Blaidd_Drwgg
Member
I have had my M6 classic, Wetzlar version for a few years now. I traded my previous M4-2 for it, after the back sync ports fell out (there's a pattern there, somewhere. Maybe the cameras are telling me that you don't use flash with Leicas, who knows.)
So, to the real problem: I have an ongoing project which relies on using my 21mm, the M6 and a small hot shoe-triggered flash (Nikon SB-30, great little thing I found after consulting this forum). So after using that setup for a while, I got fed up with either using flash or the external viewfinder. So I got the CTOOM flash bracket and a PC-to-hot-shoe adapter and was happy – until I developed the first film and got pictures that looked distinctly non-flashed. So I investigated and found that the flash works fine directly on the camera, with other cameras and with the sync adapter on different cameras and shorted, other flashes fired correctly on the hotshoe, and the adapter works with everything it should have, but the back PC port fires during the press of the shutter release, half, maybe two thirds of the way between the detent for metering and release. If I let go, I can then fire the flash repeatedly without taking a picture by carefully finding that spot. By the time the first curtain opens, the flash is already over and doesn't trigger again. In the released stated, the same thing happens on the hot shoe, but not on the port. The camera took a fall onto cobblestone a few months ago, but survived with a dented bottom plate that was easily straightened and a broken back door hinge, requiring some nerve-wracking drilling and gluing a steel pin in there, but otherwise unscathed. I don't know if the problem existed before that, I hadn't even found the bracket back then.
I've talked to my repair guy, and since letting go of the camera for a few weeks and not knowing how much that would cost, letting him search for a resaon is not an option (at the moment).
Other, not entirely satisfactory solutions include:
-using a hot-shoe-to-PC adapter before the PC-to-hot-shoe adapter and introducing massive parallax error into the system, which makes for bad close-ups.
-desoldering the wire from the PC port and stealing the connection of the hot shoe (his idea, and the most compelling at the moment.
-Buying a Bessa R4, which would be the perfect camera for this (21mm in the rangefinder, faster flash sync, nice camera all around), were it not for the fact, that they are expensive and that none are to find on the used market because everyone seems to like theirs.
Does anybody have an idea where the problem might lie? Because I am not about to test the nice covering off the camera and disassembling it blindly in the hopes of finding something. The repair manuals I have are of no help, because while the M2 and M4 are similar enough, the flash sync has got to be different, as they don't seem to have simply taken the same switches for hot shoe and back port (why not, btw?) on the M6 and of course the former two had M and X.
Since this got a little longer than I thought it would, I would like to thank everyone who made it to the end for their time and and attention and any wild guesses or full-fledged solutions.
So, to the real problem: I have an ongoing project which relies on using my 21mm, the M6 and a small hot shoe-triggered flash (Nikon SB-30, great little thing I found after consulting this forum). So after using that setup for a while, I got fed up with either using flash or the external viewfinder. So I got the CTOOM flash bracket and a PC-to-hot-shoe adapter and was happy – until I developed the first film and got pictures that looked distinctly non-flashed. So I investigated and found that the flash works fine directly on the camera, with other cameras and with the sync adapter on different cameras and shorted, other flashes fired correctly on the hotshoe, and the adapter works with everything it should have, but the back PC port fires during the press of the shutter release, half, maybe two thirds of the way between the detent for metering and release. If I let go, I can then fire the flash repeatedly without taking a picture by carefully finding that spot. By the time the first curtain opens, the flash is already over and doesn't trigger again. In the released stated, the same thing happens on the hot shoe, but not on the port. The camera took a fall onto cobblestone a few months ago, but survived with a dented bottom plate that was easily straightened and a broken back door hinge, requiring some nerve-wracking drilling and gluing a steel pin in there, but otherwise unscathed. I don't know if the problem existed before that, I hadn't even found the bracket back then.
I've talked to my repair guy, and since letting go of the camera for a few weeks and not knowing how much that would cost, letting him search for a resaon is not an option (at the moment).
Other, not entirely satisfactory solutions include:
-using a hot-shoe-to-PC adapter before the PC-to-hot-shoe adapter and introducing massive parallax error into the system, which makes for bad close-ups.
-desoldering the wire from the PC port and stealing the connection of the hot shoe (his idea, and the most compelling at the moment.
-Buying a Bessa R4, which would be the perfect camera for this (21mm in the rangefinder, faster flash sync, nice camera all around), were it not for the fact, that they are expensive and that none are to find on the used market because everyone seems to like theirs.
Does anybody have an idea where the problem might lie? Because I am not about to test the nice covering off the camera and disassembling it blindly in the hopes of finding something. The repair manuals I have are of no help, because while the M2 and M4 are similar enough, the flash sync has got to be different, as they don't seem to have simply taken the same switches for hot shoe and back port (why not, btw?) on the M6 and of course the former two had M and X.
Since this got a little longer than I thought it would, I would like to thank everyone who made it to the end for their time and and attention and any wild guesses or full-fledged solutions.
Ronald M
Veteran
Cost reduction. PC is mounted in plastic. With M2,3,4, I took out the old fashioned contacts and put in metal mounted modern PC which do not work better, but I don't have to scavenge the old cords.
Some older flash have high voltage going through shutter contacts rather than being relay protected. Short the pc wire with a pin and if you see significant flash, the whole trigger voltage is going thru the shutter which will ruin it.
I yours fires early, the contacts are out of position from a fall damage. Needs realignment.
Use a Wein Safe Sync to preserve the circuit.
Some older flash have high voltage going through shutter contacts rather than being relay protected. Short the pc wire with a pin and if you see significant flash, the whole trigger voltage is going thru the shutter which will ruin it.
I yours fires early, the contacts are out of position from a fall damage. Needs realignment.
Use a Wein Safe Sync to preserve the circuit.