Operation Manual

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ATTACHING THE FLASH UNIT
When attaching a ash unit to the Leica M9 ash
shoe (1.20), you should ensure that the foot of the
ash unit is fully inserted and the clamping nut (if
tted) is tightened to prevent it accidentally falling
out. This is particularly important for ash units with
additional control and signal contacts, because if it
moves from its position in the ash shoe the required
contacts can be broken, leading to malfunctions.
Note:
Before attaching the ash, the camera and the ash
unit must be turned o.
FLASH MODE
Fully automatic camera-controlled ash operation is
available for the Leica M9 when using system-compati-
ble ash units as described in the previous section, in
both exposure modes – aperture priority mode A and
manual setting – and with the snapshot prole.
In addition, automatic illumination regulation is per-
formed in all three exposure modes. This means that
in order to ensure a balanced relationship between
ash and available light at all times, the ash power is
reduced by up to 1
2
/
3
EV as ambient brightness increases.
However, if the ambient brightness plus even the
fastest possible ash sync speed of
1
/
180
s would
cause overexposure, the ash will not be red in aper-
ture priority mode. In such cases the shutter speed is
governed by the ambient brightness and is shown in
the viewnder.
In aperture priority
A and manual setting mode, but
not in the snapshot prole, the Leica M9 also enables
you to use other interesting ash techniques in your
compositions, such as synchronization of ash ring
with the 2
nd
shutter curtain rather than the 1
st
and
ashes with a slower shutter speed than the sync
speed of
1
/
180
s. These functions are set using the
menu on the camera (for more details, refer to the
corresponding sections below).
In addition the Leica M9 transfers the set sensitivity
to the ash unit. This allows the ash unit, provided
it has received such information and the aperture
manually set on the lens is also input on the ash unit,
to automatically adjust its range values accordingly.
The sensitivity setting cannot be inuenced from the
ash unit.