Leica SF 20 or SF 24?

[Avotius]

More and more lately I find myself in the situation where I really do need a flash for some of the photos that I take. I have as of late been considering one of those Leica flashes for my M6 TTL and am looking for a little feedback. First if there any real reason to get the 24 over the 20 and also if there a soft diffuser option for the flash. I know it comes with two things for changing the coverage of the flash in regards to wide angle and what not but I am wondering if there is one of those soft box like plastic diffusers for it as well.

I was a little surprised to find I could not get much info at all on Leica's site for the flash, I was looking for a pdf manual or something that would talk a little more about the details of the flash...

A few other small questions, does the flash know the distance you are focused at so it can adjust flash strength itself? How does it know your aperture or do you have to put that in yourself and also whats recharge time like.

Any comments, recommendations or heck if you want to slap up a photo you shot with one of these flash's thats fine too. I am open to suggestions for other flashes also but I am looking for the most painless experience for flash on my M6 TTL and am interested in keeping everything very light.

 

[pevelg]

When you depress the shutter button half way, the flash will recognize the film speed (must be in TTL mode). Next, you set the aperture you are using (not automatic). This will give you a distance #. Everything within that range will be covered by flash. The way I do it is I play around with the aperture until I reach a compromise between the DOF and distance. Usually I settle with F4. With ISO 200, F4 gives me a distance of 23 ft. I usually use ISO 100 and 64, so the distance would be 16ft and 12ft, respectively. At F2, the distance with ISO 54 goes up to 26ft. I use the SF 20.

Yes, you can get a soft box here. LINK It is called the SFILL

Hope that answers your questions. I really love this flash. It works great.

 

[pevelg]

Also, when you fire the flash, there is a "lightning bolt" that should light up inside the viewfinder. If it does NOT light up, it means the flash was not strong enough. If it blinks, that means the exposure was accurate and that the flash is recharging. If it is solid, it means the flash is accurate and ready for another shot. Most of the time I get a solid light, with the occasional blinking one. My exposures look spot on as long as the subject is within the distance rating.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

If you want to reduce clutter in your bag, you can also dial down the flash power (I'm talking about the SF20).

About the SF24... I cannot recall exactly the difference, but it seems it was designed with digital cameras in mind. If used with the M6TTL (in TTL mode), it works just like the SF20.

Don't be turned off by the slow shutterspeed for flash in Leicas. When it's well used, it works incredibly well. I purchased my SF20 to do fill work only, and it does deliver.

 

[George S.]

You can make your own soft diffuser by cutting a rectangular strip out of a white plastic milk container. Cut it longer than the width of the flash, and a bit higher than the height of the flash output tube, and attach it to the sides of the flash with removable tape or something similar. I like to keep it bowed out a bit and not held flat against the flash tube, because then more flash light will "leak" out, (desired) but it still won't be directly at the subject. Some experimentation might be needed as some plastic may be more or less light-transmitting than others, but expect a 1 stop reduction in output.

 

[DwF]

SF-20 albeit with the M8

SF-20 albeit with the M8

I have an M8 and chose the SF 20 because it is quick to use in Manual mode where I can set partial output levels and I am provided a distance readout. I tend to use the flash for fill and at closer range where I want to retain good skin tones. So in M mode with the 50mm lens, I can get to within 7 or 8 feet of my subject at f4. Using the 90mm lens would allow greater isolation yet. The SF-20 (with diffuser) does a really nice job.

Given that the SF-20 is designed for the M6 TTL, you can use the flash in M, A, or TTL. Unfortunately this flash (maybe this is true also of the SF 24) runs on a 2 3V Lithium cells that are not available like AA but they last a long time.

In researching the two flashes, I read something about the SF 24 and using it on the M8 in TTL mode. Apparently it would always fire off a pre-flash. It seems like Leica would have thought through that and someone here will correct me if I am wrong but that "convenience" and the price aided me in my decision. I've been very happy with the SF-20.
David

 

[RichardB]

If using a Leica M7, all one needs to do is put the flash in TTL mode and turn it on with the M7 on and in AUTO. The M7 tells the flash the ASA and the TTL mode needs no aperature or distance information because the light is measured inisde the camera. The M7 automatically selects the correct shutter speed.
My SF 24D manual indicates the M6 TTL works the same except that one must manually set the correct shutter speed.
I believe the only real difference between the 20 and 24 is that the 24 has more f stops that can be set for A or M mode.
Anyway the SF 24D works great!-Dick

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

I've been using the SF20 with my M6 TTL for a couple of months. It works great, but you have to enter the aperture manually. I'm not sure if this actually changes the output of the flash or just lets you know the range of coverage.

Some pix:

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Andrew, if you use it in TTL mode you can pretty much ignore the suggestions on the flash LCD.

BTW, that's some very nice fill-flash work!

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

Thanks, Francisco, that's what I figured. The flash doesn't care about the aperture per se, just the amount of light hitting that little grey dot on the shutter curtains!

I was happy with how that last picture turned out ... except for Paul's expression.

 

[mervynyan]

I have a beat-up SF20, works OK for me. I tend to use manual setting rather than TTL at f4 for facial shoots.