We keep seeing people reaching out for advice on the Metz m400 flash unit so we have decided to publish an article that is dedicated to our Metz m400 review. Our initial intention is to help any of our readers who are considering picking up the m400 in the future while we are also planning on linking people to this article who we see reaching out for advice on the flash unit.
Unlike many camera flashes, Metz is a third party company so to get the best possible performance out of your m400 you have to ensure that you pick up the variant of the camera flash that has been designed for your camera brand. This ensures optimal performance for the flash unit as well as it seemlesley working with the unique flash based features of some camera brands.
Here are the direct links to each of the variants of the Metz m400:-
- Metz M400 Nikon Variant.
- Metz M400 Canon Variant.
- Metz M400 Sony Variant.
- Metz M400 Olympus/Panasonic/Leica Variant.
- Metz M400 Pentax Variant.
- Metz M400 Fujifilm Variant.
If you are planning to try and pick the m400 up from your local photography store or a thrift store ensure that you are getting the correct variant of the flash unit or just use the links above.
Table of Contents
The Build Quality Of The M400
The build quality of the m400 is very good, just as you would expect for its price point in the market. It is made from predominantly high-quality plastics that offer a very lightweight flash unit that is very robust and can take a ton of punishment. If you are in a photography niche where you expect to have to travel a whole bunch then this can work to your advantage as the flash can take more than its fair share of knocks while in your photography kit during transit.
Although we said that the majority of the flash is made from high-quality plastic, the hot shoe mounts on the flash unit its made from metal offering a solid and seamless attachment to the hot shoe mount on your camera of choice.
The Interface And Control System
The user interface of the m400 is extremely simple to use and this can be a massive positive or a massive negative depending on what you like out of your flash unit. If you are like us and want a simple, easy to use control system then you will love the m400 as it is very easy to use and lets you navigate between the core settings very quickly.
On the flip side, we know that some of our readers love tweaking with their flash units to try and experiment with performance and the kind of flash photography that they are able to do with their unit. If this sounds like you, then the m400 may not be the flash unit for you as the flash sides with simplicity over high customization.
As you would expect, all the core features are on the m400 and you can easily switch between various flash modes such as auto flash mode, TTL mode, manual flash mode. We would just like to quickly point out that to get the best out of some of these flash modes you have to have the correct m400 variant to match your camera brand so just be aware of this!
The M400 Battery Life
The m400 requires four AA batteries to work and we would always recommend that you use a high-quality set of rechargeable AA batteries (Click here to check for product prices and availability). This ensures that you have a reliable set of decent batteries that won’t leak on you and break your flash unit.
Now, when it comes to the battery life of the flash unit, your flash settings and usage of the video light all come into play. Flash activations reports have a pretty broad range with a low of around one hundred flash activations per full set of batteries up to around two hundred and fifty flash activations per full set of batteries.
If you pick up our recommended set of recyclables batteries above then you can easily hot swap your batteries out as required and then just charge them up again when you have access to a power outlet. Depending on what you are doing this can allow you to keep the flash going all day without issue as you just keep flipping the battery set.
The M400 Video Light
Designed to be a compact flash unit that can easily be used for both flash photography as well as videography the m400 is able to easily tick a lot of boxes for a lot of people. This allows you to use the flash unit in a large number of situations and it can really help improve your flash photography performance.
The flash video light as shown in the photograph above is a great feature that is simply missing from a massive number of flash units in our opinion that can be used to help improve your videography performance with minimal effort required on your part.
Our Verdict
That concludes our Metz m400 review and in all honesty, it can make a great addition to your camera accessories and help you get the best image quality from your flash photography as possible. On the flip side of this though, for its price point in the market, there are a ton of competing flash units available that we feel are better than the Metz m400, you can click here to see some of them if you like.
We feel that Metz choosing to release multiple variants of the flash unit have also held it back as it can be a little intimidating for new photographers who rather just pick up a dedicated flash unit from the same brand as their camera than use a multi-capable flash.
Again, if you are wanting to check out the m400 in more detail you are able to use the various links below to read more and the correct variant for your camera brand:-
- Metz M400 Nikon Variant.
- Metz M400 Canon Variant.
- Metz M400 Sony Variant.
- Metz M400 Olympus/Panasonic/Leica Variant.
- Metz M400 Pentax Variant.
- Metz M400 Fujifilm Variant.
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