M8.2 with Nikon SB800 flash?

[wudai_e]

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I noticed the hot shoe of M8.2 has a little plastic thingy at the end of the hot shoe to prevent the said flash to be fully attached?

 

Is this the evil design by Leica to prevent us from using 3rd party flashes? I believed I read somewhere on the manual this is possible but certainly I'm missing something since I can't push the SB800 fully onto the camera.

[Luke_Miller]

I use the SB-800 on my M8.2 without problems. You are correct that the flash will not go fully forward in the Camera's hot shoe, but mine engages enough of the contacts to function properly.

[wudai_e]

hmmmm... mine doesn't fire if I leave the flash like that...

[MikeMyers]

I tried this a while back, and it mostly worked, but the flash had to be "A" mode, not TTL. It worked, but I never really got the results I expected.

 

Then I spent a day trying to get the M8.2 to work with my SB24 Nikon flash. I got it to do most of what I was after. You can find the discussion here:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/148917-getting-p-s-low-light-flash.html

 

 

Now that I know what I can do with the SB24, I ought to go back and try to get the SB800 working; it should do at least as well as the older flash.

 

 

Actually, I sort of got discouraged by the whole thing. The SB800 didn't do what I wanted (but maybe I was doing something wrong), the SB24 did almost everything I wanted, but apparently the real answer is to get one of the Leica flashes.

 

 

(Don't tell anyone here I said this, but I wish I could get Leica to put the led viewfinder internals into the M10, and replace the no longer necessary window with a built-in flash. If my tiny $400 Canon P&S can have one, why not my Leica??)

 

 

Back to your question - what mode is your SB800 in when you're trying to do this? It will need to be in "A" mode, and then you need to check out all your other settings as well.

[wudai_e]

Thanks for the info Mike, I had the flash set on TTL, silly me

[Luke_Miller]

I also use an SB-25 (in Auto-Thryster mode) on my M8.2. I prefer the controls on the SB-25 over those of the SB-800. And the screw lock on the SB-25 flash foot ensures it will stay firmly in the body's hot shoe. The downside is it is so much larger than the SB-800 that I find handling to be a bit awkward.

[Aviator]

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I noticed the hot shoe of M8.2 has a little plastic thingy at the end of the hot shoe to prevent the said flash to be fully attached?.

 

Its not plastic, its metall

 

Due to thias stupid thing my olympus FL 20 did not work on the M8,

also an older Leica flash from a collegue did nit mount correct.

 

The flash hotshoe was plastic so I used a file and now it fits.

[Shootist]

File a notch in the front of the flash shoe. Funny but the SB600 works and locks in no problem but the SB800 doesn't, without filing a little notch in the shoe. Once you do that it will slide on and lock and function properly, in A mode.

[Luke_Miller]

After re-reading this thread I went back to verify that my SB-800 was in fact not locking into the M8.2 hot shoe when I turned the flash foot locking lever. It did not. However I discovered that my other SB-800 does. My SB-29 sync cord does as well. I tried my SU-800 (which has no application on the M8.2) and it locked in also. So SOME modern Nikon flashes and accessories will mount securely in the Leica M8.2 hot shoe.

 

Of the flashes I've tried on the M8.2 I think I prefer the SB-800 in Auto mode. It is not nearly as big as the SF-58 and provides full tilt and swivel. I have not yet found a situation where TTL (using my SF-24D) is demonstrably superior to the SB-800 in Auto. I'll keep looking .

[Luke_Miller]

Of the flashes I've tried on the M8.2 I think I prefer the SB-800 in Auto mode. It is not nearly as big as the SF-58 and provides full tilt and swivel. I have not yet found a situation where TTL (using my SF-24D) is demonstrably superior to the SB-800 in Auto. I'll keep looking .

 

After more flash sessions using both the SB-800 (in Auto) and SF-24D in TTL, I decided that I really wasn't satisfied with either. The SF-24D (used off camera a la Sean Reid) gave a nice bounced light but my exposures were inconsistent. If I was not careful to pause for a brief instant at the half press position on the shutter release I would get severe over or under exposure. But when I did it correctly I liked the TTL exposures better than the Auto ones from the SB-800.

 

After much agonizing I got an SF-58. It was not as big as I had imagined. It is similar in size to the SB-800 but about 1/2 in. taller when the head is in the vertical position. I found the TTL exposures to be pretty much spot on in my limited testing to date. I can press the shutter normally with it. I really like the secondary flash tube. It fills in the shadows from the bounced main flash nicely. I still prefer using available light, but now I have a flash that reliably gives me light that does not look like I used flash.