Studio Flash for M11?

[Telecaster]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi all,

I will do a studio shooting soon. I plan to use my M11 for that and plan to rent one or more studio flashes for that.

Any compatibility issues I have to know? Any brand / system that works particularly well or does not work with an M11?

Note I do not plan to do high speed sync stuff where typically you need special Leica compatible remotes (like the Profoto Connect Pro for Leica).

Just plan to do basic oldschool studio flash photography :-)

Any advice, experience is appreciated, so I can rent the right studio flash system.

Thanks a ton!
 

Greetings,

Andreas

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Squad]

If you want to rent, it’s usually Profoto as they are almost everywhere. I usually use the Profoto Canon trigger on the M11, or the Profoto Olympus trigger on the MP as the Canon one has a too tight fit, and both work fine when in manual.

I have no experience with Godox, but if you want to do the basic stuff, and if you can find a place that has them, they should be more than good enough (though I would rent one more flash unit from Godox just in case).

14 minutes ago, Telecaster said:

plan to rent one or more studio flashes for that.

Not sure this sounds like you have a plan. I would plan this ahead as there is a big difference between, let’s say, one and three flashes. What about the modifiers?

 

[Jamie Roberts]

1 hour ago, Squad said:

{snipped} I usually use the Profoto Canon trigger on the M11, or the Profoto Olympus trigger on the MP as the Canon one has a too tight fit, and both work fine when in manual.{snipped}

--Are you using the Profoto Connect or Connect Pro as a trigger? I can't get my small Profoto Canon Connect trigger to work on the M11P in manual with A10 flashes. Is there any trick to that? Also, does the Panasonic / Oly trigger do auto flash or only manual?  I believe that's the right one for the Leica, too, but, again, is it the Connect or the Connnect Pro?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

FWIW, and for the original poster: 
My old-school manual PocketWizards work just fine in the hotshoe for the M11P for manual remote flash. So they can fire anything that takes a manual synch--studio flash or Profoto portables (or any Canon or Nikon flashes you happen to have handy). Note that some of those flashes need to be set to manual or x-sync or whatever to work. 

My Profoto A10 flash (canon) also work in manual mode and x sync set directly on the M11P right in the camera's hotshoe. Is it unbalanced? Yes, terribly so, but it works in a pinch (as do my Canon flashes in manual mode). 

 

[Telecaster]

 

vor 9 Stunden schrieb Squad:

If you want to rent, it’s usually Profoto as they are almost everywhere. I usually use the Profoto Canon trigger on the M11, or the Profoto Olympus trigger on the MP as the Canon one has a too tight fit, and both work fine when in manual.

I have no experience with Godox, but if you want to do the basic stuff, and if you can find a place that has them, they should be more than good enough (though I would rent one more flash unit from Godox just in case).

Not sure this sounds like you have a plan. I would plan this ahead as there is a big difference between, let’s say, one and three flashes. What about the modifiers?

 

Thanks - yes I am familiar with Profoto and to know the Canon or Olympus work is super helpful! I owned Profoto's in the past so I will go for that.

Regarding my plan: You are right so far I don't have a plan 🙂 But will create a shotlist before I press the trigger on the gear rentals... to decide if I go for 2 or 3 lights.

For the modifiers I will go for soft box + Magnum reflector. That should give me good flexibility with hard and soft light.

Thanks!

[Telecaster]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb Jamie Roberts:

FWIW, and for the original poster: 
My old-school manual PocketWizards work just fine in the hotshoe for the M11P for manual remote flash. So they can fire anything that takes a manual synch--studio flash or Profoto portables (or any Canon or Nikon flashes you happen to have handy). Note that some of those flashes need to be set to manual or x-sync or whatever to work. 

My Profoto A10 flash (canon) also work in manual mode and x sync set directly on the M11P right in the camera's hotshoe. Is it unbalanced? Yes, terribly so, but it works in a pinch (as do my Canon flashes in manual mode). 

Yes the good old trusty PocketWizard!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this is very helpful. I guess I really have options now and for pure manual work most of the gear should do.

Thanks!

[Squad]

21 hours ago, Jamie Roberts said:

--Are you using the Profoto Connect or Connect Pro as a trigger? I can't get my small Profoto Canon Connect trigger to work on the M11P in manual with A10 flashes. Is there any trick to that? Also, does the Panasonic / Oly trigger do auto flash or only manual?  I believe that's the right one for the Leica, too, but, again, is it the Connect or the Connnect Pro?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

As it happens I was at my local camera store today and got a Connect for Nikon. I’ve just tested these three Profoto air remotes with a remotely connected A10 and the M11:

1. Connect Pro for Canon
2. Air Remote TTL for Olympus / Panasonic
3. Connect for Nikon

All of them work. The Connect Pro has to be in X-SYNC, on the Air Remote I did change nothing and it just worked, and the Connect is basically factory defaults with the most recent firmware that was available a couple of minutes ago.

I really wonder why you can’t get your Connect for Canon to work, as my Connect Pro for Canon works, and also the Connect for Nikon works. Try maybe a slower shutter speed, or factory reset the Connect?

(I would also advice to not try to put the Connect Pro for Canon on a MP as I barely could remove it after it was about 3/4 inside the shoe)

All of these triggers I’ve tested just work in manual. You have to get a Profoto Connect Pro for Leica if you want to have TTL support as this is the only Profoto remote that is fully compatible with Leica. Profoto remotes for other cameras also work, but only in manual mode. The only exception I can think of are the Profoto remotes for Nikon which also work with Hasselblad cameras.

[Squad]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

13 hours ago, Telecaster said:

Regarding my plan: You are right so far I don't have a plan 🙂 But will create a shotlist before I press the trigger on the gear rentals... to decide if I go for 2 or 3 lights.

For the modifiers I will go for soft box + Magnum reflector. That should give me good flexibility with hard and soft light.

And the plan is final 🙂 Good luck!

For an outdoor event I’ll take the A10 with me tomorrow and will hold it in one hand with a CTO Gel while holding the camera with a remote trigger in the other. Let’s see.

[Jamie Roberts]

1 hour ago, Squad said:

{snipped}

All of them work. The Connect Pro has to be in X-SYNC, on the Air Remote I did change nothing and it just worked, and the Connect is basically factory defaults with the most recent firmware that was available a couple of minutes ago.

I really wonder why you can’t get your Connect for Canon to work, as my Connect Pro for Canon works, and also the Connect for Nikon works. Try maybe a slower shutter speed, or factory reset the Connect? {snipped}

Thanks for your help! After updating my A10 and my Canon Connect, I can get them to work, but only when

--the A10 is in 1st or 2nd curtain synch
--the Connect is in XSync

That would be great, but the Connect reverts to 1st or 2nd curtain synch every time I switch it off, and then the A10 no longer fires! So I have to go back into the app on my phone to change the connect settings. Weird, for sure. I'll try a reset and see if I can get that to work! 

I ordered the connect Pro for Leica, so I hope that works more easily! 

Thanks again! 
 

[Jamie Roberts]

1 hour ago, Squad said:

And the plan is final 🙂 Good luck!

For an outdoor event I’ll take the A10 with me tomorrow and will hold it in one hand with a CTO Gel while holding the camera with a remote trigger in the other. Let’s see.

If it's an outdoor event, why do you want the CTO? I would generally only use that for tungsten lighting. Is the event at night? Just curious, and I hope the shoot goes (went) well! 

[Squad]

On 7/5/2024 at 10:57 PM, Jamie Roberts said:

If it's an outdoor event, why do you want the CTO? I would generally only use that for tungsten lighting. Is the event at night? Just curious, and I hope the shoot goes (went) well! 

The reason is that I like to use a 1/4 CTO outside in shadowy areas, and in general you’re right.

[Fritz Fritz]

The Profoto connect pro has a Leica version which works seamlessly with the M11. If you don’t use TTL or HSS then I suppose it doesn’t matter what you’re using. 
 

[Paco Rosso]

Thought you don't want to shoot HSS the connect pro for leica is full of issues. The trigger changes radomly the power of the lamps dropping it to 2 or 3... Profoto gives no solution to this issue. The "solution" comes from Leica. You need to update the firmeware of your camera to the last version (I think the solution came in june 2023).

[silverimage]

Profoto Connect Pro for our Leica M11P works perfectly!
No issues