For my flash question, I was meaning fill flash.

Thanks,

Arie

-- Arie (nhaziza@northrock.bm), February 05, 2002

Answers

Regarding your question on fill flash, yes, using the slowest film possible and then adding a ND filter if necessary would be the best way around the M6's slow flash sync. That's IF you were forced to use an M6 of course. My personal solution is not to use the M6 at all in such a situation, but an older 70s rangefinder that syncs up to 1/500.

-- Anon Terry (anonht@yahoo.com), February 06, 2002.

Slow flash sync does limit how flexibly fill flash can be used ... Due to ambient light considerations and a 1/50 max shutter speed, you cannot get away from relatively small apertures even with ASA50 film in sunlight, so you cannot use flash fill and get shallow DoF very easily.

However, I often use flash fill with the SF20 flash unit and the M6TTL ... I use ASA 50-100 films, can add an ND filter to bring it down a stop, and set the flash unit for TTL metering operation, -1 or -2 EV compensation. Works very well. But it's nowhere near as flexible as a modern SLR with 1/250 or faster flash sync, or a good old Synchro-Compur shutter with flash sync from 1 to 1/ 500 ...

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), February 06, 2002.

I have posted this before. If you are doing daylight fill-flash for a portrait, you can turn the Leica vertically (the shutter release/film wind end of the body must be on top)and use 1/125 as long as you keep the subject's head/shoulders in the top half of the frame. That portion of the frame is illuminated by the flash even up to 1/125. The bottom half will not be lit by the flash, but the camera being set for correct ambient exposure will take care of it. Obviously then this trick does not apply to indoor flash.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), February 06, 2002.

Jay,

I've heard that will work on older models. On the M6 TTL, however, it won't fire the flash in the hotshoe at speeds above 1/50. I'm not sure if the PC socket is similarly disabled or not - I was just trying it with an SF20.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), February 06, 2002.