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Even More M8 Fun [POST YER PIX!]

Maggie O

Active member
I love Mitchell Movie cameras Maggie ... old time rock 'n roll. The "Mickey Mouse Ears" film transport cans are soooo cool.

I learned cinematography and editing the hard way ... shot my buddy's Beaulieu as a kid and manually edited in the basement the old fashioned way ... film hanging all over the place, tape splicing, etc. etc.
You and me both! Mitchells are awesome- I worked a job doing stop-motion animation with a Mitchell, back when I was in the Twin Cities. What a cool piece of kit.

I started out making Super-8 pictures with a Sanyo in highschool and moved to a Beaulieu and then a Bolex in art school (MCAD). Fun, but wow, a LOT of hard work!

My film career was sidetracked by what turned out to be an ill-considered marriage and the shelving of that dream for another. Oh well, it's been an interesting ride!

Oh, and great shots of the Arri rig!!!
 

Maggie O

Active member
I got an SF-24D. Domino isn't sure he likes it.



The two things I don't like: 1)No bounce. But I knew that going in and its size makes up for that. 2)The annoying tendency for the M8 to go to sleep and if I quickly squeeze off a shot, the flash doesn't fire and the shutter stays open for an ungodly amount of time. GRRRRRRRRRR. :wtf:
 

Maggie O

Active member
Dad likes it a bit more, but that might just be the hot chocolate:



That's whipped cream on the lip and cotton in his nose. (he had surgery on it to remove a polyp)
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Maggie, what are your camera settings? Are you using Manual mode and dragging the shutter?

There is a diffuser I use with the FS24D called the S-Fill that Lutz invented. Works really well.
 

Maggie O

Active member
Maggie, what are your camera settings? Are you using Manual mode and dragging the shutter?

There is a diffuser I use with the FS24D called the S-Fill that Lutz invented. Works really well.
I was shooting those on full TTL auto mode with the camera on "A."
 

fotografz

Well-known member
I was shooting those on full TTL auto mode with the camera on "A."
Try "dragging the shutter" ... set the lowest, hand-holdable manual shutter speed you can manage instead of "A", and set the widest lens aperture you can for the DOF needed ... with the flash set to TTL (and when closer to the subject try -2/3rds stop compensation on the flash).

Dragging the shutter opens up the backgrounds, and the flash will freeze the subject due the duration being much shorter than the shutter speed.

In reality, I've found the SF flashes are only good for "fill flash" ... a supplement to the M system's low light abilities.

BTW, "A" is why your shutter says open forever if the flash doesn't fire.
 

Maggie O

Active member
BTW, "A" is why your shutter says open forever if the flash doesn't fire.
I'm aware of that. I'm bitching about how it should fire that flash every time, if the damn thing is on.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
The few times I mounted my Nikon flash to the M8 I noticed the same thing. For some reason, it decides not to fire and then suddenly does. I attributed it to the mismatch of the brands (Nikon Leica... hey, if Nikon does produce a rangefinder that accepts Leica lenses you could call it a Neica. :) )
 

jaapv

Subscriber Member
I can only say I'm extremely pleased with my venerable Metz MZ3, which I bought for next to nothing. As far as I'm concerned that whole M-TTL stuff is totally unnecessary.;)
Well -maybe for fill-flash.

 

fotografz

Well-known member
I'm aware of that. I'm bitching about how it should fire that flash every time, if the damn thing is on.
Sorry, I misunderstood. I also noticed that my M8 is nodding off. I don't remember it doing that before the last firmware upgrade. May be incorrect in this, yet I don't recall that irritating tendency ... especially irritating since it take a bit to rouse itself. Perhaps there is a menu setting I missed.
 
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Maggie O

Active member
Jaap, I've used a Vivitar 285HV or Vivitar 283 for most of my life, but man, they are just so honkin' BIG! Nothing makes for better light, but on an M8, I have to have the hand grip on and the flash fairly overwhelms the camera. So, I thought I'd try a smaller flash and it seemed like folks around here were getting good results with the Leica. Aside from its narcolepsy, it works well as a non-bounce-able flash.
 

Terry

New member
It was supposed to snow this evening and I thought it would be fun to take some shots on my way home in the snow....it hasn't started yet but on my walk home I decided to just take some time to have some fun out on the street....this is my new 50 lux and I really am enjoying it....although I think I have said that after every lens I've bought.

f1.4 1/45s ISO 160 (yes I upped the ISO on other shots :rolleyes:)

 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
GREAT capture Terry!

Oh, and a PS: Not sure I mentioned it, but one of my favorite accessories for that lens is a 3-stop ND filter (B+W .9 or 8x) so you can shoot it wide open in normal sunlight. A 4-stop would be even better, especially if you're going to have the new shutter work done, but I've not found any. They seem to jump from 3 to 6 stop, and 6 might even be okay... Let's see, a 6-stop would get you to roughly 1/500th at f1.4 with ISO 160 in sunlight, where my 3-stop is 1/4000th. Hmmm, methinks I may get a 6 :)
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Jaap, I've used a Vivitar 285HV or Vivitar 283 for most of my life, but man, they are just so honkin' BIG! Nothing makes for better light, but on an M8, I have to have the hand grip on and the flash fairly overwhelms the camera.
You need to be really careful using these older "high trigger voltage" flashes on newer digital cameras, and should be using a "Safe Synch" adapter of some type to avoid frying the camera electronics. Here are a few from Wein: http://www.weinproducts.com/safesyncs.htm

Cheers,
 
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