Flash Advice

[Tri Danimal]

I have the A6500 and the access to the A7iii, the 6500 has a built-in flash that gets obstructed by the glass which got me into thinking about adding an external flash. I dont really use flash all that much as it is but what would be a good quality flash that is still budget friendly.

My knowledge of flash is knowing the terms: bounce and fill, that is all.

I'm a hobbyist not working in the field so please try to keep that in mind when recommending items.

[Manfred M]

Daniel - your question is not easy to answer because there is no "one size fits all" flash solution.

At a high level, modern flash integrates with your camera's metering system / computer to calculate the "best" exposure based on what the camera reads coming through the lens. They all work the same way. The flash shoots off a pre-flash that the camera measures and uses to calculate the exposure

Sony make a whole line of these units. Third party manufacturers also make these types of flashes, but as they make small flash for a number of different camera makers, one has to make sure that the make and model are compatible with your camera(s). The traditional third party brands; Nissin and Metz cover Sony cameras. The various Chinese based companies do as well; Godox is generally viewed as producing some of the highest quality units. Phottix generally seem to have decent products, Yongnuo can be a bit hit and miss; sometimes delivering good and other times products that are not great. There are so many others out there, it's hard to comment.

This is all flash on the camera's hot shoe, but if you are looking at putting the unit on a light stand and triggering it remotely, the options change a bit. Most serious flash shooters tend to use radio triggers and receivers (one on the camera and one on each flash). Camera manufacturers do have their own line of these, as to many of the third party manufacturers. The problem with radio triggers is that these are usually proprietary and the user is locked into whatever manufacturer he or she has chosen. There are "smart triggers" that allow the user to adjust the light intensity remotely and "dumb triggers" that do nothing more than tell the flash to fire off.

When it comes to less expensive flash units from third party manufacturers, these are often either "dumb flash" where the user has to calculate / estimate the power settings to get the right amount of light output. There are some that still make thyristor flashes that offer a level of automation that measures the light level returning to the flash and as soon as sufficient light has been measured, the flash is turned off (this was a precursor to TTL flash). Exposures are not as accurate as the newer technology as the sensor on the flash is fixed and cannot compensate for focal length.

Finally most flash heads tilt and rotate, which is useful for bouncing the light; I would not buy a flash that does not have a head that tilts and swivels. They also vary in power output (hint: I can't think of anyone who ever said their flash provided too much power), so in general I would suggest you get the most powerful flash that you can afford. Guide numbers are what determine small flash output; the larger the number , the more powerful the unit.

Finally, with off camera flash, you need to start looking at light modifiers, which is a whole separate topic. The reason to use them is that small flash gives is a relatively small light source, relative to the subject, so modifiers spread out the light to provide a larger, softer, more pleasant light. Most of my flash work is with off camera flash; either studio lights or small flash. Studio lights are all "dumb flash" but are 5 - 20x more powerful than hot shoe flash. You can get a decent studio flash for about the same price as a higher end small flash.

I can't comment on the Sony offerings as I don't use a Sony camera. If you would like more clarification, just let me know (hint - I shoot flash a lot and own 7 units).

[rpcrowe]

I have a Sony A6500 and I use two flashes, both of them made by Godox:

First is the quite small Godox tt350S which adds very little weight to the camera but doesn't have a lot of power. However, I use this flash primarily for fill on informal portraits outdoors and the power is sufficient for that use. I don't try to overpower the sun with this flash, simply use it to fill in some of the shadows. It has HSS and TTL capability and can also act as a master for other Godox flash units or a slave with another Godox flash or with one of the Godox triggers. I prefer the Pro trigger since it is simple to use. However, the X1T trigger is a bit smaller and may be more handy on a small body like a A6xxx...

The downside of this little flash is not its limited power but, the recycle time which is quite slow probably due to the two AA batteries from which it draws its power. However, the size of his little flash makes it ideal for shooting on the hotshoe of the mirrorless Sony cameras...
https://smile.amazon.com/EACHSHOT-Wi...A3FQCPG42Q240W

A larger and a bit more powerful flash is the Godox tt685S which I never use on the camera hotshoe but, use on a flash bracket firing the flash with the Godox Pro trigger. This flash is more powerful and has a bit faster recycle time - especially when using four batteries like the Eneloop. This flash is a lot like the Canon 600EX RT.
https://smile.amazon.com/Godox-TT685...ony+mirrorless

Note: Although the specs seem to indicate that the tt350S and tt685S have approximately the same recycle time, the tt685S does seem actually faster in real life shooting. I think that this occurs since the TT685S is a more powerful unit than the tt350S, therefore a lower power setting will give you the same light. I have no way to time the recycle time so I could be wrong and this variation could be a figment of my imagination...

[dje]

Daniel I use a Godox TT350S with my a6000. It is a good fit for the Sony mirrorless cameras,not too bulky. It has full functionality with the Sony TTL flash system, including High Speed Sync (HSS). The HSS is quite low on power but I rarely use that anyway. I use Panasonic Eneloop pro batteries with the flash unit and these seem to perform very well.

The Godox system is very good value for money and has been reliable for me. I also have a Godox X1T wireless trigger which allows you to use the flash unit off camera. The flash unit has an inbuilt wireless receiver so it is a very neat package.

Dave

PS Flash can become a bit addictive

[rpcrowe]

One thing that I really wish is that some manufacturer (any manufacturer) would bring out a flash like the Canon 270EXii for my Sony A6500. This mini flash has a very low profile and is good for mounting on a camera hotshoe when that camera is carried at the end of a Black Rapid Strap. IMO, that low profile would make it a lot less likely to snag on something and damage the hotshoe. The 270EXii has TTL, HSS and a limited bounce capability. I carried one all over China with my Canon setup and it did a very nice job...
Here is a Hong Kong market shot lit by the 270EXii bounced...

[inkista]

I have the A6500 and the access to the A7iii, the 6500 has a built-in flash that gets obstructed by the glass which got me into thinking about adding an external flash. I don't really use flash all that much as it is but what would be a good quality flash that is still budget friendly.

You can get this with Godox (aka Flashpoint) gear, but the tradeoff for the low-low pricetags are that the Chinese 3rd-party manufacturers have mostly made retailers responsible for customer support; so who you buy from matters if you get a lemon. In the US, Adorama and B&H are supporting Godox gear directly, so they're preferred.

The Godox gear has a few advantages: it's low-cost, all the speedlights have built-in radio triggers, so can be used both on-camera (for fill and bounce) and off-camera in studio lighting-like setups. But. With Sony gear, there is a drawback; TTL performance over radio has an underexposure issue if used with wider-than-f/4 aperture settings. The TT685/V860II speedlights and Witstro AD strobes also support cross-brand TTL for all the systems Godox supports (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, MFT; and they're currently adding Pentax), so shooting more than one system means you can use the same lights; you just need one transmitter for each system. And there are much larger lights in the system.

The Godox TT350-S/V350-S is probably going to be the most-recommended flash, but compared to the TT685-S/V860II there are a few drawbacks: less power (2xAA vs. 4xAA), 270º rotation (vs. 360º), no sync port, no recycle beep, no external battery pack port; not designed to do cross-brand TTL, and no Sony WL ("smart" optical triggering) capability. The "V" versions use a li-on battery pack that slightly speeds up recycle (about 0.25s for a full power burst) and has roughly 3x the capacity of a set of AAs. They're also more expensive than the "TT" AA-powered versions.

Three other commonly-recommended TTL-compatible "small flash for mirrorless" flashes are the Metz M400, the Nissin i40, and the Meike MK-320. None of these flashes have built-in radio triggering. But the M400 and i40 are more powerful and do 360º swivel but more expensive than the $85 TT350-S. The MK-320 (particularly in its Neewer rebranded version, the NW320) is the cheapest option, but only does 150º swivel and doesn't do HSS. But these may be better choices if you aren't ever planning on using your flash off-camera.