Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have had an M3 since 1967. The first three years of use I took several thousand pictures with it using a Braun Electronic Flash. The Braun flash I used consisted of a heavy battery pack and a flash head and arm. The pictures were not particularly artsy, but were basically formula publicity shots. You will note that the M3 has two flash plugs. One is for bulbs and the other is for electronic flash. The original M3 flash plugs are not standard and you will need either a special flash cord, or a much readily available adapter (a couple of US dollars from places such as B & H). I like now use a Vivitar 283, mounted on a adapter from the tripod mount with a flash handle at the right side of the camera. This way, I can take the handle off and hand hold the flash to get some modeling as opposed to having the flash mounted on the accessory shoe (note that it is not a hot shoe, unless it has been converted). This way I can get some control of the modeling light rather than have it from directly above the lens. The 283 is quite cheap and does the job for which it was designed. If you want to have a real blast, and can find flash bulbs, try those. They will give you control of the flash output through both shutter speed and aperture. You are no longer constrained by the shutter synch speed. You will need a table showing shutter speed/bulb burning characteristics to get close to a correct exposure though. (The flash output is determined by the burn time of the flash bulb...the M synch speed is delayed to get the maximum output of the bulb...different bulbs have different burn rates). Hope this is of some help. I think I will also post it to the LUG so that they can critique any misinformation. Of course if they don't like flash...TS. Regards, Bill Larsen - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html