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Leica M + Flash SF 40


fweens

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Hi everybody!

 

Last week I was working as a photographer for an event and some pictures were taken in dance clubs. I planned to shoot with my Canon 1Dx + SB600 Flash. On the first night my camera broke down!

 

Luckily I had my Leica M so shot the whole week with it. During the day it was perfect but at night it was painful... Using the telemetric system in the dark is a little bit tricky and the other problem was that I hadn't have a flash.

 

I ordered quickly an SF 40 Flash.

 

I was confident to use it in TTL and use exposition compensation if needed.

 

However it didn't work as expected: the flash fired but when I was looking at the result it was as if it didn't. I tried A or M mode (on the camera) and the results were nearly the same. I tried A, TTL on the Flash. The best results I achieved were using the M mode for the Flash (at 1/256 power) and using the reflective card. So I'm disappointed for not being able to use TTL in such low light situations.

 

Do you have some clues for this kind of low light situation for using the telemetric system and for setting up the flash and camera (ISO, aperture, speed) ?

 

Thanks,

Franck

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Thanks Peter! That's what I did at the beginning but in such a case, the flash would fire but when I look at the picture it's as if it didn't fire! Have you tried in really low light conditions such as a dance club ?

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Hi Franck

 

I have a similar problem with my SF 40 on an M 240. Sometimes the flash fires, but before the shutter opens.

 

I have tested the flash thoroughly and the issue seems to occur randomly but most often when the flash is in TTL or Auto Mode and using it out of range, i.e. too close or too far. Sometimes it helps to turn the flash off and on. I am also using the SF 58 with no issues other than the TTL is ridiculously slow.

 

My dealer replaced my SF 40 but unfortunately the problem persist. I am considering to return my flash and get a refund.

 

Cheers

Blueuser

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@fweens: Because I am the countryside we don't have anything like a dance club around here!! :)

Darkest place is the local pub and that's not really dark.

 

What batteries are you using? I use Duracell Ultra Power (1.5V LR6 MX1500) which are recommended in the (fairly awful) instructions.

 

Any dealer close to you? They might be able to run tests.

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@blueuser: I feel less lonely :-) I didn't realized it fires before shutter opens ; in my mind the flash was for measurement and that measure for some reasons is wrong... The best result I had were using the M mode on the flash and using the diffuser.

 

@Peter: thanks! Yes I'm going back to the dealer's tonight. I'm using eneloop batteries.

 

@dem331: lucky you! Thanks.

Edited by fweens
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Hi there,

 

So I went to the Leica store tonight and the manager found the same problems as I did which are:

- depending on the aperture the flash will work or not

- it works better when the head of the flash is unfolded than folded

 

The manager sent an email to the product manager and will let me know...

 

To be continued :-)

 

Franck

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Franck, I took the linked photo in a dark corner of our sitting room when we had our surrogate dog to stay. It was as dark as we get until night time.

He is a 12 year old Collie and loves to hide in dark places. It was too dark for a shot without a tripod and long exposure.

See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133538622@N08/24472683686/in/dateposted/

 

That was a one-off shot with the flash head pointed at 45 degrees. I then was asked to take some comparison shots using two different lenses; 1.4 Summilux and 2.0 APO Summicron.

The light that day was very poor in southern England, especially indoors. I had no choice but to use the flash, again at 45 degrees to bounce off white walls.

See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133538622@N08/25186379432/in/dateposted/

 

On both occasions the flash fired perfectly. I didn't have to do more than focus.

 

These are just examples. Neither is a good photograph in terms of composition nor subject matter.

 

All the same the SF-40 did what it was supposed to do.

Edited by Peter Kilmister
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Thanks Peter for the tests!

 

As you said flash head pointed at 45 degrees; yesterday in the shop we realized it was working with the head in that position but not if you keep the head pointed at 0 degrees... Weird!

 

Best,

Franck

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@blueuser: I feel less lonely :-) I didn't realized it fires before shutter opens ; in my mind the flash was for measurement and that measure for some reasons is wrong... The best result I had were using the M mode on the flash and using the diffuser.

 

@Peter: thanks! Yes I'm going back to the dealer's tonight. I'm using eneloop batteries.

 

@dem331: lucky you! Thanks.

 

I am using only eneloop batteries (nothing else) and it works fine for me

I follow this thread :-)

Edited by erick
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@fweens: You are right that the preflash is measuring the scene and for some reason it sometimes fails and the real flash exposure do that as well.

 

@Peter: To test the issue: Try to increase iso, open the aperture and go close to a subject. After some overexposed shots the flash will occasionally fail.

 

I suspect that the issue could be related to few samples of the flash, because my replaced flash has a serial number which is very close to the first flash.

 

Cheers

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Ok, so far my SF40 worked perfectly with my coded 50 mm summilux asph.  Today I tried it with my uncoded 28mm summicron asph (actually it is coded but my M240-p does not recognise it) and I started to get failures - dark pictures (with automatic lens detection set)

 

I coded it manually and still had problems.

 

Then I tried it on uncoded and it worked perfectly.

 

This reminds me of the EVF problem with an uncoded lens and the setting on Automatic.  What I do not understand is why it still happens when I code it manually.

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Ok I have a different theory, just been doing some more tests. First I also got failures using the lens on uncoded and TTL.

 

Then I realized that if you pressed the shutter release half way and waited for about 1/2 sec then fired it worked perfectly on all settings.  I took about 30 shots on differnt settings coded/automatic /uncoded and TTL /A and it works perfectly.  

 

Maybe this is the solution.  If it is why did Leica not just say? 

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What batteries are you using? I use Duracell Ultra Power (1.5V LR6 MX1500) which are recommended in the (fairly awful) instructions.

 

 

I replaced the batteries from Duracell Plus Power to Duracell Ultra Power, but that did not solve the issue.

 

Cheers

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Interesting idea Enrique ; I'll try that :-0 If that's the explanation, Leica should indeed say that!

 

Franck

 

Ok I have a different theory, just been doing some more tests. First I also got failures using the lens on uncoded and TTL.

 

Then I realized that if you pressed the shutter release half way and waited for about 1/2 sec then fired it worked perfectly on all settings.  I took about 30 shots on differnt settings coded/automatic /uncoded and TTL /A and it works perfectly.  

 

Maybe this is the solution.  If it is why did Leica not just say? 

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