Dumbass that I can be sometimes, I tried a Nikon TTL flash on my M6 TTL this afternoon. YES, I KNOW, I SHOULD HAVE SEARCHED THE ARCHIVED POSTS BEFORE TRYING IT. Anyhow, it drained the battery completely, giving me cause for alarm. When I replaced the battery, the LED lights resumed their usual operation and everything seemed to be working fine.

My concern is that I may have damaged the circuits although there are no symptoms of it at the moment. Is it possible that I fried the electronics? Has anyone actually heard of this happening? We've all read the warnings about this, but I can't find a specific instance of this actually happening. Would such damage be immediately apparent, or something I'll discover later (while shooting some once-in-a-lifetime event, no less)? Should I have it tested, or just take a Xanax, watch some television and not worry about it?

Another concern: did I fry my friend's Nikon flash? I'm not as worried about this, as it will no doubt be cheaper to replace than having my M6 repaired. Nonetheless, I have no way of testing it at the moment, as I'm not about to mount it to the M6 again!

Thanks for your advice. I hope the consensus of opinions is optimistic.

Luke

-- Luke Dunlap (luked@mail.utexas.edu), January 30, 2002

Answers

Many people have tried the same thing and have been equally unsuccessful; however, no one has damaged their camera or flash.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 30, 2002.

I'd second Johns opinion (with no guarantees of course). A customer of mine recently did this. We sent it to the Leica repair depot to have it checked, just to be sure, and it came back with a clean bill of health - though with a comment by the repair tech to not take this chance again.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

Amazing!

I mean, the most elementary design of electronics implement a "Fool Proof" (no arm or pun intended, just an expresssion, Capito?)

For BMW, the suppliers Like Siemens VDO or Blackpunt must design Navigation and In Car Radio able to support a inverted polarity or a 24V (2X the battery).

Hello Mister Leica? Come here to France, at least when the M6 fries, there will be a definite smell of Garlic.

Cheers. X.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), January 31, 2002.