aftermarket remote strobe trigger

[jaeger]

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I've been looking around and can't find any aftermarket remote flash/strobe trigger solution.  It has been a huge success using some Chinese made setups for my Nikon, it also support TTL and HSS flawlessly.  Was Leica not allowing aftermarket flash products or I didn't research thoroughly?  Please share your findings, thanks.

[Michael Hiles]

I have a [air of Yongnuo RF603CII that I use on a film body. It seems to work well and be reliable. There is no evident reason to think they will not work fine on a digital body. They are not very expensive.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Michael Hiles

[jaeger]

does it support HHS and TTL?  My Nikon R2 trigger works but only limit to 1/180 second simple flash.

[LocalHero1953]

Only Leica flashes and triggers (actually reworked Nissin triggers) will give you TTL and HSS. It's one of the little downsides of Leica

[jaeger]

I'm more and more want to sell the M body.  It's so limited to only work on vacation. 

[LocalHero1953]

These things aren't secrets. They'e the sort of thing I find out before buying.......

[ru2far2c]

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I've only used flash with M's manually with pocket wizards. Never worried or even wanted TTL and HSS with Leica cameras. Use my Nikon's for HSS and TTL with pocket wizards. My want to look into an SL.

Good luck in  your quest. 

[Gregm61]

On 10/17/2019 at 4:15 PM, LocalHero1953 said:

These things aren't secrets. They'e the sort of thing I find out before buying.......

....and it doesn’t take much to figure out, you need another system if you want a flexible flash system as a part of it. Been that way, well.... forever.

[Luke_Miller]

I love my digital M cameras for what they do well.  But flash performance is not a strength.   On-camera I use auto-thyristor mode when possible since Leica's TTL implementation is relatively primitive.  For off camera I prefer the consistency of manual flash even with cameras that support wireless TTL.

[Gregm61]

Yeah, I could use my Olympus flash system in this manner with my Leica M. An FL50R or FL900R, off camera and shooting into an umbrella, triggered by a Cactus radio remote receiver and transmitter, setting the flash to any variable manual power and produce excellent results. Just have to get the power levels "right" for the desired results.

There's an event I shoot annually where I use this setup with my Olympus camera and tele zoom, leaving the flash to subject distance as a constant and zooming in and out to get the framing right for each subject. I could do the same thing with my M262 and either a 75mm f2 or 90mm f2, moving myself in and out to frame the subject instead.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Gregm61

[jto555]

I am using Godox V850 iis and V860 ii on camera and AD200s for off camera. No HSS unfortunately. For off camera flash the Godox triggers work as a centre pin firing and so trigger the flashguns reliably.

 

For HSS the workaround is ND filters with the limitation of 1/180 sec shutter speed. You can set a higher shutter speed and compose the photo so the unlit flash part of the photo does not matter. Say a sky background with the subject low enough in the fram that they get the full flash.

 

To go up a level, there is a company called Priolite (https://www.priolite.com/en/home.html) who make large battery powered studio style flash units which will allow you to shoot upto 1/4000 sec. They also make a purpose build trigger for Leica. I have not tried these.

 

Just rember, whichever camera/flash system you buy there is always a Gotya! Always something that does not work as it could.