Using the Leica SF 20 flash with my Leica M6 TTL camera

Not long after purchasing my Leica M6 TTL, I decided to buy the Leica SF 20 flash as I thought I may use the camera on social night’s out with family and friends or perhaps when watching bands so thought it would be a good investment.

I also thought it would be great to try out the TTL settings of the flash to sync with my camera.

I decided to test the flash out at home and with my dog.

I took these photos using the TTL setting on the flash. Unfortunately I didn’t make exact notes at the time so can’t remember what aperture etc the camera was set at.

I used Kodak Portra 160 film and a 50mm Leica Summicron Lens. Here are some photos I took of my mirror on the TTL flash setting:

Here are some of my dog, Daisy with the TTL setting:

Here is one of Daisy with her favourite toy, Mr Moo, again using the TTL setting on the Flash:

I then decided to take a couple of photos using the manual flash option and the light meter reading through my camera and here are the results:

You will see an immediate difference in these photos in the fact that the TTL metered flash photos all have a yellow tinge to them but the ones shot on the manual flash setting all are a lot more balanced and show the correct white of the room.

Clearly in my opinion, the photos taken with the manual flash setting came out much better and more accurate.

The only issue I can think of with the TTL flash metering was that there was a white balance issue because there is so much white in my living room and perhaps I needed to shoot a grey test card first to get the right white balance?

I’m very new to using flash with my Leica camera so there may be somebody reading my blog who has a lot more experience with this type of flash and camera who can give me some expert advice on whether my theory is correct regarding the white balance and methods I could use to improve this when using the TTL option.

Tenerife with my Leica M6 TTL and Kodak Ektachrome E100

Back in December I managed to get away for some winter sun to Tenerife.

I had previously liked using slide film in the Hasselblad 500 c/m so I was keen to see what it would be like in the Leica.

I had a roll of Kodak Ektachrome E100 in my film stash for a while that I had been saving and I knew the trip to Tenerife would be the perfect opportunity to finally use it.

I decided to use the film during a day excursion to La Gomera.

I took the photos using my 50mm Summicron lens and the photos were processed at my local lab using the E-6 process.

During the excursion, we were driven up into the mountains and here are some photos I took of the landscape:

We were then driven to a dense forest area in the mountains and I really liked the green moss that was growing on the trees so was keen to see how this would look in a slide photo:

I was really impressed with the vivid green detail the photo produced. I also took one more in the shade, which looks completely different and not as vivid:

For lunch, we visited a restaurant in the mountains and sampled some of the local food and wine. We were entertained by the restaurant staff doing a demonstration of their local language called Silbo Gomero (also known as El Silbo). It’s basically a whistled register of Spanish which is used by the inhabitants of La Gomera to communicate across the deep ravines and narrow valleys within the island. It was fun to watch.

Inside the restaurant was this really cool view point that I knew I had to take a photo of:

I then took some photos of the views from the restaurant:

Here is one of my husband admiring the views from the Restaurant:

Here are a couple of photos I took at another view point on the way back down the mountains:

La Gomera was a beautiful island to visit. If I was to go again, I would like to spend a bit more time around the local marina and square which looked really interesting but I only got to spend about an hour there since this excursion mainly focused on time spent up in the mountains.

I didn’t manage to use up all the film whilst on this excursion so took the final remainder photos from my balcony where I was staying on the mainland in Tenerife:

I really do love slide film, especially when processed under E-6. For me, the bright vivid colours are just amazing and I also love the feel of the photos. They remind me of a 70s holiday brochure.

Whilst I still have some other colour 35mm films to use in my film stash, going forward for the Leica M6, I think the Ektachrome E100 will most certainly be one of my go to films for colour photography from now on.

Leica M6 TTL and the Lomochrome Purple 35mm Film

For the second roll of film that I tried out in the Leica M6 TTL, I decided to use the Lomochrome Purple 35mm.

In the past, I’ve really liked the effects of this film so was keen to see what it would look like when taken on the Leica camera.

I initially went down to the local Pavilion area in Brighton where I took these shots:

After taking a couple of the Pavilion, which in my opinion, were rather limited with the amount of the building I could fit in due to the fact I was using the 50mm Summicron Lens, I decided to take some photos of the local plants since I knew the green works quite well with this film:

I still think at this point, there was room for improvement on my focusing of this camera, however, I was quite impressed with the detail of the following photo I took:

I then walked back home along the seafront and took some beach/wave shots:

I was keen to get this film developed asap so decided to use the remainder of the film up in my garden. I was quite drawn to the table and chairs at the back of my garden so took a photo of those:

My cat Robinson loves a lot of attention from me when I’m at home so he came out into the garden and I took a couple of photos of him:

Again, I wouldn’t say the focusing on these two photos was particularly great but there are some nice purple tones in them.

Whilst there were some fun shots taken from this film, I knew that I needed to try out some ‘normal’ style films out in this Leica camera.

I questioned whether I should leave the LomoChrome Purple effect film for my Lomography camera’s rather then use them in my Leica.

Therefore at this stage, I still didn’t feel I had seen the full potential of what this Leica Camera could do.

This made me excited about what film to use next and see what the results would be like which I shall blog about next week.

Until then, stay safe everyone.

Leica M6 TTL Camera and JCH StreetPan 400 Film

When I first got the Leica M6 TTL camera, I knew that I wanted to try out a black and white film in it.

It was winter time so ideally, I wanted to use an ISO 400 film. I had liked the effects of the JCH film in other cameras I had used it in and thought I would try it first.

All the photos were taken using a Leica 50mm Summicron Lens.

I went to my usual spot where I like to test out new (to me) camera’s which was my local cemetery.

I like the peace and quiet there so I can fully focus on the camera and get used to how to use it.

I must admit when I first went to use the Leica, I did struggle getting used to to using a Rangefinder again.

For a couple of years, all I had been mainly using, was SLR’s and it had been a while since I had used a rangefinder camera.

I was slightly nervous whether the light meter would work and knew until I had the film developed, I wouldn’t know.

I decided to get the film developed at my local lab instead of developing it myself.

There are a few that came out quite dark and some, blurry, whilst I got to grips with using a rangefinder again:

You may also see a black line going through some of the photos. This got me into a major panic that there was a fault with my camera.

I checked online about this fault but couldn’t see any problems with the camera that had possibly caused this.

I knew that I would have to see when I got further films developed if they would have this problem.

Since getting further films developed, I’m pleased to report that it doesn’t appear to be a camera fault and I’ve discovered this line tends to appear in my photos when I get the film processed in an hour rather than waiting a couple of days. I’m not sure why that is at my local lab? perhaps it’s to do with the quicker time of drying them?

Unfortunately I don’t quite know enough about film developing to know the answer but perhaps someone reading this blog may be able to shed some light on the reason?

Here are a couple where I was quite impressed with the detail:

Overall, I think some of the photos came out ok for my first attempt at using this camera. Although I can’t deny it, I felt somewhat deflated after seeing the black lines in some of the photos.

Also, I realised that I perhaps made the wrong film choice when trying out this camera for the first time. The JCH film is very grainy and contrasty and I don’t think the way I shot it, showed the full potential of what this camera and lens combo could do.

I look forward to blogging in the next few weeks about other films I’ve since used in the Leica and my verdict on using them.

Leica M6 TTL Camera

Towards the end of last year, I treated myself to a Leica M6 TTL camera.

I had been toying with purchasing a Leica M analogue camera for a while but kept talking myself out of it, especially after I purchased my Hasselblad.

However, after using such beautiful quality camera’s such as the Hasselblad and the Olympus Pen FT, it kept drawing me back to wanting to own a Leica M for my 35mm photography.

After lots of research I decided I would like to own a Leica M6 TTL version. The main reason I wanted to own an M6 model was because it has the built in light meter.

I had originally thought I would like an M6 but in the end, I preferred the larger dial on the TTL and also the way it syncs with the flash when using one. Plus, it also has a circle in the light meter reading to show when the exposure is correct.

I also felt the way the dial turns with the light meter reading was more intuitive than the Leica M6 which, is the opposite way to the arrows in the viewfinder.

Lastly the TTL has an ‘off’ dial which is handy for the battery and I also wanted a newer Leica M6 so knew the TTL would have been the most recent of that series prior to the release of the M7.

The other great thing about the M6 TTL is that there are 3 x different viewfinders (.58, .72, .85) which links to the magnification you require in the viewfinder since it’s a rangefinder so you won’t actually be focusing the whole image, just the little square in the middle of the viewfinder.

I had tried out the .72 rangefinder in a friends leica so I was able to gauge what would work for me and decided on the .85 magnification since I mainly wanted to use a 50mm lens with this camera.

The different types of magnification work better for different lenses and I had read the .85 isn’t particularly great with 28mm lenses since you lose those lines in the viewfinder but I hadn’t planned on using that size lens anyway since I tend to use my Hasselblad (and soon my Intrepid 4×5) cameras for more serious landscape photography.

Deciding that I wanted both the classic chrome body along with the .85 magnification proved somewhat difficult to find. There seemed to be lots of black models for sale with this magnification but not chrome.

After several months of trawling through various vintage camera dealers and looking on eBay and gumtree etc, I finally found a camera dealer in France who had just what I was after.

I had read good reviews online (in french!) about this camera dealer so took the plunge and purchased the camera.

I was very excited and I certainly wasn’t disappointed when it arrived in the post. It was exactly as I expected so I was really pleased.

After toying with getting a cheaper 50mm lens which I know are quite good, in the end I decided if I’m purchasing a Leica M Camera, I may as well also get a Leica lens. I plan on making large prints in my darkroom so hope the picture quality/detail will still be good when printed to a larger size. In the end I decided on a 50mm Summicron lens and the main reason I decided on the Summicron version was because I had seen some great shots taken by other photographers on instagram using this particular lens and also, it was within my budget. I ended up getting a version with a built in hood since I figured that would be more suitable for me as I do find it a bit of a pain with my other camera’s when I have to keep adding on and physically removing the lens hood.

Since using this lens, I am certainly pleased I purchased one with the built in lens hood as it has been really convenient when taking photos.

I look forward to updating you all over the next few weeks with what films I’ve tried out in the camera so far.

It’s certainly been a very exciting few months for me using this camera!