You gonna FLASH me, Bro?

[DonSchap]

I'm going to assume it works ... I loaned out my PWs ... and cannot test it.

[rmcshane]

Hopefully one of you can help me out...I'm trying to get my Sony F58AM to serve as the controller to another Sony flash (F56AM) so I can use it wirelessly. I'm using the 850 camera with the F58AM on the camera, but I can never get the wireless control signal receiver to blink so that it will communicate with the other flash. The other flash blinks fine in wireless mode and I've used it numerous times with an a100 camera to control it wirelessly. No matter how many times I work through the settings using the manual, the light doesn't blink. I sent the flash off for this problem to a repair center right after I got it because the thing wouldn't blink and I asusmed the wireless control signal receiver was busted. They sent one back (and now I'm wondering if they just sent mine back busted or if they have a bad batch of these) and this is the one that doesn't work. Is it busted or I am just missing something in the controls?

[DonSchap]

Okay, try this:


Turn "ON" your HVL-F58AM ... you know, tell it it is "pretty" and "has a nice waistline ..."

Oops

Anyway, with the flash "ON", press the "Fn" button right in the center of the quad rocker on the back of the flash and hold it down for several seconds, until the LCD panel displays the CONTROL codes. It should come up with "C 01". This is NOT the control code you want to change. You want control code "C 03"

Press the right rocker button and get to "C03".

Then, press the down rocker button to change the control to "CTRL2".

C-03.jpg (<- click on image to magnify)

This is the setting that controls the HVL-F56AM flash from the HVL-F58AM.

To exit quickly, simply shut OFF the flash and then turn it back to ON.

Let us know if this does the trick.


Good Luck!

[DonSchap]

One of the things I have been looking at, recently, is refining my flash capability. Most flashes FLOOD the area with concentrated light and that can be a lot MORE light than you really need, even when you clamp down on all the settings. Often, when modifying the camera settings, you soon find yourself operating with light settings you really do not want to use. Tight apertures, higher shutter speeds and lower ISO, to compensate. The thing is … all these adjustments have their respective limits.

Normal camera settings for a standard portrait flash shot are around (and this is rough, but quite normal)

Ap: f/4 or f/5.6
SS: 1/60 or 1/125
ISO: 400

Most flash exercises/experiences are a virtual experiment in terror, with you usually having to accept whatever TTL setting the flash can do and the spread it offers. With external flash modifiers, your illumination options become far more controlled, but YOU need to get into the game to make proper use of them.

Portable grids offer a very direct concentration of light, illumination only a 10-30 degrees of the area in front of the flash (depending on the distance) and allows multiple flashes to be strategically placed and reduce the amount of post-processing image manipulation you may have to do to produce the desired response.

SONY-HVL-F56AM-w-GRID.jpg

It can put a nice spot of light in one place, without affecting other illumination. So, for example, if you just want to isolate and illuminate just the dancing couple, here’s a convenient solution.

A diffuser box provides a wider, diffused lighting source beam, but eliminates the flash scatter of the naked flash head.

Harbor-Ultmt-LT-Box-small.jpg

It softens the light and allows shadows to become less harsh and again, a real time saver against subsequent post processing. While the flashes diffusing, drop down screen can be handy, to offer a more balanced looking source, this can be more appropriate.

The cost of these additional items is relatively cheap, but they can improve your flash efforts enormously. Just work with them and practice their use. The time will come and then you will be ready with an alternative lighting solution rather than just a bare flash head.

[PWhite214]

I just received a couple of TF-323 adapters. This adapter will add a PC Sync port to a Minolta Maxxum or Sony Camera as well as a Minolta Maxxum or Sony flash. I like the fact I can add a PC port and mount a flash on the camera.

TF-323 SONY & Minolta TTL Hot Shoe to PC Sync Adapter - eBay (item 250536479763 end time Mar-24-10 08:07:21 PDT)

Phil

[DonSchap]

One of the “budget” flash solutions resides in a manufacturer rather close to my home. The Morris Company builds MASTER & SLAVE flash units that screw right into regular 120v lamp sockets. They can make for an extremely affordable solution to main and background strobes. The MASTER-type units have a port on them that allows for wired triggering, or you can trigger them in SLAVE mode your camera’s pop up flash or external flash unit.

The SLAVE-units are a bit cheaper and can only trigger when they “sense” another flash going off. They have no wired-sync port.

All you have to do is place them in a standard 120v lamp socket, point the flash at your subject or background and you are in business.

MASTER-screw-in-Flash.jpg

Now, you have to bear in mind that these flash units are what they are, simple units, as far as lumens go. There are no intensity adjustments on them to be made, other than positioning them closer or further away from your subject. You can use reflective devices and colored-lenses on them, to offer different lighting effects, but they are limited in that way.

The main attraction is that they are truly cost-effective, for what they do, and work as advertised. For 85% of the standard shots, you do not have to spend a lot of money to be effective. Sure, it helps to have better and more flexible gear, but what the heck, you should start somewhere and you can make a $100 go a lot further with a pair of these. You just have to understand what you have to work with, where the light really needs to be … and go from there.