[Leica] Best flash for M8?

[grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey@mchsi.com)]

Go out and buy the Leica 24D flash madse for M Cameras.  Sine you had th4 
money for the M8, you can afford the $270 for the 24D.  It works great and 
is not very heavy on the M cameras.  I use one when it is needed on my M6TTL 
and it works great.  If you are a heavy flash user, get one of the Metz 
units with the appropriate modules.

Gene


-------------- Original message from "Don Dory" <don.dory@gmail.com>: 
-------------- 


> Frank, 
> With infinite respect for your abilities in photojournalism and general 
> good 
> humour, you are completely off base about the shutter on the M8. This 
> sensor in the M8 works as an analogue light collector with an A/D 
> converter 
> downstream. The shutter opens, the sites on the CCD collect light, the 
> shutter closes and the microprocessor collects the information from the 
> A/D 
> converter. Simplified of course; there is a amplification circuit, a 
> buffer, and some pretty sophisticated programming to adjust the 
> information 
> coming off the sensor into something that resembles an image that the 
> human 
> mind will interpret as a picture. 
> 
> With any of the current CCD or CMOS sensors try to use B and very quick 
> fingers with a hat or lens cap as a sensor, you will almost always have a 
> blown image unless you are in the coal mine at midnight. The sensor in the 
> M8 works in some way just like film in that at a given level of 
> amplification there is a 5 to 8 stop range where the information is not 
> white or black. 
> 
> Cheers, 
> Don 
> don.dory@gmail.com 
> 
> On 12/26/06, Frank Filippone wrote: 
> > 
> > OK.. I went there and read the following under M8 tech specs at the 
> > Leica 
> > USA site.... 
> > --------------------- 
> > To quote....... 
> > Shutter: 
> > Micro-processor controlled metal-blade slotted shutter with vertical 
> > movement. 
> > Shutter Speeds 
> > In automatic mode (A) steplessly from 32 s to 1/8000 s. Using manual 
> > setting 4 s to 1/8000 s in half steps. 
> > B for long exposures of any duration. 
> > Shutter action optimized for minimum noise. Driven by an electric motor 
> > -------------------- 
> > Having read that, I will repeat that the shutter in the M8 is only for a 
> > dust ( and overload) sensor cover. It does nothing for the 
> > exposure. Let me explain..... 
> > 
> > The sensor is gated fully under electronic digital control. It has 
> > nothing to do with a mechanical part anywhere in, round or under 
> > the camera. It is both easier to do it this way, it works, it needs no 
> > calibration, and it is cheap to make. It is totally 
> > electronic. 
> > 
> > The shutter COVER, or what you might call a shutter, does not do 
> > anything 
> > to the exposures. If it did, Leica would have to make an 
> > infinitely variable shutter accurate to 1/8000 of a second, and keep it 
> > in 
> > calibration. Ain't going to happen. Nikon proved that 
> > in the 8008 and other cameras. 
> > 
> > I think it is important that users know what they are getting in an M8 
> > or 
> > other digital camera ... this mechanical shutter is 
> > probably ( maybe, maybe not) timed to open and close in some 
> > relationship 
> > with the exposure. It does not matter how long the 
> > shutter is open; as long as it is long enough for an exposure to be 
> > recorded. It can be a LOT longer the light is gated by a 
> > digital signal, not a mechanical device. Very similar to the baffle 
> > shutter in a Hasselblad 500 series. 
> > 
> > Notice carefully that Leica never claims that the shutter speed is 
> > mechanical nor do they claim the shutter is timed for any time 
> > duration... They claim the shutter is a vertically moving metal blade 
> > slotted shutter. The shutter speeds are the ones that are 
> > timed with specs on them. There is a big difference between the shutter 
> > speeds that affect the exposure, and the shutter that only 
> > covers the sensor. What I called a baffle. 
> > 
> > dPreview does not add any information. I am sure they are nice guys, but 
> > technically, anyone that claims the reason a M8 can have 
> > higher synch speed than a M7 is because of a different shutter is just 
> > plain not correct. The synch is digitally controlled as are 
> > the gating functions of the sensor. There is no mechanical association 
> > in 
> > a M8. There is in any previous film oriented M ( or 
> > LTM).. 
> > 
> > BTW, if you owned a M8, you could easily prove me wrong.... Try the 
> > shutter at different speeds with no lens. You should see the 
> > light baffle open and close faster with increasing speed, like a real 
> > shutter does. You do not have to be 100% accurate, you only 
> > need to note if the thing stays open longer with increasing exposure 
> > time.... It should be pretty obvious. 
> > 
> > If there is some evidence that the M8 has a mechanically timed exposure, 
> > I 
> > still have not seen it......If you, or someone else on 
> > this list, own a M8, check out the shutter /baffle/ whatever you want to 
> > call the thing that moves out of the way to allow the 
> > light to hit the sensor. Then we have some form of data that is not 
> > marketing speak..... 
> > 
> > I would promise to eat a bug if I am wrong, but Cal Worthington has 
> > already done that one..... 
> > 
> > Frank Filippone 
> > red735i@earthlink.net 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________ 
> > Leica Users Group. 
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information 
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
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> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information