Seeking advice on using an a55 in a studio with strobes.

Cabled, wireless, studio - anything do with using flash
User avatar
DrScottNicol
Oligarch
Posts: 158
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:50 am
Location: Kent, UK
Contact:

Seeking advice on using an a55 in a studio with strobes.

Unread post by DrScottNicol »

I'm thinking of doing a portrait course at a local photographers studio to learn about strobe work etc - I have absolutely no experience of studio work so I thought this would be a good way to get some. However, I want to use my a55 and as most of you know, I'm going to run into a few issues , namely the fact its a minolta hotshoe, the lack of a PC sync port and the EVF 'blank screen in darkness' issue. I've explained the issue to the organiser and hope to get more details of his set up but in the mean time, I've been mooching around the internet looking for workarounds, specifically a way to fool the a55 into thinking the flash is up / on (whilst blacking out the flash so it doesn't contribute to the images) AND connecting a PC Sync adaptor at the same time. My current thoughts are as follows. I'm prepared to spend a bit of money for a robust solution but not 100s of pounds...

1) The off shoe flash extension cord solution
Flip up and blank off the in camera flash
Then slide on a Minolta fit off camera ttl flash extension cable like this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Off-Camera-Flash- ... 0524157036
Fit a minolta PC sync adaptor onto the cable (e.g. http://yongnuo.en.made-in-china.com/pro ... N-H3-.html
Connect to his strobes via a pc sync cable

2) The F58AM flash cable solution - not sure if this one will work
Fit my f58 flash and blank off the main flash (lets me keep the AF aid red light below)
Connect a cable to the F58 which I think is this one FA MC1AM http://www.devoncamera.co.uk/index.cfm/ ... evonCamera
Connect that to this off camera shoe Sony FA-CS1AM TTL Off-Camera Shoe http://www.jessops.com/online.store/pro ... /show.html
Connect a PC sync adaptor to the shoe

The final thing is that I'm a bit worried about is I've not factored in the need for a voltage regulated pc sync adaptor like the hugely expensive official sony one - will that be a big risk using relatively modern strobes (I'm assuming his kit is reasonably new but will check) - I've heard you can pc sync cables with a voltage regulator built in but haven't some across one yet - is this a big issue or am I overcomplicating things (further).

I'm really am working in the dark a bit here so if anyone has a more elegant solution / spotted a fatal flaw in my thinking (or choice of cables) please do let me know - I'm also wondering whether there might be a solution using radio triggers but most of the ones I've seen on the net are pretty bulky and would stop the internal pop up flash from popping up - if any a55 owners have found one that does work I'd like to see a picture / link.
regards
Scott
Sony NEX 5n (IR Conversion) / Nex 5r / a55 / NEX 6 / Dynax 7 / a77 user

http://www.SNICOLPHOTOS.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsnicol
User avatar
KevinBarrett
Emperor of a Minor Galaxy
Posts: 2449
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:32 pm
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Contact:

Re: Seeking advice on using an a55 in a studio with strobes.

Unread post by KevinBarrett »

Check out these discussions on the Sony Camera Club at Flickr:

A55 and AlienBee CyberSync Transmitter
-Describes workarounds for using third-party radio triggers while preserving viewfinder auto-gain.

Syncing Solutions
-Discusses general syncing solutions for the Alpha system, including several methods of syncing and getting PC sync ports onto cameras that didn't already have them.

I've used PT-04 Chinese radio triggers from eBay (though the wait for delivery was in the scale of months) and Seagull SC-6 hot shoe adapters (standard shoe to Sony flash), both of which provide PC-sync connection. I believe this solution from AVD AlphaDuctions (Dan) uses the PT-04 trigger and Seagull SC-5 shoe adapters (Sony camera to standard flash).
Kevin Barrett
-- Photos --
User avatar
DrScottNicol
Oligarch
Posts: 158
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:50 am
Location: Kent, UK
Contact:

Re: Seeking advice on using an a55 in a studio with strobes.

Unread post by DrScottNicol »

Thanks Kevin.. I'm going to look into a wireless option as well via your links. If I can get that to work it might be a more elegant option (I'm assuming that a modern wireless transmitter wont be any sort of voltage issue for the a55, which will also remove that worry too).

Scott
Sony NEX 5n (IR Conversion) / Nex 5r / a55 / NEX 6 / Dynax 7 / a77 user

http://www.SNICOLPHOTOS.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsnicol
User avatar
KevinBarrett
Emperor of a Minor Galaxy
Posts: 2449
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:32 pm
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Contact:

Re: Seeking advice on using an a55 in a studio with strobes.

Unread post by KevinBarrett »

You're welcome--I'm just glad to know I made a useful resource!
Kevin Barrett
-- Photos --
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests