Sony A200 & HVL-F42AM flash gun help required...
Discussion
Hi Folks
I have got a Sony A200 SLR & HVL-F42AM flash gun, and I need a bit of help understnding what the hell is going on. Below there are 3 photos I took at race retro, with all of the important details behind each shot, and as you can by far and away the best shot is without the gun!
26mm 1/60 F5.6 ISO400 with flash gun, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
26mm 1/60 F5.6 ISO200 with flash gun, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
One of the above two shots was in P and one in full auto. But I can't remember which way round.
20mm 1/10 F4.0 ISO400 no flash gun, IS on, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
What am I doing wrong?
I have got a Sony A200 SLR & HVL-F42AM flash gun, and I need a bit of help understnding what the hell is going on. Below there are 3 photos I took at race retro, with all of the important details behind each shot, and as you can by far and away the best shot is without the gun!
26mm 1/60 F5.6 ISO400 with flash gun, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
26mm 1/60 F5.6 ISO200 with flash gun, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
One of the above two shots was in P and one in full auto. But I can't remember which way round.
20mm 1/10 F4.0 ISO400 no flash gun, IS on, pattern metering mode, and curiously it says light source unknown
What am I doing wrong?
sgrimshaw said:
Ask a stupid question ..... do you actually see the flash go off?
Secondly, have you inadvertantly set the flash compensation?
It's a fair question. The problem is because you are looking down the lens I'm not sure if the flash is going off or not. What I can say, is the gun works from the test button and when the flash gun is attached the camera changes to 1/60 sec and I have to wait from it to recharge.Secondly, have you inadvertantly set the flash compensation?
Not sure about the flash compensation. I'll google to see if it has such a thing.
My guess is that for whatever reason, the flash is firing far too dimly. It would be unusual in my experience, but maybe the camera is seeing the bright highlights on the tyre and bodywork of the car and deciding it shouldn't flash any more brightly in order not to blow-out the image.
Do you have the same problem on most photos or was it just this particular scene?
Do you have the same problem on most photos or was it just this particular scene?
Don't know the gear, but possibly you have the flash set to manual, and set to '1/64' or similar?
It also seems to be forcing the camera to 1/60th, whereas with the flash removed the exposure was correct at 1/10th. That's not helping.
Go read those flat white paper jobbies made of paper
In addition, using direct flash on a shiny object in a dark room is doomed to failure anyway!
It also seems to be forcing the camera to 1/60th, whereas with the flash removed the exposure was correct at 1/10th. That's not helping.
Go read those flat white paper jobbies made of paper
In addition, using direct flash on a shiny object in a dark room is doomed to failure anyway!
Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 8th March 15:51
It's a problem I have been having for a while, and I don't think it is connected to the gun. When I first bought the camera the on board flash produced simialr result, I put this down to it being as useful as a candle and bought the gun as I intended to.
However, the gun does not produce the result I expected. The issue was highlight at Race Retro when a mate with a similar Sony camera was producing better results with no flash, purely using IS.
Hmm, manuals it is then...
However, the gun does not produce the result I expected. The issue was highlight at Race Retro when a mate with a similar Sony camera was producing better results with no flash, purely using IS.
Hmm, manuals it is then...
Right, so several hours of taking picutres of the the wifes rabbit this evening seems to show that it is a flash compensation issue.
What the camera thinks is correctly exposed with the flash, I think is under exposed, pushing the flash compensation up to +1 produces something much more like it. Possibly slight over exposes, more experimenation required.
Also, the gun has a drop down in built diffuser, this seems to be aimed for wide angle shots, but it does seem to improve the exposure across the range.
What the camera thinks is correctly exposed with the flash, I think is under exposed, pushing the flash compensation up to +1 produces something much more like it. Possibly slight over exposes, more experimenation required.
Also, the gun has a drop down in built diffuser, this seems to be aimed for wide angle shots, but it does seem to improve the exposure across the range.
Megaflow said:
the wifes rabbit
!!I think the exposure is so far out that, whilst +FEV might help, there's probably some fundamental issue you haven't found. Try an easy subject, like a section of your living room, with everything on default and see how it looks on the histogram.
NB: Dropping the diffuser may be activating some other feature.
Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 8th March 22:53
Megaflow said:
More playing reveals changing the flash control setting from ADI to TTL appears to negate the need for the flash compensation.
If I was being mega picky you say it was still maybe 1/4 stop under, but that can be tweaked with the diffuser or compensation.
I've got an A200 and F42, and have never had to amend that setting. Vary between auto and manual, never use direct flash (always bounce it off something), and its never failed to get excellent results.If I was being mega picky you say it was still maybe 1/4 stop under, but that can be tweaked with the diffuser or compensation.
Megaflow said:
More playing reveals changing the flash control setting from ADI to TTL appears to negate the need for the flash compensation. If I was being mega picky you say it was still maybe 1/4 stop under, but that can be tweaked with the diffuser or compensation.
So just by changing it to TTL you've gone from about four stops under to just 0.25 stop... I'd say that's right.What the heck is ADI?
Good news. You see there's always an answer, you just have to figure out what it is.
When you get one too-clever bit of kit fighting against you (or teaming up with a too-clever flashgun), suddenly you're not in control and can't get it back because you don't know what all those Auto settings are doing.
When you get one too-clever bit of kit fighting against you (or teaming up with a too-clever flashgun), suddenly you're not in control and can't get it back because you don't know what all those Auto settings are doing.
Your lens also needs to be ADI compatible to use ADI.
You can check here:
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp
You can check here:
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp
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