Godox Remote for SL

[ron777]

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Understood.

I have an M as well, although I haven't used it for quite some time. That said, the Nissin is a nice unit, but I require more power than it is capable of providing, which is why I chose the Flashpoint/Godox units, of which I most frequently use one or several of the AD600's and occasionally, the AD200.  

Edited November 28, 2018 by ron777

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[sillbeers15]

11 hours ago, ron777 said:

Understood.

I have an M as well, although I haven't used it for quite some time. That said, the Nissin is a nice unit, but I require more power than it is capable of providing, which is why I chose the Flashpoint/Godox units, of which I most frequently use one or several of the AD600's and occasionally, the AD200.  

Agree. I am also tempted to just buy a set of AD600 for fun and my idea is to integrate it into my SF C1 controller with my existing Leica and Nissin lights.

[ynp]

On 11/24/2018 at 11:00 AM, sillbeers15 said:

Shooting with manual flash is fine by me. A higher power strobe such as the 600 would be a useful tool outdoors against stronger light but no HSS can be handicap although shooting HSS isn't a breeze when the demand on power can be alot when shutter speed goes beyond 1/2000 sec. Btw I use the Nissin MG10 controlled by SF C1 trigger as the 165Ws output isn't far off from the AD200 with full TTL/HSS when required.

IMHO: If they make a Leica version of the MG10, the three of them in a cluster will be able to deliver enough of light in the majority of the outdoors portraits scenarios, if used with a parabolic umbrella. With the higher ISO of the modern Leica cameras, it’s unnecessary to lug around a 1200J light. 

Yevgeny 

[ron777]

11 hours ago, sillbeers15 said:

Agree. I am also tempted to just buy a set of AD600 for fun and my idea is to integrate it into my SF C1 controller with my existing Leica and Nissin lights.

Will the SF C1 remote trigger a Godox flash?

[sillbeers15]

14 hours ago, ynp said:

IMHO: If they make a Leica version of the MG10, the three of them in a cluster will be able to deliver enough of light in the majority of the outdoors portraits scenarios, if used with a parabolic umbrella. With the higher ISO of the modern Leica cameras, it’s unnecessary to lug around a 1200J light. 

Yevgeny 

The Nissin MG10 loaded with the latest firmware MG10v5 is compatible with Leica wireless trigger  SF C1 Commander on full TTL & HSS and I have the MG10 working with my Leica SF60 flashes as part of my off camera flash kit.

[ynp]

1 minute ago, sillbeers15 said:

The Nissin MG10 loaded with the latest firmware MG10v5 is compatible with Leica wireless trigger  SF C1 Commander on full TTL & HSS and I have the MG10 working with my Leica SF60 flashes as part of my off camera flash kit.

Thank you very much for the information. So there’s a solution. I will try to source the MG10s. 

[sillbeers15]

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13 hours ago, ron777 said:

Will the SF C1 remote trigger a Godox flash?

No. The Leica SF C1 Commander (OEM by Nissin) is only compatible to Leica SF60 flashes (ORM by Nissin) and Nissin’s NAS compatible flashes ( only those loaded by latest Nissin firmware).

However there is a trick to make any non compatible flash fire on Manual mode by getting the Leica camera to work on HSS  mode (Leica camera will be automatically set on HSS mode when a Leica compatible flash or SF C1 is mounted on hot shoe) and have the non compatible flash to fire on manual mode and fire via it’s optical sensor ( on slave mode) on full power. One added advantage is the non compatible flash gets to fire on normal manual mode instead of HSS (which gets rob off lots of power when flashes operate on HSS mode).

Combining with Leica compabitble flashes on TTL / HSS, the manual flash can act as the base source of key light while the other companies flashes act as controllable lights to battle situations that require a strong source of artificial fill light on a bright ambient environment.

Edited November 30, 2018 by sillbeers15

[sillbeers15]

26 minutes ago, ynp said:

Thank you very much for the information. So there’s a solution. I will try to source the MG10s. 

Have fun! With the 26650 Lition batteries (x2), the MG10 fires instantaneously and holds up to 300-400 shots on full power without overheating like the SF60s do. For even more, external battery pack PS8 can be used.

Edited November 30, 2018 by sillbeers15

[ynp]

Thank you very much for your advice. Very interesting and promising. Most probably I will try to buy a couple of the MG10s and the SF60 with their Leica trigger. Than I’ll sell my Bron Versa battery pack.😁

Yevgeny 

[helged]

2 hours ago, sillbeers15 said:

The Nissin MG10 loaded with the latest firmware MG10v5 is compatible with Leica wireless trigger  SF C1 Commander on full TTL & HSS and I have the MG10 working with my Leica SF60 flashes as part of my off camera flash kit.

For those not into flashes (yet) - can you provide a photo or two of your setup - possibly with some words about the settings? If/when time permits, of course. Thanks...!

[sillbeers15]

9 hours ago, helged said:

For those not into flashes (yet) - can you provide a photo or two of your setup - possibly with some words about the settings? If/when time permits, of course. Thanks...!

I'm no pro and just an amerturer. However I've beem spending some years reading up and setting up trials myself and I am happy to share what I've learned with others.

Most of our photography application and results depend on ambient lighting conditions. This is especially true on subject such as landscape photography. However when it comes to taking pictures of portraits, our tollerence for sharpness to subject's eye and illumination of the human face becomes much less. Ambient lighting can still produce wonderful portraits but it takes lots of careful planning, positioning of subject to utilize the available light and sometimes the required illumination isn't just there. Therefore the call for articicial lighting comes into play. The utilitarian way of illumination gets the required light intensity filled but rather distasteful and unreal. Therefore the call for mutiple light source at varriated intensity and different angle to light up the subject beame the common tools of trade for most comercial and professional fashion, product and architecture photographers.

From my expenence, there are no hard and fast rules on applying lighting so long it gets the job done. It can be as simple as using off camera flash as fill light just to add a touch of light to lift the shadow casted on the subject's face to the neeed to apply an artificial light source strong enough to subject to allow the photographer to get enough light to illuminate the subject while reducing the aperture & ISO or increasing the shutter speed to reduce the background illumination. Why so? It is usually the same old trick to bring viewer's attention the to illuminated subject so a darker background or and a blurred background is usually preferred.

On lighting up portraits, one common and effective flash illumination would be the Clam shell lighting to throw flattering light from straight up high position downwards to subject through a light modifier such as a beauty dish, light box or reflective umbrella and add a reduced fill light source from below to reduce unwanted strong shadow casted by the key light. So commonly a reflector is used placing below the subject's face for half length and head shots. I often work alone with an assistant, so I prefer to use a flash with a light modifier as the ket light and another fill flash from lower position at half the illumination of the key light instead of a reflector as results are similar and I get to set up both flashes on a boom stick which I could hold in my left hand and camera in my right hand.

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L1000716 by sillbeers15

If I were to set up light stands, I can choose either two or three flashes depending if I could get the ambient light to act as my thire light source. So I'm talking about the classical 3 lights set up: 1 key light (from say 3 - 5 o'clock position), one fill light (from say 6 - 8 o'clock position) & a rim light (from 11 - 2 o'clock position). The light intensity of fill light shoule be lower than key light to create a naturally light shadow. I would usually select my MG10 as my key light and my two SF60s as my fill and rim light. As for light modifiers, I use several, magmod sphere, bounce and grid provides me the fast set up and light to carry. I also use the Sun disc light modifieras my key light modifier on the go on location.

I am now packing up my gear for a holiday trip, apart from lenses, I bring along a MG10 and one SF60 with SF C1 and magmod light modifiers.

Edited November 30, 2018 by sillbeers15

[helged]

44 minutes ago, sillbeers15 said:

I'm no pro and just an amerturer. However I've beem spending some years reading up and setting up trials myself and I am happy to share what I've learned with others.

Most of our photography application and results depend on ambient lighting conditions. This is especially true on subject such as landscape photography. However when it comes to taking pictures of portraits, our tollerence for sharpness to subject's eye and illumination of the human face becomes much less. Ambient lighting can still produce wonderful portraits but it takes lots of careful planning, positioning of subject to utilize the available light and sometimes the required illumination isn't just there. Therefore the call for articicial lighting comes into play. The utilitarian way of illumination gets the required light intensity filled but rather distasteful and unreal. Therefore the call for mutiple light source at varriated intensity and different angle to light up the subject beame the common tools of trade for most comercial and professional fashion, product and architecture photographers.

From my expenence, there are no hard and fast rules on applying lighting so long it gets the job done. It can be as simple as using off camera flash as fill light just to add a touch of light to lift the shadow casted on the subject's face to the neeed to apply an artificial light source strong enough to subject to allow the photographer to get enough light to illuminate the subject while reducing the aperture & ISO or increasing the shutter speed to reduce the background illumination. Why so? It is usually the same old trick to bring viewer's attention the to illuminated subject so a darker background or and a blurred background is usually preferred.

On lighting up portraits, one common and effective flash illumination would be the Clam shell lighting to throw flattering light from straight up high position downwards to subject through a light modifier such as a beauty dish, light box or reflective umbrella and add a reduced fill light source from below to reduce unwanted strong shadow casted by the key light. So commonly a reflector is used placing below the subject's face for half length and head shots. I often work alone with an assistant, so I prefer to use a flash with a light modifier as the ket light and another fill flash from lower position at half the illumination of the key light instead of a reflector as results are similar and I get to set up both flashes on a boom stick which I could hold in my left hand and camera in my right hand.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

L1000716 by sillbeers15

If I were to set up light stands, I can choose either two or three flashes depending if I could get the ambient light to act as my thire light source. So I'm talking about the classical 3 lights set up: 1 key light (from say 3 - 5 o'clock position), one fill light (from say 6 - 8 o'clock position) & a rim light (from 11 - 2 o'clock position). The light intensity of fill light shoule be lower than key light to create a naturally light shadow. I would usually select my MG10 as my key light and my two SF60s as my fill and rim light. As for light modifiers, I use several, magmod sphere, bounce and grid provides me the fast set up and light to carry. I also use the Sun disc light modifieras my key light modifier on the go on location.

I am now packing up my gear for a holiday trip, apart from lenses, I bring along a MG10 and one SF60 with SF C1 and magmod light modifiers.

Much appreciated! Is the MG10 the Canon or Nikon version - or perhaps it doesn't matter? (again, from a novice in flash-land...).

[sillbeers15]

15 hours ago, helged said:

Much appreciated! Is the MG10 the Canon or Nikon version - or perhaps it doesn't matter? (again, from a novice in flash-land...).

MG10 itself does not have a hot shoe mount, it depends on the remote trigger to sync & control, so there is generic. You need to either get it come with the latest firmware MG10v5 or download it yourself using a micro SD card with firmware available at Nissin website for download.

[ynp]

22 hours ago, sillbeers15 said:

As for light modifiers, I use several, magmod sphere, bounce and grid provides me the fast set up and light to carry. I also use the Sun disc light modifieras my key light modifier on the go on location.

Thank you for the information on the Magmod modifiers. Very useful!

And your clamshell arrangement on the stick is very clever. 

[sillbeers15]

52 minutes ago, ynp said:

Thank you for the information on the Magmod modifiers. Very useful!

And your clamshell arrangement on the stick is very clever. 

Thank you for your comments. My experience from trials on various light modifiers below did not produce great differences on shadow softness:

1   Beauty dish (27");

2   Soft box;

3   Umbrella:

4   Mag bounce;

5   Mag sphere;

6   Sun disc.

Rather I found that placing a reflector or a lower intensity fill light on the opposite side of the key light from the camera to reduce the shadow works more effectively.

The reason I use Magmod and the boom stick is to aid mobility and fast change over on various outdoor sites.

[Cowz]

I was a Sony (very short time) and Nikon shooter until I condensed all my camera and lenses to Leica (M10, SL and TL2).

Having said that, I had a X1TSony and fired a few TT600 using a sync cable from camera to remote.... very low tech.

I have just purchased th SFC1 and SF60.... works fabulously in Manual and TTL..... now to get HSS to work (annoying for in brand system).

I kept the hoods for slaves

[helged]

Just curious: Any indication that the HSS-issue (malfunction) to be solved for, e.g., SF60?

[sillbeers15]

On 12/10/2018 at 2:50 PM, helged said:

Just curious: Any indication that the HSS-issue (malfunction) to be solved for, e.g., SF60?

Leica has gone back into it's typical mode of 'taking their own sweet-time' again. I've wrote to them twice as follow up earlier and no solution provided yet.

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[helged]

37 minutes ago, sillbeers15 said:

Leica has gone back into it's typical mode of 'taking their own sweet-time' again. I've wrote to them twice as follow up earlier and no solution provided yet.

I just received a SF60, and played a little.  First the flash did not fire at all; the reason was that the electronic shutter was activated... Despite being a novice in flash land, it was not too hard to figure this mistanke. So far, so good. 

Next 'problem' : In ttl mode, how to adjust the exposure? According to the manual, this should be done in the camera menu, not on the flash itself. But as far as I can tell, the flash output remains the same irrespective of the flash exposure setting on the SL. Are there other menu settings that has to be activated to be able to adjust the flash output in ttl mode? (I use native SL lenses, with the flash mounted on the SL; the SF C1 is on order). 

Sorry for the many questions; hopefully there will be a playback time in the not too distant future...! 

[sillbeers15]

16 hours ago, helged said:

I just received a SF60, and played a little.  First the flash did not fire at all; the reason was that the electronic shutter was activated... Despite being a novice in flash land, it was not too hard to figure this mistanke. So far, so good. 

Next 'problem' : In ttl mode, how to adjust the exposure? According to the manual, this should be done in the camera menu, not on the flash itself. But as far as I can tell, the flash output remains the same irrespective of the flash exposure setting on the SL. Are there other menu settings that has to be activated to be able to adjust the flash output in ttl mode? (I use native SL lenses, with the flash mounted on the SL; the SF C1 is on order). 

Sorry for the many questions; hopefully there will be a playback time in the not too distant future...! 

No problem at all. 

Yes, you must remember that the electronic shutter deactivates flash function on camera.

I have never adjusted any flash output via camera settings. As a matter the background exposure correctness becomes lesser of an issue as compared to subject exposure (which will be filled in by flash). I tend to switch my camera to manual mode when taking portrait shots.

I would typically start off with flash set to TTL mode after setting my ISO, aperture and shutter speed settings. I will rotate the dial on my SF C1 Commander to adjust flash compensation to my requirement.

No direct hot shoe mounted situation. I believe the flash exposure EV must be controlled by one of the two dials.