Any old Sony users out there?

[JohnRostron]

I use a Sony A55 and in the past I have bought a Sigma flash which works off the hotshoe with no problems. At some point Sony changed the hotshoe connections so that newer flash equpment will not work on my A55. I recently bought a Sigma ringflash from eBay which will not function. I gather that you can buy adapters to allow the new equipment to work with the old (A55) cameras. Hovever, i am having difficulty in identifying what is the right adapter to buy. Does anyonein CiC have any experience of this? Can anyone recommend an adapter that is known to work in the way I want?

John

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I'm old and I use a couple of Sony cameras, but can't help with your problem.
Somebody on this site might be able to help though:

https://www.talkemount.com/

If no one answers here.

[Cogito]

John, yep I use Sony cameras. As far as I can see, ( from a Minolta A2 to a Sony A77 and many in-between) the A mount flash mount hasn't changed! I looked for a Sigma ring flash on-line and even in the Sigma website they seem to build for Canon, Nikon and Sigma only..... I know this doesn't answer your problem but - perish the thought - did you buy a bum steer?

[Black Pearl]

Are you saying the flash you bought fits on your A55 but will not fire - or it won't fit as it has a standard hotshoe and you need a Sony/Minolta mount adapter?

[JohnRostron]

I'm old and I use a couple of Sony cameras, but can't help with your problem.
Somebody on this site might be able to help though:

https://www.talkemount.com/

If no one answers here.

Thanks, Alan. I may need to register there, but it looks worth a try.

John

[JohnRostron]

John, yep I use Sony cameras. As far as I can see, ( from a Minolta A2 to a Sony A77 and many in-between) the A mount flash mount hasn't changed! I looked for a Sigma ring flash on-line and even in the Sigma website they seem to build for Canon, Nikon and Sigma only..... I know this doesn't answer your problem but - perish the thought - did you buy a bum steer?

The flash was boxed and describes itself as a Sony fit. It actually fits onto the hotsoe. The pins on the hotshoe look right, but the internal connections may differ.

John

[JohnRostron]

Are you saying the flash you bought fits on your A55 but will not fire - or it won't fit as it has a standard hotshoe and you need a Sony/Minolta mount adapter?

As I mention above, it fits but will not fire. My older Sigma flash does fit and fired. I need an adapter between the old and the new Sony hotshoes.

John

[Black Pearl]

As I mention above, it fits but will not fire. My older Sigma flash does fit and fired. I need an adapter between the old and the new Sony hotshoes.

John

There isn't an adapter between the Sony shoe on your camera and a flash with that specific foot. The adapters are for flashguns with a conventional foot to make them compatible with the Sony (Minolta) only hotshoe or vice-versa.

If the flash you have physically fits onto the camera then it should fire - if it doesn't its faulty.

[lesno1]

you can get a minolta from ebay that will fit look here
https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answer...)-dslr-and-slt

[tao2]

Hi John,

If yer camera shoe looks like this...



and yer new flash shoe looks like this...



Then the fault is, most probably, with yer new flash; don't rule out an electrical fault with the camera shoe. Ah'd bet it's yer new flash though, since ye have no problems with the other one. If yer hotshoe on the new flash looks like this...



Then ye need an adapter. Sony went back tae the universal adapter around 5/6 years ago with the A99 and one of the NEX series. Since then they've used this solely on all cameras produced since then.

The adapter you would need is the Sony ADP-AMA...



Don't get confused by the other 2 adapters Sony ADP-MMA, Sony ADP-MAA. The ADP-AMA, has the old style shoe on the bottom and the universal shoe on the top. They're not cheap, around £20-25.

PS If ye have any friends in the USA at the moment ask them tae bring one back for ye. They're only around $16/17 over there.

[JohnRostron]

Boab and others. Thanks for your comments. I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that it is my camera that is the problem, not the flash. The electrical connectors as Boab shows are the same. I tried using the built-in flash and it will not function either. I have not actually used this (or my external Sigma flash) for over a year. When I use the Function button, it only gives me a limited subset of the flash options, so I think the problem may lie there. I suspect that this might turn out to be expensive! I shall be trying the Sony user forum.

John

[tao2]

Boab and others. Thanks for your comments. I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that it is my camera that is the problem, not the flash. The electrical connectors as Boab shows are the same. I tried using the built-in flash and it will not function either. I have not actually used this (or my external Sigma flash) for over a year. When I use the Function button, it only gives me a limited subset of the flash options, so I think the problem may lie there. I suspect that this might turn out to be expensive! I shall be trying the Sony user forum.

John

John, ye haven't said whether ye tried yer old flash and does it work? Ye can make a note of all yer camera settings (use a phone camera tae take photos of the menu settings on the LCD), then reset the camera tae default settings. See if that solves the problem. It could just be a simple mistake in settings which ye don't remember making or yev hit a button by mistake.

[Black Pearl]

If there are flash functions greyed out or missing then its more likely you're in a mode thats not flash compatible or you have an unusual feature selected that won't operate with flash.

Go into the menu and reset the system - I'd wager all will be well.

[JohnRostron]

I did go back to basics. I had reset the flash options in the menu. I also went back to the kit lens that came with the camera (rather than the Sigma Macro lens I had been using). I was still only offered the limited options in the Function menu. However, using the fill option, I was able to fire the built-in flash, but only if I opened the flash first. Flushed with success, I added the ringflash (still with the built-in flash active) and it worked!

Further experiments are called for.

John