Flash Woes

[Pirata]

I have a Sony DSLR A200 and I bought a HVL-F-56AM flash. The flash arrived yesterday and it does not provide sufficient light to shoot pics. I have played round with the settings and th only way I can get it to shoot a decent pic in in manual mode with either a high ISO setting or a long exposure time.

There is a RATIO setting that can be either off/on. When I use this setting it overexposes the shot unless I am shooting a longer distance or I am using the 17mm zoom. The major bummer to this setting is when I turn it off it automatically resets back to the TTL mode making me have to set th flash every time I turn it on.

Now in the TTL mode I am using a 1/1 power level and the flash range can be either manually or automatically. Being not the best scientist and not seeing subtle changes I will go from one extreme to the other and see a difference in the lighting in the shot but neither of the settings is sufficient light for the pic.

I originally tried this flash attached to the camera then via a remote cable. When the flash was attached to the camera the flash was insufficient. When I connected it remotely it was enough light however both the external flash and the built in flash were being used when I took a pic. Now this morning I am unable to have both flashes at the same time no matter what have tried.

Does anyone have any advise to solve this dilema? Thanks.

 

[Village Idiot]

I have a Sony DSLR A200 and I bought a HVL-F-56AM flash. The flash arrived yesterday and it does not provide sufficient light to shoot pics. I have played round with the settings and th only way I can get it to shoot a decent pic in in manual mode with either a high ISO setting or a long exposure time.

There is a RATIO setting that can be either off/on. When I use this setting it overexposes the shot unless I am shooting a longer distance or I am using the 17mm zoom. The major bummer to this setting is when I turn it off it automatically resets back to the TTL mode making me have to set th flash every time I turn it on.

Now in the TTL mode I am using a 1/1 power level and the flash range can be either manually or automatically. Being not the best scientist and not seeing subtle changes I will go from one extreme to the other and see a difference in the lighting in the shot but neither of the settings is sufficient light for the pic.

I originally tried this flash attached to the camera then via a remote cable. When the flash was attached to the camera the flash was insufficient. When I connected it remotely it was enough light however both the external flash and the built in flash were being used when I took a pic. Now this morning I am unable to have both flashes at the same time no matter what have tried.

Does anyone have any advise to solve this dilema? Thanks.

The guide numbers for the flash are:

104' (32m) at 28mm
144' (44m) at 50mm
183' (56m) at 85mm

It has more than sufficient power, you just have to know how to use it.

You should really post some examples of how your pictures are turning out. There's really not much advice I can offer if I'm not seeing your results.

 

[Pirata]

Here's examples:

With the external flash on the stock settings the flash came with in auto mode on my camera:

Here's the subject with the stock built in flash:

See the major problem here? It's almost like the flash is firing too earl or late in relation to the shutter.

 

[Pirata]

The distance for both shots was about 7 feet.

 

[Village Idiot]

What's your shutter speed? Unless you're using a high speed sync, the max for your camera is probably 1/250. If you go much above that, it won't work. It'll be dark and you'll see banding depending on how far over the x sync it is.

So is the flash off of the camera in the first pic? Are you using a pc sync cable and not a specific sony type cable? What's your shutter speed?

 

[Pirata]

The shutter speed for both pics was 1/60th.

The first pic the F56 flash is attached to the top of the camera. The flash illuminated when I took the pic.

The second shot is using the internal "pop-up" flash in te camera.

 

[Village Idiot]

The shutter speed for both pics was 1/60th.

The first pic the F56 flash is attached to the top of the camera. The flash illuminated when I took the pic.

The second shot is using the internal "pop-up" flash in te camera.

What mode was the flash in? Put it in TTL with auto focal length and try shooting at 1/250, ISO 100, aperture f/9

 

[Bifurcator]

Yeah... But that's an all white wall. You're probably going to need manual mode for that shot. No? Test it on something different. Your sofa, a chair, your kitchen table, anything that isn't predominantly white or black (or really any solid color for that matter).

 

[Village Idiot]

Yeah... But that's an all white wall. You're probably going to need manual mode for that shot. No? Test it on something different. Your sofa, a chair, your kitchen table, anything that isn't predominantly white or black (or really any solid color for that matter).

If it set to fire to the white expsoure, the white would still be illuminated and the other objects would be underexposed. It looks like the flash didn't even fire in that one.

 

[Bifurcator]

Yeah, could be. I was thinking this: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5o7Q9qXXzhQ

 

[Mystwalker]

I had a similar problem with my 30D (Canon). Close to a year I thought it was "user error". That is until I borrowed a friend's 40D.

There was a problem with some "stuck bulb" in 30D which Canon Service quickly fixed.

Try finding another Sony and using that camera to see if you get similar issue.

 

[Bifurcator]

The light one above:

Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Created: 2008:08:14 11:24:05
Exposure Time: 1/60 sec
F-Number: f/5.0
Exposure Program: Normal Program
ISO Speed Rating: 400
Brightness: 3.6 EV
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Light Source: Unknown
Flash: Flash, Auto
Focal Length: 30.00 mm
Color Space Information: sRGB
Image Width: 3872
Image Height: 2592
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
​

The dark one above:

Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Created: 2008:08:14 11:20:59
Exposure Time: 1/60 sec
F-Number: f/5.6
Exposure Program: Normal Program
ISO Speed Rating: 400
Brightness: 4.1 EV
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Light Source: Unknown
Flash: Flash, Auto
Focal Length: 40.00 mm
Color Space Information: sRGB
Image Width: 3872
Image Height: 2592
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal​

 

[Pirata]

I tried a few dozen different settings and the best guess I can come up with is the flash and the camera are not sync'd together. This is based on a few shots that came out completely black and a few others that came out with the shutter halfway through the pic.

It will not work in Auto mode no matter what I try, excluding turning RATIO on and then I get over exposed pics. If I leave the flash in TTL mode and set the exposure time to 200 or higher it works like a champ.

I called Sony and they said I should also try the flash on another camera, preferably an A200 to see whether the error is in my camera or in the flash. They suggested 2 possible courses of action based on this. Since I bought the flash Sunday online and it was delivered yesterday they said I could do a one for one swap if needed (as long as I do this within 30 days) or I could send off my camera and the flash to get them sync'd together by them.

Would a local camera shop be able to sync the flash to the camera? Not that I don't trust Sony but a few days shipping out and a few days shipping back makes about a week + without my camera.

 

[K_Pugh]

here:

http://www.sonydigital-link.com/dim...ash.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&m=DSLR-A200#endofpage

click the flash.

It says that the A200 and TTL flash metering with that flash is "N/A".. it says P-TTL is "ok" though. Maybe you have to make sure it's on P-TTL (whatever that is?), or maybe that is the only TTL option in which case that doesn't help you at all.

Is High Speed Sync turned on? both camera and flash? maybe you have to turn it off for shutter speeds less and up to 1/200th.

[i know when the high speed sync is turned on with my Nikon it automatically turns it off once it gets to 1/200th or less.]

 

[Bifurcator]

I think the P in P-TTL is Pentax's pre-flash system. Is was on my Pentax anyway. P-TTL is Pentax's, I-TTL is Nikon's, E-TTL / E-TTL II are Canon's, etc. I didn't know Sony was using Pentax's pre-flash system??