Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/08/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nathan Wajsman wrote: > > I do not deny that there are people out there for whom TTL flash is > important and certainly worth an extra $200; I was just saying that this > was not the case for me. I wonder though, based on previous mails, how > many press photographers rely on Leica M6s for their work? My impression > is that they use mostly SLRs, Leica or (more common) Nikon and Canon. When > I want/need flash, I use my Pentax SLRs. nathan, The point is not how many do, but how many CANNOT because of lack of flash compatibility. If Leica makes an M with TTL flash and without upping the sync speed, it is just senseless. I use ttl flash mostly not in low light, but in day light to compress highlight and shadow details for reproduction. In daylight with even slow Velvia, at 1/50 of a second we will have to have flash power at f/16, or perhaps f/11 to fill. That is a lot of power, recyle time and loss of DOF control. I'd love to have 1/1000 sync. Then Velvia could be shot at f/4 and flash fill would be instantly recycled. The point is, styles have changed. The availability of easily done fill flash has raised the standards of images acceptable for publication. And given the lack of subtlety in TV lighting, especially news, few people seem to care how things are lit. I find that few clients have the sophistication to appreciate subtle lighting, or they like it as long as they can see their product/service clearly. Watch the media with this in mind and you will see what I mean. Even the close ups of glasses of Pepsi or Coke are shot with strobe systems synced to go off at 24 frames per second to get the crispness that 1/30th of a second can't record on film. Only amateurs have the luxury to not worry about TTL fill flash. - -- Donal Philby San Diego http://www.donalphilby.com