SF-40 Flash on the M. Initial Impressions.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

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If any of you are over on the SL forum you'll know I've been very critical on the TTL flash performance on the SL, even with the new SF40 flash. That system and TTL flash is badly broken. I'm communicating with Leica Australia and they in turn are passing my findings to Germany. But it could take a while to get a working TTL implementation on the SL.

 

I've also had some time to try the SF 40 on the M and M-P. They work essentially identically when a flash is used in TTL mode.

 

Things are much more favourable. The SF 40 works very well on the M, within the limitations of Leica's TTL implementation.

 

Firstly, the flash balances really great on the M. Finally we seem to have the right balance of size and power for the M shooter that wants TTL flash. It's a little low powered for bounce sometimes, especially in HSS mode where the power is effectively cut by a factor of 8. But for slower speeds with bounce (below 1/180) and direct flash it's got plenty of grunt for a little thing. I've had good exposures at 1/125 and bouncing off a low ceiling or nearby wall. I have to add about a stop of exposure but I also get this with other systems as well.

 

I have experience with it's first cousin, the i40 (which I'll type a few times instead of SF 40. please forgive.) and I already know that with 4AA's the recycle times are very good and I get about 300 flashes in normal use with a set of Eneloops. the controls are so very simple. One quirk is that A mode isn't "automatic flash". There's no auto sensor in the SF40. Auto mode is TTL mode but FEC is disabled. There's also a manual mode and a manual off camera mode with settings for manual and TTL flash triggers. Mauual power only but great if you need a fill or hair light in a hurry.

 

The first thing I did when I put the SF40 on the M was to see if the FEC (flash exposure compensation) function of the menu was enabled. I was disappointed to find it isn't. That was until I realised it isn't supposed to be. Unlike the SL camera, direct FEC using the wheel on the back of the SF-40 flash is fully enabled. You can just dial in the amount of FEC you need directly on the flash and away you go. The menu item in the camera actually changes as you rotate the wheel on the SF40 as well.

 

The flash has 90 degree vertical and 180 degree horizontal rotation (both directions horizontally) a diffuser for wide lenses. the zoom head works with all the M lenses I tried and there's a nearly useless, tiny white bounce card. I use a bigger card and a rubber band if I want that functionality.

 

As far as I can tell, unlike the SL, the flash works great in both A and M modes. I haven't used it with the grip/adaptor and EVF yet. But I have with live view and the LCD exposure preview function works exactly as it should and isn't disabled like it is on the SL.

 

One little quirk for the SF40 is that the manual flash zoom only works in manual mode not TTL. I'd like to be able to change the zoom manually, especially when I use side bounce.

 

For me, it's sad that I bought the SL specifically to have both the EVF and TTL flash without brackets etc and that it doesn't work at all. The good news is that the M system does and the SF40 is a great little TTL flash for the M owner.

 

Recommended.

 

Gordon

[jto555]

Thanks Gordon. It is funny how the SL designers managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with the TTL flash implementation.

[ECohen]

Thanks Gordon

I just got the SL 40 for use on my M240 and your observations help a lot.

I do  know how flash is supposed to work, but i do like instruction manuals and the manual from Leica is useless.

There is a lot of  negative "press" from this forum on TTL and the SL40 but out of the box it seems to work very well.

And I like its simplicity 

Your help is always appreciated