arthurpreston Posted October 7, 2009 Share #1 Posted October 7, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hellow everyone. I have an SF-240 flash unit, that I want to use for an indoor conference on Friday. The M8 manual is not adequate in describing how to use flash (in my opinion), but through testing, I have determined that leaving the ISO on Auto, Setting the shutter speed to 250 (the flash arrow setting), setting the SF 240 to "A" and changing my aperture all the way down to F/8, all give me the best photos. Am I on track for some fairly good photos, or do any of you have any tips I should be following instead/also? Thanks in advance for you reply. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 7, 2009 Posted October 7, 2009 Hi arthurpreston, Take a look here Tips on using my SF-240 Flash with my M8?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
arthurpreston Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share #2 Posted October 7, 2009 P.S: When changing my aperture, even though I get the "right-facing-blinking triangle" when stoppping down the aperture , if i ignore it, I still get pretty good photos Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpattison Posted October 7, 2009 Share #3 Posted October 7, 2009 Hi, I assume you do not have the manual, and you are talking about the SF24 D, not 240. there's a thread about this here... http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/53443-leica-sf-24d-manual-pdf.html Regards, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurpreston Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share #4 Posted October 9, 2009 Yes, it is indeed an SF-24D. As a follow up, even without a manual, I figured out how I believe that I was supposed to use it, however, I am still disappointed with indoor conference photos, particularly with the 90MM where I was hoping to capture speakers on a podium. Most were quite dark with apertures smaller than f/4.0, and blurry with anything f/4.0 or larger. I guess I was hoping for tack-sharp photos after setting the aperture on the SF-24D to the same as the camera, using the "TTL" mode, putting the M8 on "A", and getting what I thought was a proper reading. Oh, well. Larger group photos, using a wide-angle lens (24 & 35mm) were better as far as lighting, but with the relatively poor lighting, still blurrier than I had hoped for. Unable to find a manual on line, even at the site you mentioned, but several on-line forum comments gave me what I think I need to know to work with the SF-24D Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted October 10, 2009 Share #5 Posted October 10, 2009 Arthur-- You actually get about as much info on flash from the M8 manual as you do from the 24D manual, I'm sorry to say. The 24D and Digilux 2 were designed to work together, long before the M8 appeared. So there's nothing specific about using the 24D with M8 in the flash manual. Within about a year from the introduction of the M8, LFI featured its flash capabilities in two successive issues. I think that's probably the best information on the topic. But even there, the magazine tries to produce a general article, so it covers flash in general rather than flash with SF-24D. As I recall, the first of the two articles was a little more closely aligned to the 24D than the second. That said, I use the 24D seldom enough with the M8 that I'm always having to re-learn how the two work best together. Good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carylwithay Posted December 16, 2009 Share #6 Posted December 16, 2009 I have been trying to use my SF-240 with my M8 also. I want to use a shutter speed of at least 200 to shoot birds but i cannot get the flash to go off at 200. I lost the manual so I do not know what most of the settings are. Will this flash go at different shutter speeds? What are some of those setting for? Caryl Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicoleica Posted December 16, 2009 Share #7 Posted December 16, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi Caryl, The M8 has a top flash sync speed of 1/250th second (M8.2 and M8 with 'upgraded' shutter are limited to 1/180th second.), and so this should suit your needs here. I believe that you mean the SF-24D flash unit, and so this should also be compatible. Which settings are confusing you? It's a little difficult to be of much help without a bit more detail. The camera manual can be downloaded from the Leica website, and I believe that several members here have copies of the SF-24D manual as a pdf file. If you could be a little more specific as to your problems, I'm sure that someone will be able to offer guidance. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carylwithay Posted December 16, 2009 Share #8 Posted December 16, 2009 I do have the upgraded shutter.. The TTL /A.M button is confusing because it seems this is only an M camera. Then the button with the + and _, is that to increase the brightness of the flash?. Then there is a circle at the bottom near the ISO that I have no idea about. I DO know the ISO. Can I use any F stop? Well, that about covers my problems. Sometimes i could not get the flash to go at all. Thank you so much for helping Caryl Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicoleica Posted December 16, 2009 Share #9 Posted December 16, 2009 Hi Caryl, With the upgraded shutter, you will only get flash sync up to 1/180th, but don't forget that the flash duration is far less than that, so it should still freeze a moving subject in low light. The TTL/A/M switch controls the flash modes. TTL sets the flash to talk to the camera regarding exposure to some extent. The 'A' setting means that the flash uses it's own metering cell to determine the flash power needed for the selected aperture. The 'M' setting causes the flash to operate in manual mode, and the flash output is controlled by the settings you have set on the flash gun, with no metering adjustments. The +/- buttons allow you to adjust various parameters on the flash. Such as ISO, flash power, aperture in use etc. TTL mode on an 'M' camera is not the same as on an SLR, as the camera cannot tell the flash which aperture you are using, and so you have to do that yourself. Either set the flash to the aperture that you wish to use on the camera, or set the camera to match the aperture on the flash. Perhaps someone could send you an electronic copy of the SF-24D manual? The M8 manual gives you a fair bit of information though. One that you do need to remember when using a flash on an 'M', is to ensure that the camera is 'awake' before fully pressing the shutter. Otherwise the flash may not fire. I hope this is of some help. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carylwithay Posted December 16, 2009 Share #10 Posted December 16, 2009 Thank you so much. That should do it. Now to wait for that bird to return! Caryl Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlp Posted December 17, 2009 Share #11 Posted December 17, 2009 The TTL /A.M button is confusing because it seems this is only an M camera. Then the button with the + and _, is that to increase the brightness of the flash?. Then there is a circle at the bottom near the ISO that I have no idea about. I DO know the ISO. Can I use any F stop? Well, that about covers my problems. Sometimes i could not get the flash to go at all. Thank you so much for helping Caryl Caryl, you can find a copy of the SF-24D manual here on David Young's site. You'll need to click "Leica Instruction Books" and then "Leica SF-240D Flash" (240 is David's typo) and then download the pdf from there. The manual is sufficent when used in conjunction with the verbiage in the M8 manual (or M8.2 depending on the upgrades completed.) Hope that's helpful . . . Jack Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carylwithay Posted December 17, 2009 Share #12 Posted December 17, 2009 Thank you jack, I found it and downloaded it. Caryyl Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mc_k Posted December 17, 2009 Share #13 Posted December 17, 2009 if you have blurry photos with 1/250, lens f/4, and flash it may be from difficulty focusing in the lower light, i.e. not an issue from setting the flash ? ? ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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