Sony F717 with external flash

[sweat100]

The F1000 is a kind of unpredictable flash if ur range of shooting is >1m. sometimes it tends to overexpose the pictures, sometimes it underexposes.
I have noticed there are 2 factors which affects the flash intensity.

1. The PHYSICAL shooting distance between the camera and the subject.

2. The "in-camera" reported distance setting.

3. Aperature setting

In auto mode,

For point 1, the flash sensor is an infrared area cum light sensor, so if they sense things too near they will cut the flash power. But if things are more than 1m, it will usually work correctly. If you have an omni bounce pointing direct, it will give a very dim flash, because the light is spread to the sensor when the omni bounce diffuses, so the flash will just stop prematurely.

For point 2, if the camera is set to macro mode, the flash is usually weaker. This observation is made when i attached the wide angle convertor and set to macro mode. The focusing distance for the WA is 0.11m. so everytime it will underexpose my pics even though i point will at some subject far away.

For point 3, (in manual mode)
This flash usually use the largest aperature possible (any idea why? :dunno: ) Some times if you find that your picture is over exposed, you can stop down the aperature to get a better exposed pic. If not you can cover the sensor and make the flash go full balst. For full blast, i usually for people at 1-2 M away, i set it to f 3.5-4. subjects 5-7m away, f2.5-3.2

If you use indoor bounce flash, this thing works very well, together with either a bounce card or omni bounce.

Hope that helps. Correct me if there are any errors to my observations. Thanks.

 

[JaGr]

i am planning to buy the metz 32z-1
went to AP to take a look today. seems like u have to do some settings for the flash for every photo you take. don't seem to have auto mode. can someone enlighten? thanks

 

[mpenza]

push the slider to any of the A position for the Auto modes:

http://mpenza.clubsnap.org/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album04&id=aaj

 

[JaGr]

I also read that the _ SCA 3602 M adaptor is out and works with the MZ-3 flash for TTL. but AP ppl tell me that MZ-3 will not work with 717 leh

 

[mpenza]

they may not know. best is to test it out yourself.

 

[JaGr]

I bought the 32mz-3 and awaiting the SCA3602M adaptor to be out later on next month so that I can TTL with the cam. Meanwhile I am very confused with the settings of the flash so every shot is by trial and error. There are 3 A settings but normally don't know which one to set. The leftmost one usually gives washed out photos. How about ISO, focal length etc are those important settings.

 

[Zerstorer]

Originally posted by JaGr
I bought the 32mz-3 and awaiting the SCA3602M adaptor to be out later on next month so that I can TTL with the cam. Meanwhile I am very confused with the settings of the flash so every shot is by trial and error. There are 3 A settings but normally don't know which one to set. The leftmost one usually gives washed out photos. How about ISO, focal length etc are those important settings.

The Auto modes must be matched to the Aperture and ISO settings on the camera.

Check the flash manual for which apertures does each mode correspond to@ISO100.

When you double the ISO, remember to increase the aperture on the camera by 1.4x as well.

 

[ghinson]

Sorry for bumping this older thread to the front, but it is the most generic external flash on a F717 thread I could find.

I have an older Sunpak auto 30dx external flash that has an attachment for older Nikon cameras (NE-2D). I want to use this handheld with my F717. Is there a cord available that would allow me to attach it to the hotshoe of my Sony and work? It doesn't work when directly attached.

Thanks.