Off camera flash units for Sony/Minolta

[SwissJon]

I'm looking for a set of studio flashes that would work with my Camera.. A Sony A55.

I'd like them to be able to provide constant lighting as well as sync with my camera's flash. I'd like them to be portable with a rechargeable battery because I would like to do outdoor portraits, as well as run from mains for indoor photography. It fit a standard flash tripod, softbox and umbrella.

And it should not be particularly expensive!

So far I've found the Calument Genisis 300B which appears to fit the bill, although I can't tell if it will come with battery as standard or if I have to buy a separate part for that.. Aulny ideas.. Any other Ideas?? I can't believe it's that difficult to find..

Calumet Genesis 300B Flash Head - CF0507 - CF0507

[jml79]

Most studio lights are either powered by AC mains or are Generator and head setups. The 2 run a little different however you can find self contained inverters with batteries to run AC powered lights away from a plug. I have an AC inverter in my SUV that I use to run my lights if I am without power. I am planning in the future to just get some speed lights for when I am away from power.

Where you are going to have fun is triggering your lights from the A55. I have bashed my head on the wall figuring out the Sony remote triggering system. Once you get your lights, you are going to see that the in camera flash will likely trigger your monolights way to early in WL mode and the TTL preflash will trigger them early in every other mode. I am not 100% sure that you can not turn ttl preflash off in an A55 but you can't in Sony A100, A2xx, A3xx and A5xx so I am betting you can't in the A55 either. There are a couple of solutions. Any flash that can fit into your flash shoe and be run in manual mode including sony flashes will optically trigger studio flashes at the right time. There are several makers of radio triggers that will work in a sony hotshoe. I have the Yongnou YN-301 system that has a Sony compatible transmitter and the receiver has a standard hotshoe and a cable for triggering studio strobes. I paid $22us for the pair and they took about 2 weeks to arrive from Hong Kong. There is another Sony compatible system called IShoot.

You can also buy Sony to Hotshoe adapters so that you can use the normal radio triggers like Cactus, Radio Poppers etc. I bought the 301's because they were slimmer and smaller than having an adapter in the system as well and they were cheap. The adapter alone can range from $15-$75.

Sorry I couldn't help much with finding lights but I hope I have helped with stuff you may not have thought about yet and that would cause a huge amount of frustration.

[zona5101]

the battery for the calumet light is $150 pounds...
Calumet Genesis 300 PowerPort Power Pack - CF0508 - CF0508

Alien Bees has a portable pack for their lights and so does Profoto.
Dynalite uni400s too...

[SwissJon]

Thanks Zona (Bruce?!) That answers that.

JML.. You've been a great help. You've right about the preflash, the triggering system in th A55 is the same as my old A200.

I have a Sony HVL-F36AM (Sony Speedlight alike) which works very well in WL mode, but the problem with that is that it's line of sight only, and I want to put flash lighting round corners and in doorways to create some more interesting effects, basically in places where my camera can't "see" the flash.

I think I'll invest in the radio system you've got and some strobe lights and some on flash "soft boxes".. It sounds like the solution.. It's going to cost me a bit for the monolights I mentioned below.. About £400 for a kit, so maybe it's time to get the calculator out.

By the way, monolights.. If you put them on constant mode, rather than flash mode, are they just as bright?

One last question.. I'm intending to shoot mainly in B & W so I'm not really fussed about colour casts. These 5million candle power torches.. If I put a difusser between them and the model, will it provide enough lighting? They're about 50 times cheaper than a speedlight.

[jml79]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

By the way, monolights.. If you put them on constant mode, rather than flash mode, are they just as bright?

No.. In all of the monolights I have seen, the modelling light is a seperate bulb and is no where near as powerful as the flash. In my lights it is a 75w halogen. Enough to see where the light will fall and the shadows but not enough to take a picture with. They also get very hot so I turn them off as soon as I have set the lights up.

Originally Posted by SwissJon

One last question.. I'm intending to shoot mainly in B & W so I'm not really fussed about colour casts. These 5million candle power torches.. If I put a difusser between them and the model, will it provide enough lighting? They're about 50 times cheaper than a speedlight.

It will not provide as much light but it may provide enough... Your camera has a little more ISO capability than mine. I have used 500w worklights (insanely hot), car lights and even a surgical light once (for background, long story). Constant lighting is available and usually cheaper than strobes but to put things into perspective, a 150ws strobe is equivelent to about 35,000 watts of constant lighting at your cameras flash sync of 1/160. I know it sounds nuts but I did a test after the math came up with that insane number and although my test was crude it was enough to tell me that the math was at least very close to reality.

There are a ton of articles on the differenses between constant light, strobes and speedflashes. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

[SwissJon]

Blimey.. Thanks JML, I've really learned something today.

I'm really only after lighting a models face while I'm outside in the street. I'll bring a small but powerful hand torch so I can do like you said and see where the light falls from my speedlight, I ordered the IShoot radio system because I couldn't find yours. It comes with one shoe for the Sony Flash and 2 for Nikon/Canon which will make finding ceap 2nd and 3rd flashes fairly simple...

I'll get some proper studio lights at some point, but they're incredibly expensive so I may just content myself with renting Studio time for the time being, I'm only just getting into portrait photography, it's an interesting field, but as with everything else in photography, it's expensive to get started in.

One of these days I might have the money to go to some classes!