Flash for Leica MP

[skovbo13]

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G'day,

 

I am looking for a compact yet powerful enough flash unit to use with my Leica MP.

Suggestions anyone?

 

Regards,

S

[bill]

Don't...?

 

Seriously, whilst flash and an M are anathema to me, why not look at an SF24?

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[masjah]

... or alternatively an SF20. The extra features of the SF24 are not relevant to the MP; it is not significantly less powerful in practice (partly the way it's calculated) and it's really quite a lot cheaper second hand.

[MPerson]

MP + Flash

[skovbo13]

MP + Flash

 

Could you elaborate on that comment please?

Would it be really that non-sensical using the MP with a flash in some situations?

[Tim B]

Could you elaborate on that comment please?

Would it be really that non-sensical using the MP with a flash in some situations?

 

No, of course not. You use what you need for the picture you want. There are situations where a little flash is necessary. I don't use it often on my MP, but there are times when I do.

 

Why not? What is this thing some people have about no flash on an M? And yet many think it OK to use non Leica lenses on M bodies; now that does seem odd to me. Surely it is the lens more than anything else that makes the photo a Leica photo. But, hey, if that's how you do your photography, why not?

 

I use the SF20, or even - shock horror! - my old faithful Metz 45CL, if necessary. Use what you like to get the shot.

 

Tim

[Nikkor AIS]

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I use the Vivitar 285HV. Not really compact but a great flash on the Leica MP/M7.

 

Gregory

[pico]

SF20 for sure. It's small and smart.

 

OTOH, I sometimes use a tiny, tiny LED flash that we are working on in the video lab. Way cool for shooting wide open at the pub. Rather like the old Wink Light, but the size of a pencil top.

[giordano]

"powerful enough" ...for what?

 

I feel that there are only two sorts of flash really worth having. One is something really small and light, that will fit in even the smallest camera case and put out just enough light to make the difference between getting a shot and not getting anything. I have a little Ricoh unit, it runs on one AA cell and is smaller than a Frankenfinder; the guide number is about 8 metres at ISO100. Wilson Laidlaw recently posted a pic of his little Minox unit which is even smaller and probably about as powerful.

 

The other worthwhile flash is the one that can deliver enough light for any situation you might find yourself in. Small units like the SF20 or SF24 don't manage that for me and I feel much happier with something that has a guide number of 40 or 50 metres at ISO 100.

 

If you want to do fill-in flash in sunlight with a film Leica you may need even more power. Ages ago I used a Mecablitz 60CT for this, but it really was a bit much to carry round.

[sjefjans]

"powerful enough" ...for what?

 

If you want to do fill-in flash in sunlight with a film Leica you may need even more power. Ages ago I used a Mecablitz 60CT for this, but it really was a bit much to carry round.

 

How do you do fill-in flash on a Leica M in sunlight??

[redbaron]

Metz make a nice little unit that has a bounce head. Two auto apertures and it uses AAs. My only advice would be never, ever use it, or any other shoe-mounted flash as a key light.

[peter_n]

Once I got the Nikon SB-800 I got rid of the SF 20. No comparison, and not much bigger either...

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[giordano]

How do you do fill-in flash on a Leica M in sunlight??

 

You have to use a flash that is several times more powerful than the sun. The big yellow ball has 1/50 sec to illuminate your scene; the flash has to deliver somewhere between a tenth and a half as much light - depending on the effect you want - in 1/1000 sec, one twentieth the time.

 

So: choose film, aperture and if necessary ND filter to get the exposure time to 1/50th. Rough example:

 

Kodachrome II (ISO 25), basic exposure say 1/50 at f/11.

 

Fill in flash say 2 stops below the natural light. I.e. set the flash for f/5.6.

 

Then - because it's reversal film (and Kodachrome in particular) - close the aperture a tiny bit to compensate for the light the flash will add to the highlight areas.

 

With a Mecablitz 60 the guide number at ISO 25 is 30 metres, so at full power it can deliver enough light for f/5.6 at about 5.5m distance, which is pretty comfortable.

 

With an SF20 the guide number at ISO 25 is 10 metres, so your maximum range is about 1.8m.

 

If you want to really fill the shadows for reversal film, the ratio between sun and shadows could be only 1 stop, meaning maximum ranges of about 3.5 and 1.2m for the two flashguns. On the other hand if you're using B&W or color negative film you may only want to lighten the darkest shadows, in which case a ratio of 5 stops might be used - and you could get away with a much smaller flash.

[peterv]

Hi,

 

I use Pocket Wizzard on the MP. Works just fine with any off camera flash. I meter the light with a Sekonic 758DR. Gives me lots of control over the amount and the direction of the flash. It's quite small and relatively light on the MP too.

[H. James Wolf]

If you can find one, a Vivitar 2800 is small enough to carry easily and will work out to about 45 feet with Tri-X. It uses 4 AAs, so the recycle time is quick.