Leica M6 flash sync but with daylight

[jaimiepeeters]

Hi guys

I was wondering about the following.
Since the M6 has a flash syn of 1/50 can you use fill in flash during broad daylight?

I know that if you would use a flash indoors and have the shutterspeed at 1/125 that you will either see nothing (black) or you will see the curtains closing.

But what if outdoors 1/125 gives you the exact daylight measurement on F8 and you flash. Doesn't it give you a nice light balanced image with a fill in? Or does the curtain show opening (or closing)?

I will experiment myself, but I have an iso400 colorfilm in now that, when finished, I need to bring to the shop and that will take some time before I get a result to see what the answer is to my question. So I thought I'd ask here.

 

[rlouzan]

Hi,

Not really - unless your subject is in the shade, under scaffolding (Philip Lorca di-Corcia), close-ups (Bruce Guilden), gobo, extreme backlight ... having said that, color neg film has a lot of latitude but you'll end up with a slightly washed out look/waxy faces.
Are you using Manual or Auto flash?

Regards,
Robert

 

[jaimiepeeters]

so Jurgen Teller type of stuff during daylight with flash is a no no?

 

[yanchep_mike]

Part of the frame will have the flash ilumination added to the full frame ambient.
The shutter is to fast for fill flash, even with fill flash the max shutter speed is 1/50. My 0.02.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

its a no go: max flash speed for indoors is the same for outdoors. That's why camera's with leafshutters were so popular with photo press: ability to shoot with flash on all speeds indoors and outdoors! You could shoot with flash on 1/500 sec.

 

[rlouzan]

Yes, you could since his flash pictures are overexposed 😀. Find a high-key subject and use a thyristor type flash set to Auto f11 at close range - instant waxy look 😱.

so Jurgen Teller type of stuff during daylight with flash is a no no?

 

[Range-rover]

I took pictures at a cousin's wedding and used the flash outside, but used the 50th
shutter speed, they came out real nice it got rid of those shadow areas. if you did try the
higher shutter speed you'd get the famous black bar across the bottom, middle or top.

Range

 

[rlouzan]

On the side 😉.

I took pictures at a cousin's wedding and used the flash outside, but used the 50th
shutter speed, they came out real nice it got rid of those shadow areas. if you did try the
higher shutter speed you'd get the famous black bar across the bottom, middle or top.

Range

 

[Range-rover]

On the side 😉.

That's true side's,middle, I was thinking of the the Nikon FM I had
with the metal shutter.

Thanks

 

[Lord Nikon]

It is very easy to use fill flash in broad daylight on a Leica.

All you need to do is add filters until your effective ISO is 50 or less. Getting an equivalent film speed of 25 is good and if you have a powerful flash ISO12 gives you LOTS of control over everything.

The only downside is that you will probably find yourself looking for a more powerful flash pretty soon. Vivitar 283 FTW

ISO~100 color film with a 2 stop ND filter (ND4 or optical density 0.6 depending which brand you buy) filter is very good. 3-stops (ND8/0.9) could be fun too.

Velvia-50 (are there any other ISO50 color films on the market? them too) with a 1 or 2-stop ND filter should be very nice, although I have never tried it. I cant afford to process slides.

For B&W (assuming your shooting people, but what else would you use fill flash for on a Leica?) ISO 50-100 film and a green filter work really well with flash. The green filter makes skin tones ooh so very nice and sucks up 2 stops of light.

As an added bonus to reducing the effective film speed with ND or colored filters you can shoot at fairly wide F-stops in broad daylight when your not flashing!

There are a couple arguments that would lead you down the path of using a darker filter with higher ISO film but IMO they are weak. Slow film is so nice, just embrace it.

PS: It cant be done. The little camera with countless inherent limitations can not shoot flash in broad daylight - the flash sync speed isnt fast enough! Everyone else is saying it, I felt left out.