is Leica SL system for professionals?

[Photoworks]

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3 hours ago, LEGEND said:

Why don't use this newGodox xPro II for Leica  as a trigger and perhaps Godox V1 or something similar as flash?

xPro II - L mounted on hot shoe   and Godox V1 mounted on some camera cage next to it.
xPro II - L has TTL / HSS finally has support for Leica and this can trigger the TTL / HSS flash.

I'm not sure if this can work actually but it is interesting idea.
I plan to buy me this new Godox xPro II - L for my Leica SL2-S.
Will see if it works...

Nikola 

It works just fine, I have been using it for some time, you need to go into the menu and change the operation distance.

 

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[LEGEND]

Cool ... I will give it a try ...

[Pelu2010]

On 2/20/2024 at 10:32 PM, Simone_DF said:

wait, they don't. Currently no Godox or Profoto flash is compatible with Leica, only the triggers are. Which is better than nothing, but not ideal. 

? 
 

I am using the V1 and the v350 without trigger on my Q3 and sl2-s

i am not using ttl, but it works. 
 

and flash photography with digital is easy . 

[LEGEND]

7 minutes ago, Pelu2010 said:

? 
 

I am using the V1 and the v350 without trigger on my Q3 and sl2-s

i am not using ttl, but it works. 
 

and flash photography with digital is easy . 

I am also use Godox V350 and TT600 on my SL2-S.
No TTL possible with them on this camera , only in manual mode.
I have V350-N with Nikon contacts. There are the same as what Leica uses.

My idea was to use new Godox xPro II trigger  for Leica so I can get TTL on this V350 flash.
I also have one Godox TT600 flash but this is only with middle contact, only manual but still
it can be triggered with xPro II - L. The one that I now use is older one xPro - N (nikon contacts)
and TTL / HSS is not possible with him on my Leica SL2-S.

I plan to purchase new Godox xPro II for Leica and Godox V1 so I can have TTL option.
I managed to use flash manually with no problems.
TTL is not necessary but still from time to time it can be useful...

Nikola

[Photoworks]

8 minutes ago, LEGEND said:

I am also use Godox V350 and TT600 on my SL2-S.
No TTL possible with them on this camera , only in manual mode.
I have V350-N with Nikon contacts. There are the same as what Leica uses.

My idea was to use new Godox xPro II trigger  for Leica so I can get TTL on this V350 flash.
I also have one Godox TT600 flash but this is only with middle contact, only manual but still
it can be triggered with xPro II - L. The one that I now use is older one xPro - N (nikon contacts)
and TTL / HSS is not possible with him on my Leica SL2-S.

I plan to purchase new Godox xPro II for Leica and Godox V1 so I can have TTL option.
I managed to use flash manually with no problems.
TTL is not necessary but still from time to time it can be useful...

Nikola

v350 is too old, i don't think they have firmware for Leica

the V1 Pro, V1 and V860III are the only ones that can do TTL on SL2 cameras.

It is still up in the air if SL3 camera will get included in the firmware of the godox trigger

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree with Bernard. It depends on what you mean by "pro". There are a very wide variety of people that do photography professionally, and for some the Leicas will fit their needs perfectly, and there are others where they would be a very poor choice. If it is just in terms of capabilities, then certainly Leica is pro caliber, particularly in L mount. The lens selection is huge if you include their partners (which I think it only makes sense to, as it is an official alliance and those lenses work natively). The SL bodies are still exceptionally good, and offer extremely good high resolution results with the SL2 and APO Primes and top class zooms, or extremely good low light and high DR results with the 24mp SL2S. Video quality and options are very good as well. AFc and tracking is behind the competition, but that is not required for a lot of photographers. I do studio work and landscape and never had any troubles with the AF. On the contrary I have found it very reliable and accurate. That was not my experience shooting older Sony and Nikon cameras, albeit a few generations back.

The biggest problem Leica has for professionals is service. Not the quality or availability of it as much as the extremely long times and lack of loaners. In some markets and with some vendors you can have a better go of it, but it does not compare to companies like Canon, Nikon and Fuji. I am not sure how Sony service is. Here Canon dominates the service market. Leica is basically non-existent. The store that sells them will send it in for you, or you can send it yourself. But otherwise you are just in the cue with the rest of the planet. In my experience it was a lot better with the S system, but still left some to be desired. I was in their professional service program back in the day, but it would still take about a month door to door, just because express shipping would still require about a week on each side. Iceland is an island and everything operates on island time, so I cannot really hold that against Leica per se.

In terms of what I would really like for them to do: Well, I think it is extraordinarily unlikely, but I would like for them to make an auto-bellows attachment with Leica quality lens head for use with architecture/landscape and macro. Being able to do rise, shift and tilt with a Leica quality lens on the SL2 would be a dream. Having a 24mm, 35mm and 60-90mm equivalent lens heads would be amazing. Being able to do architecture, artwork reproduction and LF style movements for landscape would really allow me to embrace the way of working that I love on large format on 35mm. I am sure the problem is the engineering precision required and lens quality, as well as what I can only imagine is a potential market of me and three other lunatics. So I don't think it is happening, but I would be over the moon if it did. I should probably get the Novoflex version, but the single available lens that is fairly long in focal length has damped my enthusiasm. And the blue color, haha. Need to get out some black spraypaint...

Edited February 22, 2024 by Stuart Richardson

[LEGEND]

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7 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

v350 is too old, i don't think they have firmware for Leica

the V1 Pro, V1 and V860III are the only ones that can do TTL on SL2 cameras.

It is still up in the air if SL3 camera will get included in the firmware of the godox trigger

Yes, that is the reason I want to buy these new ones from Godox, xPro II trigger and V1 flash...
Also when I used xPro - N and V350 - N because of Nikon contacts in the hot shoe of Leica
it made my SL2-S and SL2, SL601 before from time to time somehow confused. 
They did't want to shoot immediately or just froze completely so I needed to remove the battery 
and put it back to resolve these issue. The Godox TT600 that has only middle contact did't made this 
kind of problems so I ended using him most of the time, uf course in manual mode...

Also another thing, you did't need to change exposure preview of PASM to PAS.
It worked with out the flickering also in PASM exposure preview turned on.
It seams that this flash did't confused the camera as the other have.
I made me some kind of hot shoe contact blocker from small thin plastic foil that blocked all contact point 
except the middle one and that also solved this problem when I used xPro-N trigger and TT350 flash on 
my SL cameras ...

[Simone_DF]

1 hour ago, Pelu2010 said:

? 
 

I am using the V1 and the v350 without trigger on my Q3 and sl2-s

i am not using ttl, but it works. 
 

and flash photography with digital is easy . 

Sure, you can use the flash in Canon, Nikon and Fuji (? haven't tried) mount, it will fire. 

But there's no Godox flash with a Leica hotshoe mount. HHS and TTL are not supported. 

Only the X-Pro Trigger has a native Leica hotshoe and supports both HHS and TTL.

[Simone_DF]

2 hours ago, jaapv said:

I understand the wish but Leica needs to have a consistent protocol throughout the camera lines. The M cannot have TTL without the present configuration. 
Can the flash not be mounted on a rail beside the camera like the Metz45 was? 

Only if a donkey to carry everything is included in the price.

[jaapv]

Well, I have a Nikon rail that weighs 134 grams…

[Pelu2010]

1 hour ago, Simone_DF said:

Sure, you can use the flash in Canon, Nikon and Fuji (? haven't tried) mount, it will fire. 

But there's no Godox flash with a Leica hotshoe mount. HHS and TTL are not supported. 

Only the X-Pro Trigger has a native Leica hotshoe and supports both HHS and TTL.

With a trigger the Godox speed lights and strobe work in all functions TTL and HSS. 

And as I said: If the flash is on the camera I cannot remember when I used HSS last time. 

I use it in situations where I need a little more pop to the images and then you don't need HSS and you don't need TTL. 

these pictures are all made on the street with the V350 on camera : 

 

 

And yes it had a learning curve, but it wasn't that steep. 

So you definitely can work with the speed light on the camera. 

And for most other light situations that are going to make a nice light you will 

detach the speedlight from the camera. 

I can remember that this was my first challenge to get the light away from the camera. 

So maybe you give it a try. 

cheers Peter 

 

 

[Photoworks]

2 hours ago, LEGEND said:

Also when I used xPro - N and V350 - N because of Nikon contacts in the hot shoe of Leica
it made my SL2-S and SL2, SL601 before from time to time somehow confused. 

just keep in mind that the Nikon mount is different from Leica, it may look similar but one wire/pin is swapped with another.

[Simone_DF]

1 hour ago, Pelu2010 said:

And as I said: If the flash is on the camera I cannot remember when I used HSS last time. 

Of course you don't, you don't have the feature available.

 

1 hour ago, Pelu2010 said:

So you definitely can work with the speed light on the camera. 

You can make it work, and that's what I do, but it's far from ideal. It's like going to a motorbike race with a mountain bike. You can do the same track just like the others, but I bet you'll be the last to reach the end.

[Simone_DF]

2 hours ago, jaapv said:

Well, I have a Nikon rail that weighs 134 grams…

+ the weight of the flash, + the weight of the trigger, and I'm not even going to mention the weight of the SL2 + APO.

[LEGEND]

7 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

just keep in mind that the Nikon mount is different from Leica, it may look similar but one wire/pin is swapped with another.

Hmm, I did't know that... 
Perhaps is this what make a problem that I encountered from time to time.
I read here on LUF that some people also used flash with Canon or Fuji contacts.
Don't know what to think about it... It seams that any configuration works but not with out some problems...

[pgk]

3 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I agree with Bernard. It depends on what you mean by "pro".

More than 50% of their income is derived from photography. Very simple. 

[Simone_DF]

Does anyone know if a Panasonic flash will trigger on the SL2? So far I tried only Canon and Nikon flashes and they both work.

[jaapv]

35 minutes ago, Simone_DF said:

+ the weight of the flash, + the weight of the trigger, and I'm not even going to mention the weight of the SL2 + APO.

Well yes, but how are you going to do flash photography without flash,  camera and lens?  My suggestion was just a practical suggestion to compensate for the problem of on-camera flash using a trigger. 

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[jaapv]

4 minutes ago, Simone_DF said:

Does anyone know if a Panasonic flash will trigger on the SL2? So far I tried only Canon and Nikon flashes and they both work.

It will trigger but not TTL afaik. The central sync contact is universal. 

[Simone_DF]

Just now, jaapv said:

Well yes, but how are you going to do flash photography without flash,  camera and lens?  My suggestion was just a practical suggestion to compensate for the problem of on-camera flash using a trigger. 

I know, and I appreciate your input, but it's a non-solution. The way I see it, either Leica changes protocol (I understand your point about continuity, but they also changed mount from screw mount to M mount, it will be awkward for a little while, then nobody will notice anymore), or they push third party brands to implement the current Leica protocol in a more aggressive way.