Ke Mei MK320 —— Economic Choice of Full-function Small Flash

* Almost | 20 15. 1 1 | purchased at one's own expense | *

Double Eleven bought a Ke Mei flash, model MK320.

In addition to the low price, small size, TTL function and the ability to jump lights, it is the reason to buy.

Flash is an artificial light source used in photography, which has instantaneous characteristics. From the early "disposable" magnesium powder type to today's xenon flash lamp (also known as universal flash), it can be said that it has changed a lot from the outside to the inside.

Hot shoe lights are particularly popular in the digital age for several reasons:

In this era, specific products such as Pocket Wizard, summative books such as Hot Boots Diary, and interactive communities such as "Flash Knowledge" relying on the Internet were born (unfortunately, China District closed down). In detail, it's another big pit, and it can't press the table.

After the rise of numbers, new problems have emerged:

Roll-call criticism, Olympus "FL- 14", Canon "270EX", Nikon "SB400" and so on.

These lights are small, but they have many functional defects, and they can't meet many needs except for flashing directly.

This deadlock turned for the better on 20 14.

The first attack was Nissin's i40 flash.

This kind of flashlight appeared in 20 14, and attracted much attention because of its compact size and almost full function compared with headlights.

Secondly, it chose MI Hot Boots and M43(MFT, including Olympus, Panasonic and Leica) which supported Canon, Nikon and few people. In September of that year, it also supported Fuji. This is extremely valuable in the vice factory.

I was very concerned when it appeared.

New product launch, go and have a look.

However, the price of Bank of China is about 1.400 yuan, which is slightly more expensive than the non-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti

The TTL explosion of domestic lamps began from 20 12, which means that many cheap and easy-to-use products were born, supporting the original factory automation function. However, it is said that most of these lights are converted into "Canikon", and even Sony and Pentax have no leisure to take care of them.

Because I usually use Sony NEX-6 and Olympus E-M5 and E-P5, the former is not needed for the time being because it has a rotatable F58AM. I bought MK320 of MFT specification.

The packaging of MK320 is actually quite simple. This paragraph first introduces the accessories.

In fact, the portable bag is not necessarily used alone, but is more used to put the flash into the camera bag to prevent the equipment from wearing each other.

MK320' s bag is nylon on the outside and slippery velvet on the inside.

Turn it out and take a picture:

You can see there is a pocket inside, but it is not equipped with the attached cold shoe seat.

It should be used to store a set of no.5 batteries for standby; However, without velcro design at the opening, the battery will still slide out.

I have a Sony F58AM flash, which is a headlight, and there is a pocket in the attached bag. It has velcro opening and closing design, which is very convenient for fingers to operate. Because it is not easy to show, the picture is not; However, this is an interesting base design for placing cold shoe seats.

The cold shoe seat of F58AM adopts symmetrical folding design, with small storage volume and large use area, giving consideration to portability and practicality. Although the bottom nut is not metal, the durability is acceptable because such a cold shoe seat may have little chance to be put on the shelf.

There is a saying that people in China don't pay much attention to design, but only want the cheapest products. But the details determine success or failure.

I don't know if engineers in Ke Mei or other flash accessories in China can understand this article, and I hope to strengthen the design of accessories.

Soft light mask is actually a small tool to simulate bare light, which is not very helpful to soft light when it flashes directly (after all, the softness of light is actually related to the relative area). But keep screaming like this. That's it.

Nothing special. But some friends say that the lid is easy to fall off, but they don't feel this way. The tenon design on both sides is enough.

MK320 only needs two No.5 batteries to work, which is half less than the requirement of full-function lamp. At the same time, as a backup, carry another pair, and the battery life is good.

The battery compartment is behind the lamp holder ~ Apart from saving space, I am also surprised that the lamp holder can be so small.

Unfortunately, this lamp has no quick locking design and needs to be fastened by rotating the threaded disc itself, which is not conducive to quick replacement or safe use.

Universal serial bus interface

The manufacturer is very considerate, and a MicroUSB interface is set on one side of the fuselage. In addition to firmware upgrades, rechargeable batteries can also be charged with MicroUSB.

Saving money may be the second, and convenience is the main thing. After all, there are many special sockets for USB ports now, aren't there ~

Or can you put a MicroUSB stub in that built-in bag? Easy to travel ~

What is a match? It doesn't mean compatibility, it's just a feeling based on size. I think the size of MK320 is good, which goes well with M43.

Although there is a silver version of the flash, it seems that the original silver-black body has everything.

It should be noted that this lamp is designed for a compact system. If a large lens like Sony FE PZ 28- 135mm is used, it will inevitably be blocked.

Please pay attention before buying.

Although the MK320 is small, it has many mode functions:

However, according to personal needs, I usually use TTL mode on the top of the machine.

Leakage occurred during use. After inspection, it was found that it was the tightness of hot shoes, and it was solved after re-tightening.

I don't know, maybe ISO-5 18. But it must be said that if a quick locking device is used, this problem can probably be effectively solved.

Flash jump is a very common shooting method. For the TTL lamp on the top, the flash function may be the highest requirement. Many small lights that have been criticized before just can't complete the flashing function perfectly.

In the flash design of many cameras, multi-position flash design is also adopted, which generally supports manual upward lighting to complete the flash jump, such as NEX-6; Strangely, the flash of E-P5 is not allowed to flash mechanically.

It's strange, but on the other hand, E-P5 also needs a "foreign aid" for daily shooting still life or products.

What is related to jumping is the adaptability of turning your head.

This is a fairly small degree of freedom design, but it is enough for normal horizontal and vertical shooting of jumping lights.

At the same time, some "modern" lights can support turn-back-which is very useful in harsh environments with a little overhead.

In fact, this MK320 can also be used as a temporary constant light because of the LED and the base. God knows why you need it, but maybe you really need it when there is a power outage or camping; And the effect of adding a soft mask is good, at least it won't be too dazzling.

This paragraph will be updated later.

I40 Everything is fine, but expensive. The domestic market is almost 1400.

If there is no anti-user, the investment in the unit may only be 2000 ~ 4000 (typical α5000 and α6000), and it is undoubtedly unacceptable to buy a flash lamp for the extra 1400.

Even the high-end ILCE-7 series (called α7 or A7) can choose Sony's original F43M, the Bank of China's 2300 or so, and there are some lower-priced options. The attraction is the quality and compatibility of the original factory, as well as the self-contained ADI and wireless system support.

In fact, Sony's choice is quite complicated. I once wrote an article "Talk about the grievances of Sony camera hot boots". There are many choices in the new era, such as Di700A/Air 1 in Nissin, Cactus RF60/V6 and so on. It's a long story Open another hole.

"If the price can be cheaper …", with this idea, MECO's MK320 is almost a perfect product. Although there is no high-speed synchronization function (a small number of users need it, which is not very practical on a small index machine), we try to provide as many experiences as possible at this price.

Besides the compatibility between Canon and Nikon, the most commendable thing is the support for Fuji/Sony /MFT, which is already a problem. These three small-sized products have their own characteristics, but they all lack powerful small lights. Therefore, MK320 is a good choice for them.

The support of the former is like icing on the cake, but the latter is as precious as a timely help.

In addition, the expectation of MK320 is to add fast locking, increase the freedom of turning head and extra lifting in the subsequent improvement.

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Are there any small lights besides MK320?

Yes, Olympus released the E-M5 MarkII in 20 15, equipped with the newly designed small lamp FL-LM3.

Say a few more words; The original AP2 interface of Oba has also been abolished-AP (access port) is an earlier type of a new generation of multifunctional hot shoes, which is the interface on the back of the camera close to the user and below the original hot shoes; Olympus was launched around the P2 generation of pen electronics.

There are also some multifunctional hot boots, such as Sony's MI (multi-interface) and Canon's new hot boots (EOS M3 and G 1X MarkII). Some disappear with changes, such as Ricoh GXR. This kind of interface mainly provides data interaction channels for more complex devices such as external electronic viewfinder or GPS ... It seems that a book can also be published specifically on this aspect.

Aoba, the AP2 interface, did not share with its ally Panasonic, but exchanged technology with Leica-Leica M240 can use Olympus' electronic viewfinder "VF-2", which is a secret among fans.

This time, "FL-LM3" has also updated its hot boots, and this change is also reflected in other models of M43. For example, Panasonic GM5 and LX 100, as well as the latest GX8, all use this new type of hot boots.

However, it is worth mentioning that "FL-LM3" cannot be directly used in GM5 and LX 100. According to the post on DP Review, due to the prominent reasons of plastic parts, it can only be used on Panasonic models after "lighting". Unfortunately, GM5 can only synchronize 1/50s at most.

It should be noted that in addition to the advantages of jumping lights, the advantages of using Olympus original lights are that they can be integrated into RC wireless flash systems such as FL-600R and FL-50.

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In addition, MK320 seems to be OEM by some other brands. You can see something on Amazon ... North America seems to be doing these things all the time.

If you are not in China and have difficulty in purchasing, maybe you can learn about these possible OEMs?

Ke Mei official website

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Ke Mei is a company that started as a camera handle, so corporate domain names are all in this style ~

"Flash out different you"-Ke Mei MK320 flash comment-color shadow is unscrupulous

/pzreview/xitektest/20 1504/22- 177020 . html

This is a good introduction.