Automatic flash units are connected to the camera via a hot-shoe contact or a sync cord connection and have their own automatic flash control. This means that it isn’t the camera that controls the flash, rather the flash itself responds intelligently and meters the light as precisely as required by the subject. There are automatic flash units ranging from professional handheld flash guns to small, handy compact flashes.
For compact digital cameras (with flash connectors), there is the particularly handy mecablitz 20 C-2 in this category, which offers a vertically-tilting reflector, despite its minimal size.
The group of slave flash units is intended to be used for particularly varied and interesting directed lighting. This is because they can be used as so-called “off-camera” flashes, because they can be positioned anywhere in the room. Because they don‘t need a direct contact to the camera, they are especially interesting for owners of compact digital cameras that don‘t have a flash connection option.
The macro-flash mecablitz 15 MS-1 digital is regarded as an innovation. Its wireless TTL control makes it unique in its class. Even the mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital or the 48 AF-1 digital can be used as a “slave”, even though they are not directly assigned to this category. In this mode of operation, they also support the flash modes of the respective camera manu- facturer.
