AndrewDD Posted May 31, 2020 Share #1 Posted May 31, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) I just got a great deal on an almost used TL2 with 18-56 lens, I p-ex'd my very shabby well used old Q, the idea being that the TL2 would do what I used the Q for (studio backup, occasional video, concert & performance stills & video) and be good as a holiday camera wandering around cities and stuff. It seems good, and feels great in the hand, but I have a few issues which I'm working through. One thing I used the Q for occasionally was with studio flash units - completely dumb manual units, using the Q with manual settings. I used the Q in screen mode rather then EVF. The screen showed a good bright image until I half-pressed the shutter, when it would go dark as it didn't know there was a flash attached and was showing me what it thought the image would be. I was used to this operation and had no problem. The problem with the TL2 is that, with the aperture/exposure/iso manually set to what I need for the flash, the screen is permanently dark. By that I mean that it is showing what it thinks the image will be all the time. Am I missing a setting or something? I don't mind it going dark if I half press the shutter, but without a bright image the rest of the time it isn't usable with a dumb manual flash. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 31, 2020 Posted May 31, 2020 Hi AndrewDD, Take a look here TL2 with studio flash. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
tommonego@gmail.com Posted May 31, 2020 Share #2 Posted May 31, 2020 I have a CL occasionally I have used it with a Metz potato masher, I just set the camera to manual via my left button & dial (I reversed them) the ISO in the menu. Set the shutter speed (right dial) and set the aperture to where I need it using the left dial or an aperture on the lens, standard stuff. No other settings needed. Camera is fully functional, I use the EVF but in a studio setting I could see using the LCD. I use manual mostly when i am using the camera, flash or not. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anakronox Posted May 31, 2020 Share #3 Posted May 31, 2020 If I remember I had to change the Exposure Preview from PASM on my Q2 to PAS to stop the screen from going nuts when using remote flash triggers. I don’t know if this would apply to the TL2, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share #4 Posted May 31, 2020 1 hour ago, Anakronox said: If I remember I had to change the Exposure Preview from PASM on my Q2 to PAS to stop the screen from going nuts when using remote flash triggers. I don’t know if this would apply to the TL2, though. I may have done something similar to this on my Q when I first got it 5 years ago. My memory isn't what it was! There doesn't seem to be an option for this on the TL2. I can't see any options for preview or half-pressing the button in the menu. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted May 31, 2020 2 hours ago, tommonego@gmail.com said: I have a CL occasionally I have used it with a Metz potato masher, I just set the camera to manual via my left button & dial (I reversed them) the ISO in the menu. Set the shutter speed (right dial) and set the aperture to where I need it using the left dial or an aperture on the lens, standard stuff. No other settings needed. Camera is fully functional, I use the EVF but in a studio setting I could see using the LCD. I use manual mostly when i am using the camera, flash or not. The camera is functional in that it takes a correct picture, but with an almost black screen I can't really use it as I can't compose the picture. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommonego@gmail.com Posted May 31, 2020 Share #6 Posted May 31, 2020 vor 2 Stunden schrieb AndrewDD: The camera is functional in that it takes a correct picture, but with an almost black screen I can't really use it as I can't compose the picture. Did you just set the ISO, shutter speed, and f stop and no other menu settings? The two that may have an effect are Flash Settings (on or auto) I just discovered mine was on auto and it still works a dumb flash, and Exposure Preview (P-A-S or P-A-S-M) I use P-A-S. Also check Display Settings and how your LCD is set. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share #7 Posted June 1, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) 16 hours ago, tommonego@gmail.com said: Did you just set the ISO, shutter speed, and f stop and no other menu settings? The two that may have an effect are Flash Settings (on or auto) I just discovered mine was on auto and it still works a dumb flash, and Exposure Preview (P-A-S or P-A-S-M) I use P-A-S. Also check Display Settings and how your LCD is set. Yes, I just set ISO 100, shutter speed 1/125, F stop 5.6, which I know will be about right. I tried turning up the monitor brightness but it didn't help I must be being stupid, sorry. I can't find the menu items you are referring to. The Flash menu has 3 sub menus - mode/exposure compensation/synch mode. All are greyed out as the camera doesn't know there is a flash attached (all that is attached is a dumb trigger). There is nothing about on/auto. The Exposure menu has 4 sub menus - multi field metering/exposure compensation/exposure bracketing/electronic shutter. There is nothing about Exposure Preview. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommonego@gmail.com Posted June 1, 2020 Share #8 Posted June 1, 2020 Probably a CL vs TL2 menu difference, the menu structure seems very different, maybe others have more information. There should be a setting for your LCD brightness. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share #9 Posted June 1, 2020 44 minutes ago, tommonego@gmail.com said: Probably a CL vs TL2 menu difference, the menu structure seems very different, maybe others have more information. There should be a setting for your LCD brightness. Thanks for trying to help There has to be an option but I can't find it in the camera or the manual. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share #10 Posted June 1, 2020 I've just found these doom-laden words on page 162 of the manual: "The monitor image displays an exposure simulation for the manual setting" Along with the words "Aperture: Automatic" on page 172, about video recording, meaning I can't control depth of field on video... Looks like the T2 wasn't my best purchase! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert blu Posted June 2, 2020 Share #11 Posted June 2, 2020 I do not own a TL2 camera but I remember the reason for which I didn't buy it was the impossibility to exclude the "exposure simulation". Ithere have been thread in the past about and requests to Leica to work this vie a firmware unpgrade but nothing has been done. I still would like one day to but one ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicci78 Posted June 5, 2020 Share #12 Posted June 5, 2020 On 6/1/2020 at 8:16 PM, AndrewDD said: I've just found these doom-laden words on page 162 of the manual: "The monitor image displays an exposure simulation for the manual setting" Along with the words "Aperture: Automatic" on page 172, about video recording, meaning I can't control depth of field on video... Looks like the T2 wasn't my best purchase! Sadly it won’t change. Leica seems to have give up TL2. Latest firmware update V1.5 was released in September 2018 ! On the other hand CL got quite drastic improvements via firmware update. Latest one in V3.2 released in February 2020. TL2 did not even get the much needed firmware update for full L-mount lenses compatibility. Very sad. TL2 is not much older than CL, being both released in 2017. One in July and the latter in November. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share #13 Posted June 7, 2020 Shame. It's a potentially good camera. I had assumed it was pretty much the same as the CL apart from the EVF. I hardly ever used the EVF on my Q, so it seemed a good deal I'm doing a proper shoot with it Wednesday to see how it performs, but it may not stay around long. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicci78 Posted June 7, 2020 Share #14 Posted June 7, 2020 Actually the firmware from both cameras are totally different. CL one is developed in house. And is similar to Q/Q2, M10 series, S/S3, SL/SL2. They all share the same basic functionalities. However T/TL/TL2 firmware is developed by an external (undisclosed) company. So it is totally different : video codec, jpeg engine (best in class), AF algorithms (slower than CL), Touch based interface, digital distance and depth of field scale, etc... I guess that Leica terminated their contract in late 2018. I also guess that 2 years ago Leica already decided to stop TL line up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewDD Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share #15 Posted June 27, 2020 Update... I did a full trial, and the TL2 turned out to be unusable for me. A shame, it was pretty and didn't cost me much. The dealer took it back and I bought a Q2 instead - I didn't really want to splash out that much £ right now, but the Q2 looks good so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicci78 Posted June 27, 2020 Share #16 Posted June 27, 2020 You make the right decision. Pretty but unusable is pretty useless. You should be pleased with the Q2. Q/Q2 is the best line from Leica so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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