M flash frustration

[Huss]

I found that using an Sf24D flash on my M240 is very unreliable. Here is the weird thing, it seems to depend on the age/condition of the camera's battery.
I have two batteries for my M - both genuine Leica items. Both are fully charged and work faultlessly with the camera in regular photography.
I have two SF24D flashes that work faultlessly with any camera that I use them on, apart from digital Leicas.
The flash often just will not sync with the digital M, no matter the setting on the flash, if I use the camera's auto flash setting, or set the sync speed manually at 1/180, or set it manually at any value below that. I will either get a non flash, or the flash fires after it is meant to resulting in a blank/black image.
But, if I switch camera batteries, it works fine. So somehow it is camera battery related. My old M-E did this too.

So I have two $150 batteries that work fine with the camera, but only one works fine if a Leica flash is used. Of course I have to mark which one is the 'good' one, to only use that when using flash. Until it decides to no longer work either.

Sheesh.

 

[Luke_Miller]

I have an SF-24D as well and used it on my M8.2 and M9 bodies. Normally it performed properly, but one time I did experience some issues much like you describe. I believe the camera battery was less than 50% at the time. Pretty sure I've read elsewhere about this issue, so you are not alone. My SF-58 is remarkably consistent.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I think it is time to OP to update outdated flashes. 150$ for Leica flash is very outdated price. In December 2016 I paid 250$ for newer SF-26 (ex-demo unit and I was happy like a dog to find it under this low price). And even this newer flash needs fw update (done by Leica) to be able to fully support M240 TTL.

 

[Huss]

I have an SF-24D as well and used it on my M8.2 and M9 bodies. Normally it performed properly, but one time I did experience some issues much like you describe. I believe the camera battery was less than 50% at the time. Pretty sure I've read elsewhere about this issue, so you are not alone. My SF-58 is remarkably consistent.

Both my batteries were fully charged. That's what makes this so annoying. It seems even if charged, there is something that happens when they age.
But even if the camera battery was at 50%, everything should work properly.
This is kinda typical of Leica, like their DX reader issue on the M7. Even though everyone else has figured this out long ago, simple things like this seem to be complicated for Leica! These same flashes work perfectly with every other camera I have, from M3 and Nikon F w/ cable connector using an accessory shoe that has a cable to X sync socket, to my Minolta XK, to my D750 and even a friend's 5Dmk3!
But I guess it is asking too much for a Leica flash to work properly on a Leica..
:bang:🙄

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Leica is consistent with flashes outsourced to Metz manufacturer. Just like with Leica flashes dedicated to film TTL M cameras, newer 24D (where D is for digital) was needed to make it works with M8/9. Now it is the same. 24D works with M8/9, but newer Leica (Metz made) flash is needed for M240. I guess...

 

[Godfrey]

I don't have any dedicated flash units for my Leicas. I use either a Sunpak 44 or a Nikon SB-30, most of the time for either fitted to an RF trigger (either Cactus V2 or Cactus V5) and set to a manual power output, or with the internal auto sensor. This works very reliably, regardless of the camera battery level.

I can understand the irritation; I've experienced it myself with various generations of dedicated flash units from Canon on Canon bodies, from Nikon on Nikon bodies, from Olympus on Olympus bodies, etc. It seems that getting dedicated flash units to work reliably across generations isn't a priority for most manufacturers. Most of the time, to ensure best reliability, if you stick with flash units designed and released at about the same time as the bodies you're using they're pretty reliable... that seems to be the rule of thumb. Manual and external-auto flash units have a much better reliability score.

With film, getting flash exposure dead on at the time of shooting with all kinds of fancy flash metering capabilities was essential because you couldn't see what you were getting until the film was processed. With digital, I've never seen the point to it—pop a couple of test shots with a manual or external-auto flash unit, check the review and adjust, then shoot away. You can always get exactly correct flash exposure at the time of shooting because you can always see what you're getting instantly and make a correction.

G

 

[airfrogusmc]

I have an SF-24D as well and used it on my M8.2 and M9 bodies. Normally it performed properly, but one time I did experience some issues much like you describe. I believe the camera battery was less than 50% at the time. Pretty sure I've read elsewhere about this issue, so you are not alone. My SF-58 is remarkably consistent.

Yes I have 2 sf58s and they seem to perform quite nicely.

 

[sepiareverb]

The M9 has known issues with the SF-24/SF-24D with older batteries. I sent one M9 to NJ to diagnose an intermittent blank frame issue, it was traced to the battery. When using newer batteries the issue vanishes.

 

[Huss]

The M9 has known issues with the SF-24/SF-24D with older batteries. I sent one M9 to NJ to diagnose an intermittent blank frame issue, it was traced to the battery. When using newer batteries the issue vanishes.

Yup. And it also happens with the M240 as I have found out to my delight.

 

[sepiareverb]

Batteries suck. I just had to get a new phone because the battery no longer could keep the phone working reliably. 40% battery the phone would die, 10% the next time, 1% the next time, 70% this time. Completely unreliable. The nature of the electronic beast. I just bought a iiic.