leica mpTTL?

Is the MP TTL? or "sort of TTL"?

Maybe TTL without electronics? Its a little strange -

The shoe obviously triggers my flash but as far as its internal

light meter having any influence - that would be -no.

I am trying to get a leica sf20 flash to work with the MP - i can

use it manually- the flash - sort of wing it - but then again didn't

a bunch of german engineers figure this out?

I'm polish so usually I just wing it - and i eventually figure most

things out.

I know I know leica men dont use flash - but low light social

events - hand held - has some serious limitations - even with a fast

lens. a gentle flash might just lift things a little and allow an

exposure at 30th or so.

TTL means that with the right kind of dedicated (i.e. proprietary) flash, a sensor reading the light reflected from the film will order the flash to cut off when the exposure is deemed right.

 

TTL flash uses a different sensor than the one used for non-flash metering. The latter works by reflecting light off a white spot on the shutter, and since the shutter is open when the flash fires, and not likely to reflect anything, that sensor is useless for flash metering. The M6TTL has two sensors, as does the M7, the MP has only one, thus no TTL.

 

After all, you didn't think inconvenient rewind was the only price to pay for the retro-chic side of the MP, did you? That said, I have never used flash on my M6TTL. If you must use flash, you will need to buy a separate handheld flashmeter like the Gossen Digiflash ($160 at B&H).

It isn't TTL. The flash determines the exposure by means of its own sensor, and not through the camera's metering system. But there's nothing with that!

 

Poles are among the smartest people I know!

"Poles are among the smartest people I know!"

 

Here we go again. Are these comments necessary ?

Henry, the original poster identified himself as Polish (in a lighthearted way), and I'm sure Rob's comment wasn't meant to be at all harsh (to the contrary, actually).

 

But still, one former colleague of mine had it right when he said:

 

"Ethnic humor is like rib tickling with an ice pick. Be careful, or you might draw blood."

Mike/Rob, my apologies for not knowing of any past references. Still perhaps it doesn't hurt to avoid such ethnicity comments in light of how this forum is turning into a battleground on such non-Leica related issues.

Use it on the auto mode, works fine. Just balance the exisitng exposure and dial in the flash. Voila, fill flash.

"If you must use flash, you will need to buy a separate handheld flashmeter like the Gossen Digiflash"

 

Not true. The SF20 has an auto mode. This is slightly less flexible than TTL mode (where the camera reads the flash output through the lens), but works perfectly well. Just set the flash for the f-stop you intend to use, make sure your speed is no higher than 1/50, and blast away.

 

RTFM helps a lot too.

when the MP was introduced, I couldn't believe it didn't have TTL. they had to put in a circuit board for the meter anyway. I find TTL dialed in at minus 3 with a soft diffuser to be very useful, even outdoors. I consider the M6 TTL to be the best of the Leicas - primarily mechanical with just enough electronics.

Perhaps TTL flash was excluded from the MP to avoid the extra 2mm or so of height that was necessary in the M6TTL and M7, so the shape of the MP is more "classic".

Or you could save a fortune, buy a nice retro looking M2 body already dinged up so you won't have a heart attack every time it bumps into something, and top it off with a fairly powerful (compared to the dinky sf20) Vivitar 283. They last about forever, have accessories for just about any use, and give auto exposures that are spot on. They've been on the market essentially unchanged for nearly 3 decades, are extremely reliable, and used by thousands of pros. For 99.9% of photographic situations TTL is a gimmick.

I don't agree Al. TTL allows you to dial in flash exposure compensation for any fstop at any ISO. the vivitar is limited to 3-4 fstop choices; f1.4 or f2 being out of the question if the flash is set to iso 400. try to adjust for minus compensation in sunlight and your upper iso is pratically around 100.

The TTL functionality was omitted because it adds complexity and wize to the camera. Similarily the shutter speed dial was reduced to its original size simple because the engineers could remove some extra parts. The point is to make the "ultimate" full mechanical M camera that will last as long as the M3, or perhaps more.