I apologize if I was not clear about this, earlier. It can be difficult to assume certain levels of understanding from a "one-way" explanation. I would appreciate feedback for any ambiguous spots you may encounter. This is the digital photography “school”, so it is important that the proper explanation be employed and conveyed.
Here we go, from the beginning (stick with me on this, I believe this explanation will eventually wind up where you want to be, but hopefully you will also understand some other built-in options you have, along the way):
First -> Purchase two
PocketWizard PLUS II (<- click on this) Transceivers and four "AA" batteries.
Second -> Purchase a
FS1100 (<- click on this) hot shoe adapter;
FS1200 (<- click on this) hot shoe adapter and a
"standard" mini-stand flash foot (not a SONY flash foot).
Some background:
Minolta/SONY external flashes (Minolta 3600 HS D, Minolta 5600 HS D, SONY HVL-F36AM, SONY HVL-F56AM, SONY HVL-F42AM, SONY HVL-58AM) have a "wireless" mode, which allows the device to be triggered by the built-in (“pop-up”) pre-flash of the DSLR camera. Supposedly … this flash will trigger the “Wireless” a split second after the pop-up goes off. In practice … sometimes, it is hard to say.
Anyway, this system is ‘optical’ and as such the remote “wireless” flashes have to “see” the pop-up’s ‘pre-flash’ to work properly. (Add procedure for wireless)
Let’s review the general procedure to do this, first:
1) Attach the flash to the camera and turn the power of the flash and the camera on.
2) Set the camera to wireless flash.
3) Remove the flash from the camera and raise the built-in flash.
4) Set up (orient) the camera and flash.
5) Make sure that the built-in flash and external flash are fully charged.
6) Use test flash to check flash operation.
7) Check again that the built-in and external flash are fully charged, and press the shutter button to take the photo.
To avoid “optical” failure, either due to sunlight or some kind of optical interference, such as a bright lamp or blockage (could be as simple as the flash simply not seeing the pop-up’s pre-flash)
Consider this the “normal” method of remote flash operation.
Now, we get to the fun stuff, using a third party RF (radio frequency) remote trigger. To do this with a SONY or Minolta brand external flash (see above list), you will need a way to get the trigger signal into the external flash. This can be done by use of a hot shoe adapter (FS1200). The FS1200 mounts on the bottom of the external flash, on its hot shoe, and provides a pc-sync port. Through the pc-sync port, you can attach a (REMOTE) third party triggering device, such as a PocketWizard. (it should be mentioned, as a matter of convenience, that you should also acquire a
‘standard’ flash mini-stand to support your flash, as the provided SONY flash foot will not work with the FS1200 adapter because of the adapter’s design. It was originally designed to allow the advanced flashed to work on the older Minolta camera’s ‘standard’ hot shoe.)
If you are using one of the new SONY DSLRs (A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380) or an A100, you will need a FS1100 adapter for the camera’s hot shoe, to provide a pc-sync port to the (LOCAL) third party triggering device.
The PC sync cables are provided with these devices, so you should all set to go, with the following procedure.
At the camera location:
1) Attach the FS1100 adapter to the hot shoe of the DSLR.
2) Plug the short pc-sync cable into the pc-sync port of the FS1100 adapter (located on the side of the adapter)
3) Plug the miniature plug of the pc-sync into “camera/flash” port of the PocketWizard device.
4) Turn on the PocketWizard. The LEDs should start to flash.
At the flash location:
5) Attach the FS1200 adapter to the bottom of the external SONY flash.
6) Plug the short pc-sync cable into the pc-sync port of the FS1200 adapter (located on the side of the adapter)
7) Plug the miniature plug of the pc-sync cable into “camera/flash” port of the PocketWizard device.
8) Turn on the PocketWizard. After a second or two, the LEDs of this device and the camera’s PocketWizard should now should start to flash in synchronization.
9) Position the flash as you wish.
http://digital-photography-school.co...2&d=1248414925 (<- click link for image)
Go take an image. This should eliminate an distance issues you will have, up to about forty feet.
The entire set up is
highly portable and easy to use. I hope this was helpful
