M8 and Olympus FL-36 flash.....works !

[californiajay]

Rob I can see NOT recommending using the 283 because of the issue regarding early high voltage circuitry that I had alluded to earlier. The issue was resolved many years ago, but since anyone making a recommendation has no way of knowing which vintage of 283 you may have, it may NOT be recommended. All the later ones are quite safe though.

That said, I just tried out a FL-36 on an MP camera since this camera has no dedicated pins. I felt doing this would be safe. Well while I have no idea whether the flash I tried or the camera I tried may have problems but the flash did NOT trigger consistantly. It triggered, I would say maybe 70 percent of the time, so SOMETHING is up. Again, I don't know if maybe there may just be a problem with the flash or camera I used, but I just thought I would share this.

[Riley]

well if you think about it
what you are doing may indeed be damaging
there is no locating pin i take it
and all the other pins are against the flash bracket
which could be the same as the neg current side
as opposed to a digital dedicated hotshoe, that has a central plastic part, insulating the neg side

use card to blank out the pins other than the central primary pin

[californiajay]

You are probably right, I should try again isolating everything.

[airspeed]

Originally Posted by ck1

There are 4 electrical contacts on the FL-36 flash unit.

Two of them (possibly by deliberate design) cannot under any curcumstances physically make contact with the metal terminals on the M8 shoe.

The m8 manual states:
"Other commercially-available flash units with standard
flash foot(2, 3) and positive center contact, and which
are fired by the center contact (X-contact, 1.21a), can
also be used. We recommend the use of modern
thyristor-controlled electronic flash units."

2 If flash units not specially dedicated to the LEICA M8 are used,
the camera white balance will not be automatically adjusted, and
the setting should be used (see p. 98).
3 The aperture specified on the lens must be manually set on the
flash unit.

I have emailed Leica for the final word on this and will fwd the reply when I get it.

A quick search has reveals an previous email from Leica which states that the maximum voltage on the SF24-D is 5 Volts:
Leica Camera AG

Are you still out there, ck1?!

I have an Olympus FL36 which I am keen to use on a Leica M9 (which I am hoping to acquire soon...). Did you ever get a response from Leica about the advisability (or otherwise) of using the FL36 on your M8?

(californiajay's concerns have got me a bit twitchy, though I note the very helpful suggestions from Riley about covering the relevant pins.)

Thanks in advance for any more light you can throw on this situation.

[250swb]

Thanks for the heads up ck1.

I have both the FL-36 and the FL-50 and can confirm they both work really well on an M9 as well (sorry to jump in on the M8 forum). The FL-50 is a bit large unless you have a flash bracket and/or grip, but the FL-36 balances very well. I find on the M9 that you need to go for a slightly wider focal length than simply half the designated length (to account for full frame and the 4/3 2x 'crop') and perhaps use the built in wide diffuser for wide lenses to stop a slight vignette. Otherwise I can't see any downside, its just a case of learning the tweaks and foibles of the FL-36 on the Leica body.

Steve

[Rogwp]

I also use the FL 50 with my M8, and it works flawlessly. You will need to get out of the 4/3 mode and back into the FF mode to get a better match. This is easy to do, if you can remember the steps to take, i.e. which buttons to push and for how long! Roger

[EJohnE]

I use an FL-36 on R8 and R3 with (so far?) no problems, but my ancient hammerhead flash used for years on the R3, has a triggering voltage of just over 200!
I had been using that on an E-300 and an E-1 with never a thought of possible camera frying, but emailed Olympus, Australia who said if I must use it, to use a Wein Safesync HSHSB to cut down the voltage to a safe 6 volts maximum.
I never worry about the extra FL-36 contacts using the Wein, but used to put a bit of plastic to cover them on the R8, just in case. (The R8's hotshoe is said to be safe to 24 volts).

John.

[Copenhagenliving]

I use the same combination. But I find it extremely difficult to mount the FL-36 flash on my M8. Only through a bit of violence, I can mount it. In fear of destroying my camera I do not use this combination. Are there others who have similar experiences?

[ck1]

Hi all (I was formerly CK1)

...I got 2 emails back from Leica:

"I can not guarantee the Olympus flash gun will not harm the M8 camera, but it will certainly not give any dedicated function" and "I have not used this Flash Unit...I can only recommend the SF24D Flash unit sold by Leica...I am unable to comment as to compatibility issues with Olympus flash units...Sorry I could not be more help...Thanks.."

[Riley]

Originally Posted by Copenhagenliving

I use the same combination. But I find it extremely difficult to mount the FL-36 flash on my M8. Only through a bit of violence, I can mount it. In fear of destroying my camera I do not use this combination. Are there others who have similar experiences?

some hot shoes were reported to have been too tight
probably not an FL36 problem

[airspeed]

Originally Posted by ck1

Hi all (I was formerly CK1)

...I got 2 emails back from Leica:

"I can not guarantee the Olympus flash gun will not harm the M8 camera, but it will certainly not give any dedicated function" and "I have not used this Flash Unit...I can only recommend the SF24D Flash unit sold by Leica...I am unable to comment as to compatibility issues with Olympus flash units...Sorry I could not be more help...Thanks.."

Thanks for this, ck1. I had an equally frustrating experience with Olympus Australia: I contacted them recently to ask what the triggering voltage of the FL-36 was (as I wanted to use it with a non-Olympus camera), but was told that that information was "classified" and therefore not available to the public and that they would not advise using Olympus flashes on non-Olympus cameras.

I, of course, understand the commercial reasons behind this attitude but, looking at it from another angle, if Olympus (and other camera manufacturers) were interested in maximising their sales generally (ie not just of their cameras), you might think they'd want to promote their products being used as much as possible with other brand cameras (simplistic attitude on my part, I know). Of course, also, if Leica made a flash with the additional desirable capabilities of other brand flashes (such as the FL-36), we could all spend more of our time actually using our cameras rather than on trying to sort out such problems here.

Cheers
Michael
(still waiting for my M9 to turn up!)