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Example of M8 with SF58 flash


MEB

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A number of people have asked what flash to use with the M8 or M9 and many others are curious about how good the SF58 is. Here is an example of a picture I took this afternoon of my granddaughter playing with my mother. The technical information is that I used an M8 with a 35mm Summilux. Aperture at f/4 camera at sync speed, 1/250 sec. Distance to subject about 6 feet. The flash was on the camera, set to bounce off the ceiling and the secondary flash was set to 1/4 power. Communication was TTL. There was almost no ambient light in the small room and as you can see, the walls were dark red and soaked up additional light. The picture was processed in C1 Pro v5. I hope this will give interested parties some idea of what this combination will do.

 

Mark Blumer (East Lansing, Michigan)

4066380918_60e62f0811_b.jpg

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Ouch. That seems to have worked pretty well. Getting something so even using a 35Summilux would have to be pretty impressive wouldnt it? What are the flash controls like, easy to dial in or does it take a while to set up? Their smaller flashes are a disaster to menu through for a number of reasons, specially for those of us with only manual.

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Rob,

 

The controls are not difficult. The only thing that took a little work, for me, is the control for the secondary flash. I also have a Nikon D3 system with the 900 and 800 flashes. The controls for the 800 are a nightmare. The controls for the 900 are a dream. The SF58 controls are about the middle of those two in ease of use. Neither of these famous Nikon flashes, however, have the secondary flash. I like that feature and it does well at eliminating unwanted shadows.

 

Mark

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The secondary looks fabulous here. Ok in open territory not so important. For a drive it on auto with only a dial in the direct fill sounds high convenience.

Was going to look up the equivalent non Leica. Nikons similar huh?

Problem with the SF24 is that you have to menu scroll for even the simplest changes, and which times out, is easily bumped, and in bight or poor light, or if the eyesight is struggling it is hardly intuitive.

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Problem with the SF24 is that you have to menu scroll for even the simplest changes, and which times out, is easily bumped, and in bight or poor light, or if the eyesight is struggling it is hardly intuitive.

 

This made me grab my SF24D and switch it on. Scrolling menus? Where? Well, you have to use the plus-minus keys to set compensation, or ISO (if using your flash 'off system'). But -- would you prefer to have just two working apertures, and two or three power levels? As it is, the camera sets ISO, aperture is irrelevant if you go GNC. Remains plus-minus compensation. You can of course do that with any external auto flash by setting one aperture on the flash, and another on the camera. Is that what you want? If not, if you want to whine, do at least find out what you are whining at.

 

The SF24D is a well-thought out little flashgun, and with the addition of a Nikon 'system' cable, it handles ninety percent of my flash needs. The much-maligned lithium batteries are perfect for a flash for occasional use, very long-lived, and carrying an extra pair won't break either your bank account ot your back.

 

The old man from the Age of Flashlamps

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Get a grip Lars, you pedant. What is this linguistics class or something. Scrolling through, toggling through, pressing little buttons to cycle through numbers or icons on a display till what you need comes up. If you use the thing at all you will probably twig to what I am on about. I practice till I know the thing inside out and back to front probably means I find the shortcomings. I figure theres not much you can teach me about it.

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