[Leica] How to do fill in flash with R8 in Aperture Priority

["Bob Parsons" <bobp@ntlworld.com>]

Since the LUG is a sharing caring group :) I'll share :).

What I wanted to do was to use TTL fill in flash with the R8 in
aperture priority mode. I'm working with actors on stage where
the lighting keeps changing. I need be at full aperture or near to
get a high enough shutter speed with the ambient light.

The problem is that as soon as the flash tells the camera it's
charged and ready; in "A" mode the R8 fixes the shutter speed at
1/250 sec.

I asked the people who should know and was told it couldn't be
done. Well.....after much thought.... 

Set the mode to T (shutter priority) and set the shutter speed
to the longest time of 16 seconds. You can now set the
aperture and the camera will select a shutter speed to give a
correct exposure for the ambient light. You can adjust the
amount of flash fill (say -1 to -1 2/3 stops) on the SCA adapter
or flash. 

This works as long as the chosen aperture and a shutter speed
of 16 seconds will over expose and the shutter speed needed
for correct exposure is not shorter than 1/250 sec.

Why it works, is the camera detects that a shutter speed of 16
seconds will over expose, assumes the user has made an error
and changes to an aperture priority mode in an attempt to get a
correctly exposed picture.  The only down side is a flashing T
displayed in the viewfinder. This is because the mode switch is
set to T and the lens is not stopped down fully.

Bob Parsons.






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