M8 - flash 580 EX II canon and off shoe cord. (With Photos)

[wilfredo]

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I'm not much of a flash person but it looks like investing in the 580 EX II is a good option. I'm wondering how it works with the Gary Fong attachment set to automatic on the M8?

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[jaapv]

You friend and sales person is probably referring to trigger voltages that can damage some cameras. Most modern flashes including canon and nikon do not have high trigger voltages. The forum member (seems to be very knowledgable in electronics) here that took his M8 apart and photographed the pieces has pointed out that the M8 is equipped to protect itself from high voltages. Most of still take the extra precaution and use a Wein safe-sync with older flashes.

 

So far, 550EX, 420EX (no manual adjustment), and Sunpak 422D all work fine on mine.

 

 

 

5 people in this thread already posted that it works fine in manual metering. Is there some additional information you need to overcome your hesitation? Unfortunately, if you want Leica branded flash there is only one choice...

 

There was an official communication from Leica in the forum ( too lazy to search, sorry) that told us the M8/M9 can handle flash voltages up to 600 Volts.

[RvN]

I have just bought an 580exII to use on and of camera on my M8.2 (and m6ttl)

 

In automatic function it performs nice. It gives me all the info about min/max distance that is covered. In the manual setting however i get no info on the distance that is coupled to the flashstrength that is selected.

 

The booklet says you have to press the camera trigger halfway to make the covered distance in meters visual. But since the camera is not Canon but Leica this doesnot work. The Nikon sb900 does a really nice job with telling on the lcd what distance (in meters) is coupled to the settings. I wonder if i should have choosen the nikon for that. On M8 it is not a big problem because you can test the strength by looking at the camera screen. But i also want to use the flash on my m6ttl and it would be nice to have the flash tell me what distance I selected.

 

Is there a way to make the camera tell the amount of meters covered in the manual mode when not coupled to a (Canon) camera? Any suggestions?

[Brandon Skinner]

You shouldn't have any problems using the cord and a 580EXII. I shot with a cord for a few days while I worked on figuring out how to config my Pocketwizards. Now I only shoot with Pocketwizards and that works wonderfully.

The entire first half of my Flickr Photostream is shot entirely with the setup mentioned

[andym911]

Brandon

 

love some of your stuff on the website.....very cool

 

best

andy

[RvN]

Brandon, thank you for your reply. I looked at your work I really like it! Fabulous. Flash can give a great image when used well. Inspiration to go and experiment!

 

In the mean time i found a sb900 for a good price and I will work with that flash for some time. I really like the feedback the flash lcd gives when used manual with the leica's. Every you change on the flash is instantly translated in the correct flash output in distance/meters (on or off camera). For use with film leica (m6ttl) where i can't chimp and see the result it is really nice to not have to calculate that myself.

 

For working off flash with the SB900 and SF24D I now also have a Nikon sb28 ttl cord that works perfect in ttl mode between the Leica sf24D and the Leica M8'2 and m6ttl. And I have a remote setup (Yongnou rf-602) which is small and handy when going manual flash.

 

Although i liked the canon 580exII i guess it will go up for sale after i get acquinted with the sb900 due to the lack in feedback it gives (distance/meters) in the manual mode.