sharp drop of light from the foreground to the background. [. . . ] Do not use detergents as these may damage the plastic parts. Forming the flash capacitor The flash capacitor incorporated in the flashgun undergoes a physical change when the flashgun is not switched on for prolonged periods. For this reason it is necessary to switch on the flashgun for approx. The battery must supply sufficient power to light up the flash-ready light within one minute after the flashgun was switched on. [. . . ]