SL3 with Godox Trigger XProIIL not firing with F2 Aperture

[mirrorless]

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I shoot with a SL3, the Godox Trigger XProIIL as well with a couple of Godox A100 flashes. I have a weird behavior. When shooting in Aperture mode and with F2 (This is the max. open Aperture with the 75mm APO) the flash is never firing. When switching to F2.2 and higher it fires. Also when switching from Aperture A-Mode to S-Mode the flash is firing in every speed setting. What could cause this issue? Technically I see nothing that would speak against shooting flash with the max. open aperture.

In the Trigger Menu under Legacy Hotshot set to ON the flash fires with F2. So what is this Legacy Hotshoe Mode "ON"? And should I always set it to ON with my configuration? I am really shuffled why the flash does not fire with open aperture... 

Appreciate any help!

[Photoworks]

Do you have the flash mode on Auto, or Flash On.

is on auto, and the camera believes there is enough light, the flash will not fire.

 

Legacy mode is used for a simple flash trigger using center pin only. no TTL

[mirrorless]

Many thanks! I had it on Auto... Switching to "flash on" fires the flash now with F2. I did not know this, and its odd... Sometimes I need fill flash in harsh lighting conditions when the sun is really bright. So the best is to set it fixed to flash on, right? I wonder what the advantage is to set it to Auto?

Edited May 29 by mirrorless

[Photoworks]

2 hours ago, mirrorless said:

So the best is to set it fixed to flash on, right?

yes, if you want the flash when you turn it on in any lighting

[mirrorless]

Again many thanks, this gave me a headache... I just wonder how LEICA does implement such an automatic function in this kind of camera? I would understand it in a point-and-shoot camera but when I put a flash trigger or flash on the hotshoe I want to take pictures with a flash... so easy... and I do not want to be overwritten by an automatic function that thinks I do not need a flash. What the heck the camera does not know what I plan to shoot... What a useless menu-setting... Anyway the same shows up with iAF instead of AF-S or AF-C. If the user does not know what the functions do, in my opinion he is not ready for a Q3 or SL3... I hope LEICA overthinks to eliminate such functions or keep them in the D-LUX or SOFORT.

[Photoworks]

Leica has always had a challenging relationship with Flash.

When I started using the SL2 I noticed that the Flash was not going off when the light meter had enough light, and there was no option to switch off auto.

shooting in a room with a window provided enough light, or shooting a portrait into a sunset was bright enough.

Sadly it took multiple talks with Leica engineers, to find the issue, and it took 2 more years to finally fix it in firmware . Later I found out that it was a bug that they were carrying around from the M and Q cameras and they didn't fix it on the SL.

I wish they moved on to a new hotshoe standard from another camera system, like Panasonic or Nikon. but they insist on rebranding Nissin Flashes and making them work with Leica.
I had many SF-60 fail on me, so at one point I opened up the Flash to compare to the Nissin original. there are a few component differences inside.

If photography is about painting with light, you should be able to control the light. But Leica is more for photographers that will do available light only.

SF-60 came out in 2018, nothing new in years, even do tech in this space has revolutionized into complex wireless options, and batteries that perform better and for longer.

5 hours ago, mirrorless said:

Anyway the same shows up with iAF instead of AF-S or AF-C

iAF is the trust me mode 😉 
It is supposed to detect movement and switch automatically.

I don't even trust AF-c most of the time and use it for maybe 5% of my shoots.
unfortunately, the SL3 has PDAF only in AFc, so I am stuck to contrast AF, which plages the performance.

[mirrorless]

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Thanks for the journey! Yes, after you said it many is clear. Anyway I shoot with the Q3 and the SL3 off camera flash with a Godox XPROII Trigger on the cameras and 2x AD100 Pros with / without softbox. This works really fine for me although the SL3 with the 75mm F2 is too heavy during long weddings when shooting the camera in the right hand and the flash in the other hand. The Q3 is much better here and cropping is the solution...

Coming from the Sony A7RIII with 85mm 1.4 GM and 35mm 1.4 GM I still enjoy the LEICA combo on weddings. No regret, no looking back although the AF in my opinion is still not that good in present Leicas vs. a 8 year old Sony body! The 35mm was always a bit too long as well the 85mm especially indoors. The 28mm / 75mm is just perfect now. No need for a zoom-lens with the 2x bodies. Also the stile of the photos independent from the crazy resolution amazes me every day. When considering the real FL of the Q3 with 25mm my range is from 25mm till aprox. 135mm because of the great cropping possibilities. And this with an aperture of 1.7/2.0! 

As always its a learning curve... But what I recognized after switching to LEICA is I shoot much less with fill-flash outdoors and correct much in the post. Only during receptions or in dark environment the flash shows up. 

BTW I shoot 95% in AF-C mode and never had an issue so far with the SL3 as well with the Q3. 

Edited June 4 by mirrorless