Help with SF240D Flash and an M

[seanbonner]

I bought a Leica SF240D Flash to play around with both my M7 and my M Monochrom and have been having less than positive results with it. I'll admit that this could be entirely lack of knowledge which is why I'm asking -I've never used a flash before so I'm trying to figure it out.

First of all, as both cameras have TTL and it's a Leica flash I was excited to use this feature but that's what I've had the least luck with. I set the camera to a Flash-OK speed and the flash to TTL and 4 out of 5 times the flash doesn't fire and my image is completely dark. When it works, it works beautifully. Like this:


Johannes by seanbonner, on Flickr

That's what I want from all the shots, but it's not firing and I'm not sure why. I asked some other folks who had no experience with TTL and advised I use the A option instead. So with A, flash OK speed, and aperture on the camera matching what the flash tells me and and now it fires every time as I'd hoped, but it's WAY over powered, completely blowing out half the photo even when compensating the exposure on the MM.

What the hell am I doing wrong? Thanks!

 

[seanbonner]

Anyone, could really use some help here...?

 

[mathiasprinz]

Just a checklist:

1) Did you always use a shutter speed of 1/50 on the m7 or 1/180 on the monochrome? Slower speeds are okay, at faster speeds the flash won´t fire. Using A for flash makes no sense to me, just set the camera to the fastest speed that syncs with flash and go.
2) What iso/filmspeed do you set your cameras to? For shots like the one below you can go low, as it seems to be taken from close distance.
3) At these distances, set your lens to f11-f16ish.
4) Is the flash properly attached? With my M6 its rather easy to miss the contacts by not pushing it in far enough.

 

[mathiasprinz]

Oh, also exposure componsation on the monochrome effects the shutterspeed, which is irrelevant for flash exposure. Another question: Does the flash always work, when you set it to manually and shutter speed to 1/50?

 

[seanbonner]

Thanks for the reply!

1) Yes, I used the recommended speeds or slower. When I say using the A option I mean on the flash, not on the camera. The Flash has 3 settings - Off/A/TTL
2) On the M7 I'm usually shooting 400 speed film, sometimes pushed to 1600. On the MM I sometimes use auto ISO, but when using manual with the flash usually 320.
3) Did that
4) Yes, properly attached. It wont function at all if it's not attached, the problem I'm having is if I'm using TTL it only fires sometimes, and if I'm using A it fires all the time but SUPER bright.

 

[rakelly]

Hi, I experienced this with my M8 and the SF24. It took awhile to figure, find, the solution. When you are using TTL the the flash and the camera need to calculate the appropriate amount of light. Try holding the shutter button half way down, similar to what you would do with a auto focus DSLR. After the camera and flash have completed the calculation, a red dot will appear in the viewfinder and then you can complete the shot. It works all of the time for me.
Best
Bob