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Archive 2017 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)

  
 
Sergii
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


Well, I'm moving to Sony from Nikon.
I have a Sony 7Rii camera, and I have the Nissin i40 flash. In general, I'm satisfied with that Nissin, it has almost everything I need, including the HSS mode. It's pretty small but enough powerful.

However I'm thinking about buying the Sony HVL-F43m. First, I used to have two flashes in my bag. Then, I badly need to have a good AF assist light. Unfortunately the Sony doesn't use the Nissin's AF light but still using its built-in AF light. I suspect that i40 has almost the same "generic" AF light, while my Nikon SB-600 and SB-900 have advanced lights, they draw a grid, and camera able to focus even on any low-contrast objects in a dark. It's very important to me.

I have reed some reviews, and some people said that AF assist light can be used on F43m and F60m only together with the Sony DSL and SLT but never with the mirrorless cameras (including the 7-series). If it's so then buying of HVL-F43m has no sense to me at all.

Does anyone here has a real experience of usage the Sony HVL-F43m (or maybe F60m) together with the Sony 7Rii camera? Is the F43m's AF assist light could be used as expected, or the camera still using its own ugly AF light? Is the HVL-F43m's AF assist LED draws a grid in a manner the Nikon SB-600/700/800/900 does?

The other question: is the HVL-F43m has a tend to overheat? I have read that overheating is a big issue for the HVL-F60m. I had the same problem on my SB-900 flashgun, that's why I always have the SB-600 in my bag, I can use it while SB-900 getting cold.

The HVL-F60m looks like an other option to me, but it appears bulky (its size even bigger than SB-900's), and the guide number 43 is enough to me, and the F43m looks much more better, of course, if it can use its AF assist LED with the 7Rii, and is it doesn't have an overheating issue.



Jul 18, 2017 at 07:40 AM
AGeoJO
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


I used to have Sony flashes; at one time or the other I actually had them all but I sold all of them but not for the reasons you are interested in. I used the flashes units for off camera triggering and back then I didn't have any access to doing that with radio frequency since they method of flash triggering was optical and less reliable. Sony did introduce a radio transmission control unit/slave later on but I moved on already.

Based on my recollection; since I sold them over a year ago, both the HVL-43 and HVL-60 do have AF assist light that worked fine for my purpose. But my usage of that feature was limited and I did not pay much attention to and do not recall the exact pattern what the assist light provided. I hope current users will chime in and give you more direct feedback.



Jul 18, 2017 at 09:25 AM
Sergii
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


Well, I got a HVL-F43M flashgun. Neither Sony a6000 nor A7Rii uses the flash's AF assist light, but still using the camera's built-in light. The only more or less reasonable explanation I've found is the Sony believes that flash's AF could be used for the phase detection focus systems only, while the Sony mirrorless series use either contrast detection or a hybrid AF systems, and the flash's AF which is really draws a grid allegedly not good for the hybrid systems. Not sure should I believe in it, however it seems the ignoring flash's AF assist light is a big Sony issue. Wondering is the a9 uses flash's AF light?


Jul 21, 2017 at 08:12 PM
sungphoto
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


I'd say if you do a lot of event work with flash, the a7rii is a poor choice compared to your nikon - you might consider keeping a general range zoom and nikon body plus speedlite specifically for events. Both sony and fuji mirrorless cameras just use essentially a flashlight to help the on-chip af sensor attain focus, whereas nikon's grid type af assist will be able to nail focus in challenging light. One of my fave wedding reception and dance lenses is the 16-35 f4 plus the godox tt685s, and I was definitely moving a bit slower with my composition and focus than my canon


Jul 22, 2017 at 10:17 PM
echelonphoto
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


Mirrorless cameras cannot use an ir grid like slrs...you will never get good af assist. I am in the same delimma and will continue use my canons together with the sony system...I guess we are still a few years away from mirrorless being able to do everything well. I here the a9 is quite good with af, though it is quite expensive right now.


Jul 23, 2017 at 11:09 AM
Sergii
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


Currently I see two issues affecting my mirrorless cameras experience (Nikon 1 series, Sony a6000, Sony A7Rii).
First is the poor battery life, and other is the autofocus performance. However, I see the huge progress for the last ~5 years.



Jul 25, 2017 at 05:46 AM
Mystik
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Sony 7Rii and Sony Flashes (AF assist light)


So wedding/event photog here....the only time I've found myself wishing I had the IR AF Assist beam available is when shooting stopped down in a studio. This has been corrected now that the camera will open up the aperture when focusing.

The AF sensitivity is good with the a7rII that I haven't found myself needing an AF assist beam. Contrast detect, which uses the live view image to finalize the focus, can boost the ISO to basically see in the dark. The reliability of this system is dependent on the sensitivity of the sensor....which on the a7rII is very good.



Jul 25, 2017 at 07:06 AM





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