I am new to the Leica world and as a particpant in the realm of the 8X10 LF world I am slowly coming to grips with my newly aquired M5. Oh sooooooobig you all say, to big! Well coming from 8X10 I can assure you it is not!! I absolutely love the whole rangefinder experience and am really enjoying it wholeheartedly. One of the reasons I aquired the Leica was to have a "small" camera to provide myself with high quality family pictures. I am fussy about quality -hence the 8X10, hence the Leica. I have enlarged some hand held shots made at 1/15th second to 16X20 and all I can say is WOW! Please don't misunderstand me as to the family picture thing I am very serious about my photography and in no way do I imply I bought it to take "snapshots". I am in no way minimalizing the Leica. The use of it for family pictures was for one of the intended uses. Which brings me to the flash question.....I have an old Vivitar 273 that I have tried to use with the M5 and all I can say is..Horrid! Vile!!UGH!! I have been cruising around trying to find an answer and I think I am lacking in power-GN100 w/ASA 100. I was considering a Vivitar 285 with an Omni Bounce. Is this a plan? I would like a Metz but remember I have a family and it is right after Christmas! I don't use flash very much but when I do I would like to enjoy better results than what I have had. I have also read in more than one place that getting the flash off the camera is also a big help. My pictures that I have used a flash with have all the classic "deer in the headlights look" and seem really flat as well. I thank anyone in advance for any attention given this matter and have learned so much already from this wonderful forum. I know this is long winded and I am really excited about Leica and their optics.........I am one with Bokeh. thank you again so much.

-- Michael Pry (vila@techheadnet.com), December 31, 2001

Answers

I good bounce flash with a diffuser is a large improvement over direct flash. A diffused off-camera flash is even better. A Vivitar 283/285 should do the trick. I have a little white ball (Lighthouse Globe) I use on my flash that is a strong diffuser, and it works well for shots up to 10 feet or so. I use it on a bracket that gets it above the camera. Outside of studio size soft boxes, nothing will help soften the flash on images taken at distances greater than 10 feet however.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 31, 2001.

I would second everything the previous poster said, and add the following:

I'd get a Vivitar 283 with two accessories -- the first being the extension cable to move the flash off-camera. (You detach the sensor from the flash, mount it on one end of a cable that in turn mounts on your camera's shoe. The other end of the cable plugs in where the sensor was on the flash). The other accessory is a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce. http://www.stofen.com It is available at B&H and probably many others.

-- Rolfe Tessem (rolfe@ldp.com), December 31, 2001.

As Andrew suggested, the first thing to do is get the flash off the camera. Once that is accomplished, various options kick in. Photoflex makes a small studio-like softbox for use with flash heads on brackets. The whole arrangement gets a bit bulky, however.

Additionally, various bounce attachments that attach to the flash head with velcro are available. Check the LumiQuest line, including the 80/20 reflector, the cut-outs of which allow 80% of the flash to reflect off the ceiling, but kicks 20% of the light forward to add back a bit of direct-flash contrast.

I use a Stroboframe bracket with a Nikon SC-17 cord on my M6 TTL, but almost any flash handle will be an improvement over on-camera flash. If you are mechanically inclined, scrounge the camera swap meets for older flash units that can be adapted to something that will work for you.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), December 31, 2001.

You also didn't mention what type of film you use. Try one of the lower contrast professional negative emulsions (along with the off camera flash + diffuser) for a more natural look to flash photography.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 31, 2001.

i use a sunpack 383 super with a stofen diffuser and a sunpack 120 round headed flash,,,,,i have coiled cords for both (paramount.com) and i either use a grip or have someone hold the flah high and off to the best side......

-- mark kaminsky (mrry33@aol.com), January 01, 2002.

If I can just add, I usually take my flash (Osram c-321), of the camera, put exposure on 1 sec, and fire the flash manually when I think it is the right moment before closure of shutter, of course it is called REAR, but since I don’t have the flash that support this, I handle it this way. The Results are satisfactory and very interesting. I also suggest always to use (even when ure flash is on the camera and fire on the beginning of the shot), to use low exposures, around 15 or 8 , unless you want to achieve something else, but this way you let the film receive a little atmosphere on low light occasions!

-- Milutin Labudovic (labudov@gmx.net), January 01, 2002.

Hi Michael! You mentioned that you're new to Leica. Well, I have a suggestion, which might not seem useful, but maybe at least food for thought. I suggest that you don't use flash at all for a while, so that you can see just what you and your M-5 can accomplish without, before making a decision. You just may realize that the hype is actually true - that Leica can take you places you just cannot go with another system. Situations where I might, with a Nikon, reflexively reach for the Metz, are with the Leica opportunites for exploration, even within realm of "casual" family snaps. On occasions when I actually use a flash with the Leica, I use the Leica SF-20, which is a real gem. I often use it on a Nikon SC-17 cord, and let it dangle between shots. Your M-5, while lacking TTL function, will still allow you to use the SF-20 on both Auto and Manual modes. I find the relatively low output of the SF to actually work in my favor, as I still usually need to consider at least some ambient light into my exposures, which helps me to avoid the "harsh" results you alluded to above. The SF's small size also allows it to integrate beautifully with my "Leica-Mode" of working - when I'm not using my own 8X10! As a long-time user of both LF and Leica, I find the transition to be complementary, that "getting in the zone" at 10 seconds and /64, while different in terms of the ritual involved, is equalled in its own way with a Leica at 1/15th at f/2. Good luck, and happy shooting!

-- John Layton (john.layton@valley.net), January 01, 2002.

Michael, I think the "deer in the headlights" problem can be largely obviated by balancing the ambient and flash exposures. Obviously you end up with a characteristic flash look, but not quite as brutal as depending mostly on the flash exposure. It works best outdoors in (low) daylight where the ambient light is more abundant, obviously. Here's an example:

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), January 01, 2002.

I should perhaps add that I underexposed both the flash and ambient exposures by 1 stop to make this picture. Maybe giving more ambient exposure would have resulted in a more natural look. The same technique will work indoors, of course. In the end though flash is still always flash. These days I use it very little.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), January 01, 2002.