We're going to do a quick run through about using various flashes with modern Leica cameras. Reacting to a comment...

 

Here's the question from Re Welch: 

"Which camera version of the Godox V1 flashes and trigger did you use on the Leica Q2? Does that model work with all the Leica camera bodies (Q2/3, SL2/3, M10/11?

I haven't worked with flash before (I'm not a pro photographer) and I've been looking for a small flash system that will work across Leica bodies."

I'm pretty certain this is in response to my breezy description of working with flash on a job on Monday. So, let's dive in.

Short answer: none of the Godox V1 flashes currently provides TTL with Leica cameras directly. 

Leica has a slim history with flash. To the best of my knowledge they've never made one, in house, for their cameras. They have depended on third party suppliers to make flashes for them by selecting models already in production for other camera brands, changing the pin configuration in the hotshoes to match the pin configuration on their own cameras and then re-badging the flashes. As far as I know the vast majority of flashes until recently came from the German flash company, Metz. The two current flashes for Leica cameras, the SF60 and SF40 are both current and are re-badged flashes from Japanese maker, Nissin. 

The big issue for Leica owners is that dedicated flashes made for other camera makers' products don't work in TTL with Leica cameras and in most cases can only be used in manual exposure settings. In other words, setting the ISO, and Aperture on camera and then using the power ratio controls on most flashes to zero in on correct exposures. Another issue is that the re-badged flashes made specifically for Leica by Nissin are frightfully overpriced --- but I guess that's a product of lower demand. 

For a long time, after the demise of the SCA system of interchangeable feet on older Metz flashes, no one made radio triggers that could do TTL specifically with Leica cameras. Now (finally) Godox has introduced a flash trigger, model: X Pro II L, which is a radio trigger with a Leica foot and which can control OFF CAMERA (only) flashes. If a flash is capable of TTL operation, such as a Godox V1 dedicated to the Fuji or Olympus protocol (the two I own), the X Pro II L will work with them to provide TTL flash exposure for the the SL family of Leicas, the Q cameras and digital M cameras. What this system will not supply is convenient on-camera flash. With the exception of the SF60 and SF40 there are no current flashes made for the Leica mount which can provide TTL flash exposure directly in the hotshoe of the camera. 

When I worked with Godox flashes on Monday I did NOT use them mounted directly on the camera. I mounted the X ProII L trigger on the camera and used the trigger to fire the flashes which were positioned on light stands, away from the camera. Since I wanted a group of shots made in one location to be consistent it was important to me to use the flashes in a manual mode. With the trigger in the hot shoe I could control up to five different groups of flashes. I could put each one of the four flashes I was using in its own group (A,B,C....) and use the Godox radio trigger in the hotshoe to adjust the manual power ratio of each group. 

So, for example, the two main flashes I might have used to bounce off a high ceiling would be set to 1/2 power. One flash I used bouncing off a wall didn't need to be as bright so I put it in another group and set that group, on the trigger, to 1/8th power. I just needed a slight puff of light from the fourth flash so it got its own group and was set to 1/32nd power. Then I left the settings alone as I shot through a series of 20 or 30 frames trying to get the best range of expressions across five or six people in a non-choreographed session. With the flash set manually neither the color nor the exposure changes from frame to frame which makes files much easier to batch process in post production. 

So, none of the flashes from Godox could be used in TTL mode directly on the camera. All of them could be controlled and fired in manual modes from the flash trigger on the camera. Some of the Godox flashes feature TTL exposure for specific and some don't. Godox make a bunch of rudimentary flashes with a single contact pin in their flash foot just for triggering. All of these more basic flashes are a good bargain for someone who is used to working with full manual flashes and can be mounted and used on Leicas but they will not provide any sort of automation or signaling through the camera. 

The V1's can provide TTL exposure but NOT via a direct hotshoe connection. They have to be controlled via an intermediary radio trigger dedicated to Leica. That would be, at this juncture, the Godox X Pro II L. 

If you want to use a flash directly on the camera and you want to use TTL your choices are to use one of  the new and current flashes (SF40 and SF60) or to scout around for previous generation flashes made by Metz but branded for Leica. These have the right pin configurations on the flash foot to match up with the pins on the hot shoes and, more importantly, they are designed to transmit full information between camera and flash. 

I can't bring myself to buy the new and current Leica flashes because it seems to me to be a waste of money. Especially since all my corporate jobs, with the exception of event work (galas, conferences, etc.) are locked down and shot with manual flashes. A holdover, I am sure, from my years/decades of working with big studio flashes that never offered anything but manual exposure controls. 

There are times when I do want to use Leicas together with TTL flashes. A good example might be using flash to make candid portraits at corporate receptions or social functions where there is no time to fiddle with lights and where the camera to subject distances are constantly changing. 

I've sourced two different Metz-made, and Leica-branded flashes made between 2010 and 2019. One is the SF 58 flash and the other is the SF64 flash. Both are made to be used with all current Leica camera models and, as far as I know, all digital M cameras. I have used them on the SL2, the Q2 and the M240 cameras and they all function together as they should. These two flashes can sometimes be found used and range in pricing from $295-$600+ depending on where you look. 

I chose these flashes because they also have feature we have not yet discussed. It's a feature held over from the flashes of the 1980's and 1990's but it offers automation usability for a wide selection of cameras and not just the Leicas. It's a mode function called: "Automatic" and it's different from TTL. 

TTL flash measures exposure at the film plane, in the camera, and then tells the flash when to stop putting out light for a correct exposure. The sensor is in the camera, hence TTL (through the lens). 

Flashes with an automatic mode are more or less autonomous. The have a sensor built into the front of the flash itself. If the flash is set up with an inputted ISO and f-stop then when it is triggered the sensor on the front starts measuring light reflected back towards it from the subject and, when it senses that the light is sufficient for a good exposure it quenches the flash. It's not quite as accurate (and fancy) as the TTL flashes but it doesn't require a flash to be wholly dedicated to a specific camera. In my experience, if you remember to point the flash sensor toward the right part of a scene, the automatic mode can be almost as good as TTL and sometimes even better. Bonus, I can use an "automatic" flash on any camera that has a hot shoe with a center flash firing pin (most do).

Sadly this is a feature that's fallen off most recent flashes almost entirely. When I was testing flashes to resupply myself for a big project last month I searched for flashes that offered an automatic setting. I found a Metz flash, dedicated to Olympus cameras, that had that cherished mode and looks exactly like the Leica SF 58 dedicated flash (but with a metal foot instead of a plastic foot). The pins didn't match from camera to flash but the main trigger pin in the center of the foot and shoe are pretty much an industry standard and the flash triggers with no problems. I could use it all day long in the automatic mode, get automatic exposures but not dedicated TTL exposures. The used, but mint, version of the flash for Olympus was available for a fraction of the cost of the Leica branded used flashes. I think I spent $100 on it... 

One more thing. On most of the flashes from Metz, Godox and Leica (previous to the SF40 and SF60) you have the option to use a built in optical slave/receiver on each flash to trigger it. You would use this if you were setting up multiple flashes around a room or venue that all needed to be triggered at the same time but where some or all of the flashes did not have the ability to "see" or communicate with radio triggers. Each flash could be set to a different power level in manual, set to S1 mode (slave, first curtain) and then you can fire them by putting a flash in the hot shoe that just acts as a trigger. The light goes off and the optical sensors on all the other flashes "see" the light and fire at the same time. 

A variation of this might be that you own one radio trigger that can speak to one of the flashes. You use the radio trigger to fire the flash dedicated for that trigger and then the rest of the lights that are not radio capable see the flash and trigger at the same time. It's a method that's worked well for a long time. 

Flashes of all kinds come in quite handy. Not everything can be shot well with available light only. Learning to use off camera flash gives you lots more tools in the tool box. But there are still plenty of times when a good flash in the shoe of your camera makes perfect sense. Picking the right one is magic. Using it is science. And, of course, practice.  

Hope this is helpful. I wrote a whole book about this but this is a pretty tidy summation....

 Kirk's book on small flashes at Amazon.