Are the HVL-F36AM Flash and the A330 camera a good combo?

[UrsaMajor]

Is anyone aware of any issues with using the HVL-F36AM flash on an Alpha 330?

I gave my daughter-in-law an Alpha 330 for her birthday, and she seems to be very happy with it, so I am thinking of giving her a flash for Christmas. I can get the HVL-F36AM at a very reasonable price and it should do everything she is likely to want. However, given the way that Sony seems to have been changing the camera/flash communication protocols recently, I am a little wary of giving her this flash without verifying that it should be fully functional when used with the A330. In my initial research into this I have not found any definite answer one way or the other, so I decided to ask here.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Javelin]

36AM works fine on the A330. no problems at all. I can also say the Sigma 530 DG super SO ADI works fine as well and also wirelessly

[UrsaMajor]

36AM works fine on the A330. no problems at all. I can also say the Sigma 530 DG super SO ADI works fine as well and also wirelessly

Thanks for the information.

I think that the Sony flash will meet my daughter-in-law's needs as long as it can properly communicate with the A330. Based upon the spec sheet, I would normally be tempted by the Sigma flash, but I was quite disappointed by my experience when I attempted to use the Sigma 500 DG Super ADI on my KM 7D. Sigma said that it was fully compatible with the 7D, and it even had a couple of features that were advantages over the KM flashes, but I could never get it to work reliably with the 7D, even though I sent it in to Sigma for service. Ever since then I have adopted a policy of avoiding Sigma flashes.

The only area of the Sony HVL-36AM that I find unacceptable is the design of the door over the battery compartment. I keep expecting to break it off when attempting to open it, even though I am treating it very, very cautiously. Other than the poor design of the door, the HVL-36AM has been very satisfactory on my KM 7D and on my A700.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Javelin]

well Sigma stands behind their stiff .. I'm on my 4th flash. the only thing you may find with the 36 is there is no swivel. so your bounce will be limited to vertical.

THe flash system was definably a problem on the KM cameras. those same flashes work well on the a200+ cameras (even the a100 had problems with flash) all the old Minolta's flashes for maxxum. work 36500hsd 5600hsd for example and all the Sony ones.

I've seen the complaint on the battery doors before. I can tell you my Minolta 360PX has the exact same door and I've used that flash since the X700 film camera was new... no problems with the door. I don;t expect to have trouble with the 36am door either

[bakubo]

The only area of the Sony HVL-36AM that I find unacceptable is the design of the door over the battery compartment. I keep expecting to break it off when attempting to open it, even though I am treating it very, very cautiously. Other than the poor design of the door, the HVL-36AM has been very satisfactory on my KM 7D and on my A700.

Yes, I have this flash and the door is the worst I have ever seen. Clearly none of the Sony people ever actually tried it. Without batteries it is okay, but if batteries are in the camera it is *very* difficult to open without breaking it. The spring pushes the batteries against the door and prevent it from operating properly. I keep a plastic disposable knife in the flash case and use it to carefully slide in and sort of push the batteries down against the spring and then I can open the door. Sony should be ashamed to have ever sold this flash with this door design.

[Javelin]

No way man. I like the door. I can flip it open and dump the spent batteries one handed ( I use disposables) tuck the flash under my other arm and if the next 4 are already already arranged in the plastic part of a 4 pack of double A's I can load them into the flash like a magazine. I suspect and you should try this with yours there is a grooved area on the door. I notice that I don't use that to open the door. my thumb goes to the top part of it instead (toward the flash tube) and I press in toward the batteries and slide it out the bottom pressing down with a lot of force actually to flatten the batteries against the bottom springs. I use the grooved part to close it because it takes more force to get the door to slide past the lock, If you operate the door from the other end it is defiantly harder. on mine, opening it, it slides like it's on bearings.. no forcing or prying. Now My sigma, come to think of it, has the advantage that the door slides perpendicular to the camera so I don't have to detach but the door seems awfully loose on it. I haven't opened it by accident but it doesn't get used as much as the Sony either, The swivel locks on the siggy always catch me by surprise and make me take a second to fiddle for the bounce.

Also don't forget this flash is just a re-badged 3600HS Minolta. Sony had nothing to do with it.

One other thing I just noticed. the flash foot on these isn't as a substantial part of the casing of the flash as the new Sony's This one looks like it's user changeable compared to the Sony ones where the flash shoe seems to be molded in with most of the rest of the body of the flash.. to bad they missed that detail in the new designs

[Greg Beetham]

I have the 3600HSD and the HVL56AM (5600HSD) and both have the same door (Minolta design) with a double notch open feature, the reason for this I'm pretty sure is to prevent the batteries spilling or jumping out when opening the door under spring pressure.
I have never heard of anyone claiming to have broken one of these doors...yet, unless you guys have. I have opened the 3600HSD door oodles of times (it's the slightly stiffer of the two), and like you, I expected it to snap off when I stopped babying it.
I have not had any problems so far despite not doing it any great favours, (I think it helps if you try to slide the door towards the rear of the flash as you swing it open), but I stopped even doing that.
Greg

[bakubo]

Without the knife kludge it takes me 15 minutes trying to get the door open. I have no idea how anyone can just open it up and dump their batteries out. I have to put everything down and find a place to sit and then cuss at the door while trying to get it open. On dpreview a long time ago there was a thread about just this problem. Anyone who doesn't have a problem must be lucky and got a version that has a fixed or redesigned door.

[KevinBarrett]

The HVL-F36AM is good but not great; it doesn't offer manual control, external power, or a flash cable terminal. What it lacks against the F42 and F58 units is that it cannot support some of the wireless ratio-control protocols that Sony has introduced. However, it does give reliable automatic performance including wireless high-speed-synchronization, and it does it for cheap.

If she ever wants to go for something more advanced with manual control, there are more powerful flashes with all of the manual functionality this flash lacks, such as the 5200i, 5400xi and 5400hs, for far less than the current high end Sony flash guns. If this stuff doesn't concern her, then the F36 is all the better for her.

[bakubo]

I like the door. I can flip it open and dump the spent batteries one handed ( I use disposables) tuck the flash under my other arm and if the next 4 are already already arranged in the plastic part of a 4 pack of double A's I can load them into the flash like a magazine.

Your's clearly has a different door design then mine and many others then. It is absolutely impossible to do that with mine. Takes significant work just trying to get the door open to get the batteries out. You can do it with one hand with yours and mine requires two hands (three would be better) and 15 minutes, although with the plastic knife trick I can do it in a minutes or two -- if I already have the knife in hand and don't have to search for it.

I got mine when Best Buy (inadvertantly?) had it on sale for $59 last year (new, not a demo). Got lucky. Also, got the 11-18mm for $399. Unfortunately, I missed the $500 A700. Already had mine at that point and I was traveling in Mexico at the time.

[Javelin]

hrm... mine came from the local camera shop as a demo. . it was on sale. box and no books full warranty though.

[UrsaMajor]

I like the door. I can flip it open and dump the spent batteries one handed ( I use disposables) tuck the flash under my other arm and if the next 4 are already already arranged in the plastic part of a 4 pack of double A's I can load them into the flash like a magazine.

Yours clearly has a different door design then mine and many others then. It is absolutely impossible to do that with mine. Takes significant work just trying to get the door open to get the batteries out. You can do it with one hand with yours and mine requires two hands (three would be better) and 15 minutes, although with the plastic knife trick I can do it in a minutes or two -- if I already have the knife in hand and don't have to search for it.

I use basically the same pain-in-the-neck technique to get the door open. We do not have any plastic knives around the house, so I slip a plastic credit card in between the batteries and the door and press down on it to push the batteries down and take most of the tension off the door. Then it takes somewhere between 20 seconds and 2 minutes of moving the door around to just the right point where it will open. As you say, it is really a job that would be easier with three hands.

I got mine when Best Buy (inadvertantly?) had it on sale for $59 last year (new, not a demo). Got lucky. Also, got the 11-18mm for $399. Unfortunately, I missed the $500 A700. Already had mine at that point and I was traveling in Mexico at the time.

I bought my F36 flash during the Best Buy sale last year also, although I paid $90 each for a F36 for me and a F36 as a gift for my son-in-law. For some reason, the exact sale price varied from store to store - and some Best Buy stores were selling the flash at list price. I first went to a Best Buy that had no F36 flashes in stock, and when they looked at their corporate inventory system on the computer to check whether other local Best Buy stores had any stock, I was able to see the variations in price.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[UrsaMajor]

well Sigma stands behind their stiff .. I'm on my 4th flash. the only thing you may find with the 36 is there is no swivel. so your bounce will be limited to vertical.

THe flash system was definably a problem on the KM cameras. those same flashes work well on the a200+ cameras (even the a100 had problems with flash) all the old Minolta's flashes for maxxum. work 36500hsd 5600hsd for example and all the Sony ones.

I've been using the F36 myself for about a year, and find that it does what I want most of the time. On occasion, I do miss a few of the features of the Sigma 500 Super, such as the swivel, but I can't really justify to myself the expense of a high-end flash for my hobby - especially since I prefer to shoot in available light whenever practical.

Do you happen to know whether the old Maxxum flashes are fully functional on the A700? If they are, I may just see if I can remember where I buried the Sigma 500 Super and see if it works on the A700 as well as it was claimed to work on the KM 7D.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Javelin]

There is a chart somewheree on Sony.com that shows which flashes have which funtionality. basically it boils down to the 3600HS and 5600HS as being the only fully compatable Minolta flashes. Your Sigma 500 might work or might not. Sigma has been repairing them to work with the new cameraqs. so if you come across it you should call Sigma with the serial number. Also you might consider the new Sony HVL F20AM flash. you lose wireless but it's a nice compact flash that can bounce off the ceiling. it is a lot lower powered though so consider that.

[KevinBarrett]

I would not recommend the HVL-F20AM if an HVL-F36AM flash gun can be found instead. The F20 does not zoom, provide AF assist, or support HSS or remote firing, though it will act as a remote flash controller for the current full-frame Sony cameras (this is not a benefit that should interest an a330 user). It offers a weak, compact flash that can be bounced upwards, and was introduced mainly to answer the concerns of a900 owners who would otherwise have needed two F58 units to fire one of them wirelessly.

The link below has lots of answers about M/KM/Sony Flashes, but sadly, nothing from third-party manufacturers.

Minolta/Konica Minolta/Sony Flash Compendium

The link provided here takes you directly to the flash section of this site, but the site also covers cameras, lenses, accessories, and even Minolta meters with gobs of useful data on each.