Leica M9 + SF 58

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No battery packs with the SF 58. Tried the regular Quantum cable for the Metz with the Turbos and it does not work with the Leica flash.

[autillo]

I've done 4 weddings last four weeks, and I've been using this combo: m9+28/2+sf58 for shooting indoors during dinner and party.

The results are far more regular than with the m8.The recycling time is OK.

I shoot with this parameters:

 

ISO 800

1/40 F/4 OR 1/30 F/5,6 ON CAMERA

MODE FLASH AUTOMATIC

SAME APERTURE THAN LENS APERTURE

0 COMPENSATION

ZOOM SET ON 35 INSTEAD 28

HEAD UP (ALMOST TOTALLY) AND WHITE REFLECTOR OUT TO BOUNCE THE LIGHT.

 

Some examples from real shooting:

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[Mauribix]

Does anybody take care to describe differences (if any) between Leica SF-58 and Metz 58 ?

I can't seem to find them and I'm just as curious about.

Thank you

[Benoit Petot]

I'm using the combo M9-SF58 and everything is fine.

 

I must acknowledge that I'm not doing a lot of flash photo with the leica. I've a 35/1.4, a 75/1.4 and a 24/2.8 and usually there is enough light.

My big exception being the "restaurant weedding" and similar social events, where the combo 35 @ f8 & Flash is interesting:

• Doing twice a serie of pictures around the table, I've enough photos to insure that I got everybody (if necessary I can crop 2 times 2 people in one DNG).
  
• With the small aperture, the flash in soft mode (tuned as for a 24mm) and the main lighting indirect the pictures look very natural and they are all sharp and well lighted.
  
• I'm using standard disposable Batteries. they do between 100 & 200 pictures. If you shoot fast they are hot, but that isn't an issue. I change at the same time, the Flash, Batteries, the M9 Batteris and the SD card (raw on 16G panasonic).
  

I've only one regret => the position of the flash on the top of the camera. I would prefered a lot to have it slightly on the uperleft (like the Hasselbald - CT 45 combo).That would reduce the shade of the nozze on the "mustach area" which isn't very nice for the ladies. Unfortunatelly I've been unable to find a compatible cable conveying all the SF58 & lens infos. anay idea where to look?

 

I appreciate the dubble flash, when turning the main flash

[zlatkob]

Moving the flash slightly to the upper left of the camera would move the shadow only slightly to the side. That might be preferable, but you can do even better. Why not shoot your flash photos at f/2.8 or f/4.0 instead of f/8? That would allow more ambient light, reduce the need for flash, and thus reduce the flash shadow. If the SF58 can tilt up, sideways and/or backwards (I don't know), a wider aperture may also allow your flash to bounce its light, thus softening the flash shadow dramatically. Also, rechargeable NiMh batteries, like the Powerex brand from Japan, will last longer than disposables (and they can be re-used).

[nryn]

I've got an SF-24D, a Metz 54 MZ-3 and a Metz 40 MZ-3i. I've used the Metz 54 MZ-3 with Canon 1DmkII and now use it and the 40 MZ-3i with the Leicas--first the M8 and now the M9 with a 3502 foot. I also have shot Nikon (film) cameras with Nikon flashes and prior to switching to Metz, Canon flashes with Canon (digital) bodies.

 

In general, I agree that the Nikon flash system is and perhaps always has been ahead of the curve. It's very reliable and without a lot of thinking, you can get superb results. That said, I gravitated towards the Metz flashes largely because I like the quality of light from them more than any of the other flashes I've used. Their interfaces are a bit bizarre but an hour or two of shooting and they become natural. Both the 54 and the 40 both have the secondary fill flash to compensate for under-surface shadows when the main flash is bounced.

 

I was debating getting a SF58, but it basically looks like a more powerful and perhaps more M-tailored flash than the 54 MZ-3. And there's one thing I really don't like about the 54 MZ-3: its handling on the digital M body. The entire camera becomes a pain to hold. I've used it with a bracket and it's much better, but then the resulting rig is so large that you might as well be using a pro-series DSLR.

 

I've more-or-less settled on the SF-24D as my flash of choice for light duty and the 40 MZ-3i as my flash of choice for more demanding situations. I use both of them in either Auto or Manual mode and get excellent results. Both of these flashes sit much more comfortably on the M9. the 40MZ-3i is big, no doubt, but it + an M9 is a much more ergonomic combination than the taller 54 MZ-3.

 

What I would love is a flash roughly the size of Nikon's old SB-22 which runs on AA batteries and which has a rotating head and bounce flash capabilities. Roughly half the mass and size of the SF-58. I'm surprised the flash options for Leica are limited to anemic (SF-24D) and superheavyweight (SF-58). I'd love to see them work with Metz to put out a flash that achieves the "just right" balance that the M-series cameras seem to have down pat by now.

[autillo]

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What I would love is a flash roughly the size of Nikon's old SB-22 which runs on AA batteries and which has a rotating head and bounce flash capabilities. Roughly half the mass and size of the SF-58. I'm surprised the flash options for Leica are limited to anemic (SF-24D) and superheavyweight (SF-58). I'd love to see them work with Metz to put out a flash that achieves the "just right" balance that the M-series cameras seem to have down pat by now.

 

I agree with you absolutely, SF58 handling is a pain, I have big hands and I'm strong, but after some hours my hand feels too much weight, may be the handgrip is a solution and also would be a little flash like you said.

 

regards

daniel

[Benoit Petot]

Moving the flash slightly to the upper left of the camera would move the shadow only slightly to the side. That might be preferable, but you can do even better. Why not shoot your flash photos at f/2.8 or f/4.0 instead of f/8? That would allow more ambient light, reduce the need for flash, and thus reduce the flash shadow. If the SF58 can tilt up, sideways and/or backwards (I don't know), a wider aperture may also allow your flash to bounce its light, thus softening the flash shadow dramatically. Also, rechargeable NiMh batteries, like the Powerex brand from Japan, will last longer than disposables (and they can be re-used).

 

Thanks Zlatkob for your advices.

 

Moving the flash 1 foot on the left & 1.5 to the top improves a lot the pictures. Believe me, I’ve been doing that since my first Electronic Metz on my Rollei in 71/72. Not having a mustache at the exact vertical of the nose but a few degrees to the right makes it a definitive “shade” and not a “spot”. This is worst in B&W than color.

 

I use fill-in flash (mixture of ambient light & flash) very often but that brings 2 issues:

· The White-Balance color isn’t easy to reach when you have a set of pictures to tune on the same average with different sources (tungsten, fluo & even sun thru a window)

· The closed diaf (8 to 11) is very usefull when you have to make very quickly a long serie of photo (no focuses issues). Remember that I use this mode mainly to insure that I’ve at least 2 ou 3 picutures of all the participants to a social event (sometime more than 100). The 35mm/falash is perfect to do that.

 

The main lamp of SF58 can be tilted backward or sideward. I agree, that helps, but once again you’re in this case in “one by one” mode. Not in the useful “serial, burst” mode.

 

Regarding the batteries, rechargeable is probably better, but you need to get a loader ….

As a I’m doing this exercice only from time to time 2 set of low cost batteries (available everywhere) are convenient.

 

Thanks again.

The cable issue is still open for me (apart from deporting the flash from 1 to 2 feet, it’s could permits as well to hand it 1 meter up with my left hand).

 

Regards,

[kcnarf]

The On-Camera Flash Technique Known as "Flagging Your Flash"

Frequently I don"t want to use the SF-58's secondary beam, because i just want pure directional light with no fill. In other words, I want a more sculptured lighting effect. So not only do I keep the secondary beam turned off, but I also use a rubber band or elastic hairband to wrap the sides and bottom of my flash with a thin sheet of black foam that sticks out for several inches to more accurately direct the bounced lighting and also to assure that no light leaks forward from my backward, upward, sideward, or obliquely pointed flash. Using a sheet of black foam in that manner, known as "flagging your flash", can also serve to prevent your bursts of flash from annoying others around you.

 

For more information on this directional flash technique see neilvn.com/tangents/ and read article 13, number 7 of his "flash photography tips". You'll have to search around through his past entries to find photos of him using his "black foamy thing" and/or related enlightening comments. All of Neil's demonstrations on the optimal use of both on- and off-camera flash are superb. He may be the best at what he does.

[wlaidlaw]

In general I am very happy with the SF58 flash. I knew the size when I bought it, so complaining about that is pretty illogical. I have two smaller flashes I can use with my M8 & 9 if needed, an SF24 and a tiny Minox 8 x 11 flash.

 

My main beef is the very slack on/off switch. At first I thought it was just that I was forgetting to switch off the unit, when putting it back into its case and then finding the batteries were flat when I took it out, the auto-switch off notwithstanding. At about £5 for a set of 4 AA lithium batteries, that mounts up. I then tried just putting it in and out of its case. About 1 in 4 times, the on/off switch would be knocked to on. I have therefore changed to using rechargeable batteries, so that it is just now an irritation and not an expense. I think the recycle time is fractionally shorter on a freshly charged set of NiMH batteries than new lithium ones, I assume due to the lower internal resistance.

 

I strongly recommend the very reasonably priced Sto-Fen diffuser (about £12) model MZ 80.

 

Wilson

[kcnarf]

Leica (&/or Metz) also has a translucent diffuser for this flash.

[mwilliamsphotography]

I tried the SF58 on the M9s and sent it back. It's not so much the size or weight, which is no different from a SB900 or 580EX, it's that the whole M rig becomes very unbalanced and creates torque ... so, keeping it balanced on a small camera is what becomes fatiguing during the course of shooting an event or wedding.

 

It would be great if Leica solved this issue once and for all ... a flash about the size of the SF24, or a touch bigger, with a swivel bounce head ... and an optional simple off-camera TTL cord to enable higher and directional diffused flash wouldn't kill them for crying-out-loud!

 

For the time being I use a SF24 with Lutz's S-Fill diffuser ... to avoid side drop-shadows when shooting portrait oriented fill, I orient the flash to the opposite side of the prevailing ambient and balance the flash/ambient by dragging the shutter.

 

WB is always set manually with the flash firing. Dragging the shutter mitigates the mix lighting temps enough that, if even needed, you can specifically desaturate the blue cast on the foreground subjects a touch in post ... which I do as a batch for all images shot with that manual WB where the flash was using a higher output due to low ambient. Takes about 5 seconds.

 

Flash is useful not just for additive light, but for freezing a moving subject while using a slower shutter speed (dragging the shutter) to open up the backgrounds.

 

Here's an "action" example ... M9 @ ISO 800, 1/30th shutter ... 50/1.0 Noctilux @ f/4 or 5.6; SF24 with S-Fill diffuser: I left this one a touch warm in color temp, which IMO, is preferable for skin tones and creating a more inviting general ambience.

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