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Rumored SF60 with SFC1 Commander


sillbeers15

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Leica rumor announced today the rumor of new Leica Flash SF60 & SFC1 Commander below,

 

<https://leicarumors.com>

 

The rumor is in aligned to Leica's reply to my earlier (late 2017) written request to them for a TTL/HSS wireless trigger solution telling me a solution will be made available in 2018 and the recent hear say in local Leica Store about a soon to be released new Leica flash.

Not certain will it be a Metz OEM supplier flash or a Leica only rebadged Nissin I60 currently available with a wireless controller solution. Or alternately provided by another OEM flash manufacturer. I suppose the likelyhood of a Nissin sourced SF60 has a high possibility as the i60 currently is already available with a wireless trigger in the market supporting other popular camera brands.

 

If rumor is true, 3 cheers to Leica!!! I would like to get my hands on one unit as soon.

Edited by sillbeers15
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Hoping it's the Nissin clone and works with the other Nissin guns as well. Hoping it's not a Metz as the current ones are rubbish.

 

Gordon

I did my little bit of research and agree with you the product trend Metz is moving will make them obsolete in no time.

 

Nissin seems to understand well and developed their wireless controller to control their dedicated strobes and also provide flexibility to control other camera brand dedicated flash with HSS functionality.

 

I hope the SF60 will be Nissin and I think the chances are high. Although my wish is to be able to use Profoto A1 to full potential with Leica but I guess that wish of mine will not be granted in the near future. Then again, what Profoto can provide in strobes design (round light, LED Light, TTL to Manual switchover) can easily be copied and reproduce by other strobe makers. Like you, I hope that the Leica version of i60a will also make the leica version of airR and work with other Nissan strobes available.

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And let's hope that simply adding firmware to the Nissin (which seems to be how they adapt their stuff to different brands - correct me if I'm wrong) doesn't give Leica the excuse to treble the price. It's unlikely to happen, but my wish would be for a simple Leica-compatible, Nissin-branded flash gun at the same price as the other versions.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally a decent wireless TTL/HSS trigger available for the S, SL & M users!

 

The SF C1 wireless trigger is the recently announced Nissin Air10. It has the useful function of converting TTL fires memory into manual settings (locked) so user can fire repeatedly or fine tune light level from there. It all looks like a promising tool to aid the portrait photographer with the APO-SL75/90 lens.

Edited by sillbeers15
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Having spent the last month cogitating on upgrading my off-camera flash system from simple triggering to remote control, I welcome these launches.

If my welcome is not as strong as it might be, it's not Leica's fault, but rather the multiplicity of incompatible wireless control systems. How nice it would be to link this system to Profoto strobes or perhaps the Godox AD200. It's possible, to some extent, with additional commander units and add-on remote receivers, but at the cost of simplicity of setup and minimised number of devices.

Edited by LocalHero1953
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Having spent the last month cogitating on upgrading my off-camera flash system from simple triggering to remote control, I welcome these launches.

If my welcome is not as strong as it might be, it's not Leica's fault, but rather the multiplicity of incompatible wireless control systems. How nice it would be to link this system to Profoto strobes or perhaps the Godox AD200. It's possible, to some extent, with additional commander units and add-on remote receivers, but at the cost of simplicity of setup and minimised number of devices.

I would love to use the Profoto A1, the soft light output plus the simplicity of the system is a dream for users. Unfortunately I cannot make myself buy it as the most desirable feature of the a1 to me is off camera HSS function which Profoti unfortunately do not support Leica. I guess the next best thing for me is to figure out a way to soften the light output from the SF60 and have it support my needs of off camera HSS through the SFC1. Can’t wait to get my hands on one set to start off. Being Nissin the ODM, I have better confidence than it source from Metz. Bravo!

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I would love to use the Profoto A1, the soft light output plus the simplicity of the system is a dream for users. Unfortunately I cannot make myself buy it as the most desirable feature of the a1 to me is off camera HSS function which Profoti unfortunately do not support Leica. I guess the next best thing for me is to figure out a way to soften the light output from the SF60 and have it support my needs of off camera HSS through the SFC1. Can’t wait to get my hands on one set to start off. Being Nissin the ODM, I have better confidence than it source from Metz. Bravo!

 

 

Please report your findings! Thanks from a novice in Leica-flash-land...

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I would love to use the Profoto A1, the soft light output plus the simplicity of the system is a dream for users. Unfortunately I cannot make myself buy it as the most desirable feature of the a1 to me is off camera HSS function which Profoti unfortunately do not support Leica. I guess the next best thing for me is to figure out a way to soften the light output from the SF60 and have it support my needs of off camera HSS through the SFC1. Can’t wait to get my hands on one set to start off. Being Nissin the ODM, I have better confidence than it source from Metz. Bravo!

I'm not entirely convinced by Profoto's soft light claims for the A1, but I fully admit I haven't tried it.

Soft light is largely related to shadows and their sharpness, and so dependent on the size of the source rather than a particular characteristic of the light - hence the use of softboxes and bounce light etc to spread the same light over a larger area. Typically you aim to have the distance from light source to the subject to be about 1.5-2 times the size of the source, if you want a soft effect: so a 60cm beauty dish would be 1-1.5m from the subject.

The A1 head is bigger than your average speedlight head, but not that big, and you'd have to get it close to a face to soften the light significantly.

 

But as I say, I've never used the A1!

I agree that, for simplicity, it looks good (though in Leica territory, price-wise).

 

 

 

Edited to correct my ratios, which I had got the wring way round!

Edited by LocalHero1953
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I'm not entirely convinced by Profoto's soft light claims for the A1, but I fully admit I haven't tried it.

Soft light is largely related to shadows and their sharpness, and so dependent on the size of the source rather than a particular characteristic of the light - hence the use of softboxes and bounce light etc to spread the same light over a larger area. Typically you aim to have the size of the source about 1.5-2 times the distance from the subject if you want a soft effect: so a 60cm beauty dish would be 1-1.5m from the subject.

The A1 head is bigger than your average speedlight head, but not that big, and you'd have to get it close to a face to soften the light significantly.

 

But as I say, I've never used the A1!

I agree that, for simplicity, it looks good (though in Leica territory, price-wise).

I agree with your logic. Light illumination principles do not change. Size of light source and distance to subject from light source is inversely proportional. That is why I am certain with some teeeking & trials I should be able to modify the light source after I get my hands on a set of SF60. I also think that filling light to subject outdoors should be easier to achieve soft light effect over the light being the sole source of illumination (indoors application).

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At this point in time, I'm not certain if the Leica SFC1 will have identical function as Nissin Air 10 Commander featured with Nissin's NAS allowing cross system transmission through Nissin Air R wireless receiver. If the SFC1 retains the Nissin's NAS, it means we can pair the SFC1 with a Nissin Air R (nikon) wireless receiver to control TTL/HSS on any Nikon flash. In turn means that the Profoto A1 (Nikon) attached to the Air R (Nikon) will be fully competable with Leica S, SL & M camera through SFC1 Commander! So this is now in theory and yet to be tried out to see if it works!

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At this point in time, I'm not certain if the Leica SFC1 will have identical function as Nissin Air 10 Commander featured with Nissin's NAS allowing cross system transmission through Nissin Air R wireless receiver. If the SFC1 retains the Nissin's NAS, it means we can pair the SFC1 with a Nissin Air R (nikon) wireless receiver to control TTL/HSS on any Nikon flash. In turn means that the Profoto A1 (Nikon) attached to the Air R (Nikon) will be fully competable with Leica S, SL & M camera through SFC1 Commander! So this is now in theory and yet to be tried out to see if it works!

If Leica is reading this you just gave them a hint what to look for to disable ;-), hopefully i am wrong.

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I think the power is insufficient for my needs but if it is reliable and quick to operate. I will get it. I would prefer something like a Profoto A1 because of speed of recycling and simplicity but I do have some things against the A1such as the lack of PC terminal and auto flash which I think is a necessity.

 

I was going to sell my Canon system but held back because of the A1. Let's see how the new flash in town performs.

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If Leica is reading this you just gave them a hint what to look for to disable ;-), hopefully i am wrong.

 

 

I do not see lucrative margins for Leica in selling Nissin's lighting products to begin with. It were to provide Leica users better versility.

 

if Leica were to think small. They would not allow the cross functionality to begin with (Leica would have seen what I could see). But if leica were to think big, the cross system NAS system will literally allow Leica users to tap into one of the most popularly supported independent light source for Nikon/Canon available today and that means Leica can and will attract more potential customers & sell more cameras! 

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