Rather than spend a lot on the Leica SF20 flash, I bought the Olympus S20 flash for my M6TTL and have used it with mostly good results. One concern: when I mount the Olympus flash in the hot shoe, the flash symbol does not appear in the viewfinder. Does the symbol only appear when using a dedicated Leica flash or am I doing something wrong?

-- Jonathan Silvers (jbsilvers@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002

Answers

Excuse my English: look attentively at Leica recommendations book, in other words, is this particular flash unit allowed by Leica for M6- TTL body? If not, an eventual highter current risks to damage your hot shoe or internal electric circuitry. I suppose (but don't know your flash unit), the number / position of electric contacts is not adapted to switch on the LEDs in the viewfinder. I hope you'll receive more precise answers ...... waiting, be carefull.

Alain

-- alain.besancon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), May 15, 2002.

The Olympus S20 is a great flash unit. It is the same unit as the Leica CF and Hexar RF flash, with one exception: the Olypus has but a single contact to fire the flash. There is no dedicated circuitry to communicate with the flash-ready symbol in the finder or give TTL exposure. I have used one with my M6 classics for quite a while (tip: file off the front corner of the flash foot to match the Leica's angled shoe, so the flash slides all the way in). It would not be my choice with the M6TTL though, since the only real reason for paying extra over a Classic would ostensibly be the TTL flash.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 15, 2002.