I like to take portraits of people on the street and seem to always have a problem on cloudy days or when the subject is backlit. How can I use my gear (m6 ttl & sf-20) to get proper exposure?

Also I shoot mostly chromes and almost all the time have to set the flash output to underexpose 2/3 when using it in ttl mode indoors. Does anyone else have to do this?

Any answers would be appreciated.

Thank you, Ilya

-- Ilya (shinky@mindspring.com), September 02, 2001

Answers

Fill-in flash in backlighting, or on sunny days when dark shadows are cast under hats, eyes and noses, you might try -1.7 stops flash compensation. On cloudy days, -2.3 to -3 should be sufficient as all you're really looking to do is put a catchlight in the eyes.

To the second part of your question, the TTL flash metering is center- weighted and reads OTF, unlike the center-spot ambient metering that reads off the front curtain. So a small, light subject (like a person) against a dark background (or a distant one, where flash fall- off occurs)will skew the meter toward overexposing the subject. With color negative film, that's not a bad thing; with chrome it's the kiss of death. Your using -0.7 stops compensation sounds to me like you know what you're doing.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), September 02, 2001.

Does anyone know why u have always set the flash to - 2/3 to get a good chrome image? Is everyone’s sf-20 need this compensation set in order to get desirable photo. Just seems kind of strange.

Does anyone find that a Nikon sb28 does better on the whole with a m6 ttl? Does anyone use the flash off the camera? I am just interested in what fellow Leica m6 users are doing when a flash is necessary to enhance the image.

Ilya

-- Ilya (shinky@mindspring.com), September 03, 2001.

Are you shooting that SB28 in Auto, Manual, or TTL mode? I find that any variable power flash used well in manual mode will be better than most all TTL systems (although my F5 does a damn good job).

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), September 03, 2001.

"Does anyone know why u have always set the flash to - 2/3 to get a good chrome image? Is everyone’s sf-20 need this compensation set in order to get desirable photo. Just seems kind of strange."

Ilya,

I think Jay's response probably answers this question for many cases. The problem he describes applies particularly to flash photography out of doors at night, when uncompensated flash will overexpose the subject most of the time. This applies to any make of camera or flashgun. It is the reason why most P&S cameras, with in-built flash for which no compensation can be made, produce such dismal results at night - the "deer in the headlights" syndrome!

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), September 04, 2001.

-2/3 should be a starting point. You may find that stylistically a different ratio is preferable. I use -1 and -2 depending on what I am looking for. Like anything else, there is no rule...

I don't understand how people do fill much using a Leica with such a low sync speed. I prefer to use a Mamiya 7 with flash because it can sync up to 1/500, and if you are outdoors, this makes everything a lot easier.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 04, 2001.

TTL strobing is generally designed under the scenario that one is using a normal lens in relatively dark situation. Therefore, when you desire fill flash and under other conditions, specifically using wide lenses where you are closer to subject, you need to dial down to basically tell the strobe that you are not working in the generally designed situation. I find shooting in almost all situations, both with SLR and Rangefinder, at least 1 stop down is necessary, fill flash outside it at least 2 stop down.

-- Matt Rainey (mvrainey@att.net), September 04, 2001.

Jeff: That's one reason why, despite its occasional failings, I keep a Hexar RF in the stable: 1/125 flash sync. ;^)

1/500th would be fun though. (sigh)

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 05, 2001.