This is the only video on the entire darn RUclips that actually answers the question of what flashes work with the Sony a9iii's insanely fast global shutter speed. Thanks so much.
I saw a video where someone was using the Sony FA-WRC1M radio commander and one of those two speedlights to shoot in the global shutter speed flash sync range so it seems you can also use the Sony commander even though it didn't get a firmware update. I wish I remembered exactly which video it was.
Excellent investigation and explanation. My lack of experience with Sony & flash is 100%, and my main challenge is less demanding: Have you written a book about how to make a hot shoe cover holder?
I haven't. All I've done is put some velcro on top of the cover and on a flat surface on the camera body (even the bottom can work). It's worked well for years.
Thanks Gary - great info, well explained, as usual. My only issue is I use my HVL-F28RM as my commander with my HVL-60RM2 as my receiver. Do you think they will enable this with the 28RM at some point?
Do you mean so it can accommodate 1/80,000th of a second flash sync with TTL? Probably not, for the same reason their radio controller can't be upgraded via firmware: it needs newer hardware inside.
Thanks Gary, I have a question please? Is the FA-WRC1M not able to be used as a commander with the A9iii? I was able to use my FA-WRC1M and get padt the 500 sync speed by just turning on the Ext Flash Cust. Set in the menu. I didn't experiment with it too much, but it seemed to work well with my F60rm2 which recently had a firmware update.
The official word from Sony is "It will trigger wireless flashes, but not necessarily at the 1/80,000th of a second speed. For that you will need an HVL-F46RM." Apparently the hardware inside the WRC1M wasn't designed for the tricks needed to use full strength with a global shutter. If you can get past the 1/500th of a second with it, I'm guessing the camera is switching to High Speed Sync (HSS) mode, which will be a lower intensity flash and not at all compatible with that shutter speed.
Have you tested this any further. I just got an HVL-F60RM2 and was pondering the trigger but I can't seem to get a definitive answer on whether it will work at shorter shutter speeds than 1/500 without going into HSS. The flash and A9iii work brilliantly together and it would really open up opportunities if the trigger integrates perfectly. Sony says there is full compatibility but I wasn't convinced and have not spotted any users definitely saying the trigger is fully compatible
It depends on whether you want TTL flash metering or not. If not, the drop-dead easiest way to do that is to put your flash into optical slave mode and then put tiny single-burst flashes atop all the cameras you'd like to trigger it.
@ Thank you, I mean more in the Sony ecosystem, I have mutiple HVL-F60RM2’s and 2 FA-WRC1M controllers but haven’t found a way to sync both those controllers to the same flashes. It seems Sony only allows one controller per flash, and multiple flashes to one controller, but not the other way around.
@@jepthah1 That's true. If you have older flashes that work off optical TTL triggering you can have two controllers on two cameras and the flashes will respond to any Sony optical trigger. Don't know how to make it work with the radio triggers; sorry.
Can you do the same thing with 2 RM60II's (1 as a Master & the other as a Slave), so that the 1 RM60II on top of the camera controls the other RM60II without also flashing as well, or can you ONLY do it with 1 RM46 on top of the camera acting as a Master with a RM60II acting as a Slave?
I have the Sony trigger 60RM flash but I’m looking for a Strobe Westcott or Godox 400 and I read a comment in a Manny Ortiz video (3 years ago) that sounded like the Westcott Universal Trigger does not support TTL or HSS for the A1 ???
Just ordered my Godox AD200 Pro II (back ordered at B&H) no reason to re-invent the wheel! 😉 And I bought the HVL-F46RM (to go with my F60RM and Radio Commander) so I can go for two flash shoot at 1/500th - and assuming that the A1 can’t shoot faster 1/500th (?) - I’m gonna rent the A9iii and play with that for a weekend… but it doesn’t fit into my shooting strategy (and that’s $6K better spent on other equipment)
I am new to flash. I have Sony a7cii and Sony flash 46 So can I use either sony flash to overpower the sun? Can I use this Sony flash off camera with soft umbrella or soft box? It might do ok indoors but will it be usable for off camera flash for outdoors portraits?
You can overpower the sun (at close range) using the High Speed Sync function on any camera. And yes you can use them with softboxes with the appropriate mounting hardware. I talk about ALL of this in my book (and show you how it's used) on the A7C II and A7CR: www.FriedmanArchives.com/A7CR .
Question: In Ratio Value Control, what do the numbers other than "1" mean? From the video, I gather that "1" means 100% of the flash coming from the light marked "1". But what if I set both Group A and B at "1"? Does that mean the both will be putting out full power? And then what do the "2, 4, 6, 8, 16" mean? Does 2 mean "one half" of the light coming for the light marked "2"? What if I set Group A at "2" and Group B at "16"? Do they always automatically add up to 100% no matter what? Thanks!!!!
Excellent questions! The numbers you see are the reciprocal of the flash output; so 1 = 1/1 = full power; whereas 16 = 1/16 = one-sixteenth full power. If you set both Group A and B to 1, both flashes will fire with their full output. Hope this helps!
Your comment about the non Sony flash triggers is incorrect. Sure they will try to limit the flash sync to 500th/sec, but as soon as you switch on HSS (High Speed Sync), the trigger thinks that your are using a HSS enabled camera and will allow the sync to go up as high as like. Don't think that this is just doing HSS, because the A9iii doesn't do HSS. This way you are fooling the trigger into allowing the higher speeds. I have tested this with my A1 and my Godox trigger set to HSS and then the same settings on my A9iii. The flash on the A9iii (at 1/3000th sec) is pumping out about 3 stops more light.
Yes and no. YES, the A9 III doesn't do HSS (there's no need). NO, the flash trigger has no idea that it's sitting on top of an A9 III, and therefore will put itself and the remote flash into HSS mode. HSS mode takes the intensity of the flash and spreads it out over a longer period of time, resulting in significantly lower flash output for the duration. (See my youtube explanation on this at ruclips.net/video/edkLa0HEbcA/видео.html ) On the A9 III, this ultimately means significantly less light from the flash. Almost not worth it.
@@FriedmanArchives As I mentioned I tested the exact setup with my A1 using HSS, then did the same with my A9iii with the Godox trigger set to HSS so I could fire at 1/3000th. My local Sony rep assured me that the HSS setting tells the camera to do HSS, NOT the flash, so when set to HSS, it doesn't affect the A9iii because it doesn't have (or need) HSS. So with the flash set to full power on both tests, there was a 3 stop reduction of brightness on the A1 using HSS compared to the A9iii with the trigger set to HSS. If the shutter speed increases above 1/8000th then you start to notice a significant reduction of light.
Thanks for the tutorial Gary. I;m still shooting my A7R2 but it's always good to have a little extra knowledge.
This is the only video on the entire darn RUclips that actually answers the question of what flashes work with the Sony a9iii's insanely fast global shutter speed. Thanks so much.
You're welcome! You know, if you had my book you wouldn't need to search youtube for this info. :-)
Thank you, pairing was not obvious! Great, clear explanations and demos. 🙏🏻
Good to see you on YT again, Gary - eager for that A9iii book soon!
It's just a couple of weeks away now. And thank you for buying it early!
Thank you Gary for your informative explanation on flash Sync with both the A9III and the Sony flashes
Gary- I had no idea how to pair and use my flash. Thank you so much for posting this video and sharing your expertise!
You're quite welcome, and I'm glad my efforts made a difference!!
Great Tutorial! I am switching from Canon and your explanation of how to use the settings quickly was SO helpful. Thank you. :)
So glad you found it helpful!! Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks for this video, it was of great help.
I saw a video where someone was using the Sony FA-WRC1M radio commander and one of those two speedlights to shoot in the global shutter speed flash sync range so it seems you can also use the Sony commander even though it didn't get a firmware update. I wish I remembered exactly which video it was.
Was it this one? ruclips.net/video/RIHHek54pyY/видео.html
@@FriedmanArchives It was someone else's video which I found: ruclips.net/video/kV35povli9I/видео.htmlfeature=shared&t=571
Excellent investigation and explanation.
My lack of experience with Sony & flash is 100%, and my main challenge is less demanding:
Have you written a book about how to make a hot shoe cover holder?
I haven't. All I've done is put some velcro on top of the cover and on a flat surface on the camera body (even the bottom can work). It's worked well for years.
@@FriedmanArchives Velcro? Of course! Thank you Gary 🤗
Thanks Gary - great info, well explained, as usual. My only issue is I use my HVL-F28RM as my commander with my HVL-60RM2 as my receiver. Do you think they will enable this with the 28RM at some point?
Do you mean so it can accommodate 1/80,000th of a second flash sync with TTL? Probably not, for the same reason their radio controller can't be upgraded via firmware: it needs newer hardware inside.
@@FriedmanArchives Yes, I meant the 1/80,000 second sync speed. I didn't realize there was a difference in FW upgradability between the 28RM and 46RM.
Thanks Gary, I have a question please? Is the FA-WRC1M not able to be used as a commander with the A9iii? I was able to use my FA-WRC1M and get padt the 500 sync speed by just turning on the Ext Flash Cust. Set in the menu. I didn't experiment with it too much, but it seemed to work well with my F60rm2 which recently had a firmware update.
The official word from Sony is "It will trigger wireless flashes, but not necessarily at the 1/80,000th of a second speed. For that you will need an HVL-F46RM." Apparently the hardware inside the WRC1M wasn't designed for the tricks needed to use full strength with a global shutter. If you can get past the 1/500th of a second with it, I'm guessing the camera is switching to High Speed Sync (HSS) mode, which will be a lower intensity flash and not at all compatible with that shutter speed.
I sure appreciate that! Thank you
Have you tested this any further. I just got an HVL-F60RM2 and was pondering the trigger but I can't seem to get a definitive answer on whether it will work at shorter shutter speeds than 1/500 without going into HSS. The flash and A9iii work brilliantly together and it would really open up opportunities if the trigger integrates perfectly. Sony says there is full compatibility but I wasn't convinced and have not spotted any users definitely saying the trigger is fully compatible
wake up babe, our beloved Sony / Minolta mastermind is still alive and spitting knowledge!
Very interesting but I’m still using my good old A77V.
i'm also sticking with my A77Mk2, been 8 years with it and it gets better the more I use it.
Hi Gary is there any way to connect multiple triggers to one flash?
It depends on whether you want TTL flash metering or not. If not, the drop-dead easiest way to do that is to put your flash into optical slave mode and then put tiny single-burst flashes atop all the cameras you'd like to trigger it.
@ Thank you, I mean more in the Sony ecosystem, I have mutiple HVL-F60RM2’s and 2 FA-WRC1M controllers but haven’t found a way to sync both those controllers to the same flashes. It seems Sony only allows one controller per flash, and multiple flashes to one controller, but not the other way around.
@@jepthah1 That's true. If you have older flashes that work off optical TTL triggering you can have two controllers on two cameras and the flashes will respond to any Sony optical trigger. Don't know how to make it work with the radio triggers; sorry.
@ thank you for your responses!
Can you do the same thing with 2 RM60II's (1 as a Master & the other as a Slave), so that the 1 RM60II on top of the camera controls the other RM60II without also flashing as well, or can you ONLY do it with 1 RM46 on top of the camera acting as a Master with a RM60II acting as a Slave?
YES, you can do it with two RM60II's!!
@@FriedmanArchives Thanks
I have the Sony trigger 60RM flash but I’m looking for a Strobe Westcott or Godox 400 and I read a comment in a Manny Ortiz video (3 years ago) that sounded like the Westcott Universal Trigger does not support TTL or HSS for the A1 ???
I have no experience with the Westcott trigger, but their website says that it will only work with Sony in Manual mode. Better to go with Godox.
Just ordered my Godox AD200 Pro II (back ordered at B&H) no reason to re-invent the wheel! 😉
And I bought the HVL-F46RM (to go with my F60RM and Radio Commander) so I can go for two flash shoot at 1/500th - and assuming that the A1 can’t shoot faster 1/500th (?) - I’m gonna rent the A9iii and play with that for a weekend… but it doesn’t fit into my shooting strategy (and that’s $6K better spent on other equipment)
Are these compatible with a7iii
I am new to flash. I have Sony a7cii and Sony flash 46
So can I use either sony flash to overpower the sun?
Can I use this Sony flash off camera with soft umbrella or soft box?
It might do ok indoors but will it be usable for off camera flash for outdoors portraits?
You can overpower the sun (at close range) using the High Speed Sync function on any camera. And yes you can use them with softboxes with the appropriate mounting hardware. I talk about ALL of this in my book (and show you how it's used) on the A7C II and A7CR: www.FriedmanArchives.com/A7CR .
Is there any way to up the TTL of the flash? Instead on switching over to manual control.
Question: In Ratio Value Control, what do the numbers other than "1" mean? From the video, I gather that "1" means 100% of the flash coming from the light marked "1". But what if I set both Group A and B at "1"? Does that mean the both will be putting out full power? And then what do the "2, 4, 6, 8, 16" mean? Does 2 mean "one half" of the light coming for the light marked "2"? What if I set Group A at "2" and Group B at "16"? Do they always automatically add up to 100% no matter what? Thanks!!!!
Excellent questions! The numbers you see are the reciprocal of the flash output; so 1 = 1/1 = full power; whereas 16 = 1/16 = one-sixteenth full power. If you set both Group A and B to 1, both flashes will fire with their full output. Hope this helps!
@@FriedmanArchives thanks!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
You must turn to wireless flash on to camera.
You must also turn the camera on. 🙂
Your comment about the non Sony flash triggers is incorrect. Sure they will try to limit the flash sync to 500th/sec, but as soon as you switch on HSS (High Speed Sync), the trigger thinks that your are using a HSS enabled camera and will allow the sync to go up as high as like. Don't think that this is just doing HSS, because the A9iii doesn't do HSS. This way you are fooling the trigger into allowing the higher speeds. I have tested this with my A1 and my Godox trigger set to HSS and then the same settings on my A9iii. The flash on the A9iii (at 1/3000th sec) is pumping out about 3 stops more light.
Yes and no. YES, the A9 III doesn't do HSS (there's no need). NO, the flash trigger has no idea that it's sitting on top of an A9 III, and therefore will put itself and the remote flash into HSS mode. HSS mode takes the intensity of the flash and spreads it out over a longer period of time, resulting in significantly lower flash output for the duration. (See my youtube explanation on this at ruclips.net/video/edkLa0HEbcA/видео.html ) On the A9 III, this ultimately means significantly less light from the flash. Almost not worth it.
@@FriedmanArchives As I mentioned I tested the exact setup with my A1 using HSS, then did the same with my A9iii with the Godox trigger set to HSS so I could fire at 1/3000th. My local Sony rep assured me that the HSS setting tells the camera to do HSS, NOT the flash, so when set to HSS, it doesn't affect the A9iii because it doesn't have (or need) HSS. So with the flash set to full power on both tests, there was a 3 stop reduction of brightness on the A1 using HSS compared to the A9iii with the trigger set to HSS. If the shutter speed increases above 1/8000th then you start to notice a significant reduction of light.
@@jaytown8850 Well, that's a surprising result which I can't explain. Still I'm glad it worked for you!
📸📸📸📸📸📸👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍