Has anyone ever tried using the SF24D as a small fill flash on the S2? It might lack much of the functionality (and moveable head) of the SF58, but as a lightweight, compact fill flash, it would work quite nicely. The flash does in fact meter perfectly in “A” mode, but will not fire in TTL mode, and will not meter in M mode. You can precisely control the output using Exposure Compensation in the S2’s menu. I would love to see if any users are taking advantage of this combination.
Josh,
I use the SF20 with both my M9 and S2, yes, they do not do TTL. I use flash to supplement the light or “fill” the shadows in when mounted on camera. So setting the flash to “A” and setting a flash output aperture 1.5 stops less than the aperture I am using and I get a nice natural fill effect. I also use my Nikon SB800s in the same way on those cameras as well again, no TTL, but fine for what I use flash for. This is a good “Green” way to recycle those old flash units 😮 !If you want the flash as the main light, then set the output power to the same as your shooting aperture. By underexposing the ambient light you can control the darkness of the areas not lit by the strobe. Say the ambient light calls for 1/30 @ f2.8, by setting the camera at that setting and the strobe at f2.8 a balanced exposure will be the result. If you then shortened the shutter speed to 1/60th, the background not lit by the strobe will be one stop darker.
-Al
I’m considering this option. Maybe the SF24D would indeed make a nice lightweight fill flash on my S2. I wonder if this would work with higher shutter speeds and CS lenses?
Josh, did you try this set-up yet?
Well, I got this flash last week and after doing some tests I can confirm that this flash works like charm on my S2.
The CS works in sync, up to 1/1000. Of course at that speed there’s not much flash light left, but envirenmental portraits at ~ 2.5 meters shouldn’t be a problem at 1/250 – 1/500
Like Josh mentioned, the amount of flash light is easily controlled with the exposure comp on the camera.
Exposure is quite good in A-mode on the flash, though the meter in the flash can be fooled, of course.
All in all I’m quite happy with the SF 24D. It weighs next to nothing and does not have a negative influence on the well balanced S body. It can give a nice little extra bit of light/punch when needed.
If you have any questions, let me know.
peterv;6001 wrote: Well, I got this flash last week and after doing some tests I can confirm that this flash works like charm on my S2.
The CS works in sync, up to 1/1000. Of course at that speed there’s not much flash light left, but envirenmental portraits at ~ 2.5 meters shouldn’t be a problem at 1/250 – 1/500
Like Josh mentioned, the amount of flash light is easily controlled with the exposure comp on the camera.
Exposure is quite good in A-mode on the flash, though the meter in the flash can be fooled, of course.
All in all I’m quite happy with the SF 24D. It weighs next to nothing and does not have a negative influence on the well balanced S body. It can give a nice little extra bit of light/punch when needed.
If you have any questions, let me know.
Peter,
Shutter speed should have no effect on flash exposure, only ambient. In fact, if you were using a hand-held meter, it would only give you the aperture reading, not shutter speed as the flash duration should be shorter than the exposure time and is irrelevant in the exposure calculation.
If you are getting darker images at higher shutter speeds, it is more likely that the ambient light is getting too dark.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiThanks David, you’re right, of course. I looked at the test shots again and indeed it was the ambient light that got darker as the shutter time got faster.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.