Firing external flash with Sony Alpha 330

[wthibeaux]

I have an old Vivitar auto flash which I would like to use with my Sony. Will this work?
1. I set the  canera mode to manual exposure
2. Set the camera's built in flash to -2 EV
3. At iso 400 set on the camera, I can shoot at f 11 with the external flash.
4. I set the camera to 1/125 sec and aperture to f 11.
5. I use a slave trigger to fire the Vivitar.
I am thinking that with the camera's flash turned to -2 EV that it would not interfere with the Vivitar giving proper exposure.
Does this seem reasonable?

[Bob Buchanan]

I have an old Vivitar auto flash which I would like to use with my Sony. Will this work?
1. I set the  canera mode to manual exposure
2. Set the camera's built in flash to -2 EV
3. At iso 400 set on the camera, I can shoot at f 11 with the external flash.
4. I set the camera to 1/125 sec and aperture to f 11.
5. I use a slave trigger to fire the Vivitar.
I am thinking that with the camera's flash turned to -2 EV that it would not interfere with the Vivitar giving proper exposure.
Does this seem reasonable?

Yes, it will work -- but what type of image are you after? Is this a portrait, product, group?? The problem I see is that all of your light may be coming from the Vivitar, and you won't be able to control the ambient light at 1/125 and f11.0 as a fixed setting - so too much light may be from those settings.

What type of ambient light do you have with camera only at 1/125 and f11.0? Is it too dark for any texture to show? If the background is really dark and the Vivitar is doing all of the lighting -- you will have no depth in the shot. By the same token, if the ambient light that is exposed by the camera only is lighter than the flash it will be just the opposite. My point is that you must balance the the two light sources, and that will be hard to do with that setup -- and with a fixed camera setting that you suggest, it will vary with each shot. The only exceptable combo would be if the background exposed by the camera alone was just right compared to the Vivitar flash. I use flash mostly for fill -- not for primary lighting. To me, about the only time a flash is the primary light is when working in a studio with "just" flash -- or if shooting with virtually no ambient light (which makes a pretty flat image).

Was also wondering what the flash sync speed of the Sony shutter is with flash? Will it sync OK at 1/125?

Where are positioning the Vivitar as a slave?

Anyway, the biggest problem I see is that you cannot vary the settings on the camera to work with the auto settings on the Vivitar.

BTW, the shot of Ned and Lorna's rig at Quartzsite that I referenced in another thread here was shot with a Vivitar 283 on a "fixed" lens dSLR. Both the camera and the flash were in total manual mode. The camera was manually set to ideally capture the setting sun, whereas the flash was manually set for the perfect matching power to light the rig in the forground. The Vivitar was on a flash bracket about 10 inches above the camera -- but it could have easily been setting on a tripod somewhere else and fired as a slave from the funky little on-camera flash. My point again is that to do what you want to do would ideally allow you to set both camera and flash manually for forground and background. If your vivitar is in auto mode and the camera set always at 1/125 and f11.0 -- you will have no control over the ambient light metered by the camera -- and your flash will most always be the prmary light.

I hope I understood what you have described . . . 

[wthibeaux]

Wow. Thanks for all the advice. My problem is that my Sony has no provision for firing an external flash. I know that at ISO 400, I can shoot at f 11 and the exposure will be right on with my Vivitar. My main focus for doing this is for groups of people. The dedicated Sony flash units are rather expensive. I believe that my Sony flash sync runs up to 1/150 sec, so I should be ok at 1/125. Maybe I need to look into a hot shoe adapter with a PC port as my Vivitar is not hot shoe. I also have a Vivitar 283 which as you know has hot shoe, but I am wanting to use my Vivitar 352 which is a handle mount and easier to use.

[Bob Buchanan]

Wow. Thanks for all the advice. My problem is that my Sony has no provision for firing an external flash. I know that at ISO 400, I can shoot at f 11 and the exposure will be right on with my Vivitar. My main focus for doing this is for groups of people. The dedicated Sony flash units are rather expensive. I believe that my Sony flash sync runs up to 1/150 sec, so I should be ok at 1/125. Maybe I need to look into a hot shoe adapter with a PC port as my Vivitar is not hot shoe. I also have a Vivitar 283 which as you know has hot shoe, but I am wanting to use my Vivitar 352 which is a handle mount and easier to use.

OK -- working with groups would make more sense. Spending time with the set up is part of that type of shot. You could have everything set when the group/s arrives. If your groups are indoors and the flash is your primary light source -- then you "will" need a lot of power. You can up the ISO, but will still need lotsa power.

My advice would be to forget the 352. It will place the flash to the side of the camera vs. directly over the lens - and in so doing will place unwanted shadows to the opposite side of each person in the group. If you can't place primary flash upward and to the left or right with fill to the other side then directly over the flash a good 8-10 inches is best. And you could do that with the 283.

The 283 is an amazing unit - for a flash that is over 30 years old!! It has a ton of power and will last forever. Pros are still using it all over the world. Ideally tho, to do what you want to do, would suggest trying to find a Vivitar VP1 Vari-Power Adapter. You would unplug the current sensor and replace it with the VP-1. That would allow you to dial in "exactly" the amount of flash you want for that group shot - be it as fill light or primary light. A few test shots ahead of time would be all you would need.

You could place the 283 on a slave attachment on a small tripod wherever -- or better yet, just put it on the Sony hotshoe and forget the slave thing. With the VP1, your camera can be set to whatever is best for the current ambient light, and the 283 separately for the fill or main as needed. The two would be totally independent of each other.

There are two considerations to the above. One is that finding a VP-1 would be a chore. They come up occasionally on eBay -- sometimes for as much as $75-95. The other consideration might take you back to the slave setup -- in that the283 takes a lot of power and may not be good for the circuitry of the Sony. I have used mine and it works fine and had no effect of my Canon XT or the Olympus prior to that. But I did want to mention that consideration.

The above is a FWIW - IMHO!!  

[wthibeaux]

Power requirement for the 283 is not a problem as I have a Vivitar battery holder which uses 4 D cells. I also fabricated a battery holder for the 352 which gives much faster recycling than the AA's. I don't always take horizontal shots and there is usually enough room behind the subjects so that shadows are not a problem. Not much artistic going on in my shooting, mostly just for the record.
Thanks for the info.

[Bob Buchanan]

Power requirement for the 283 is not a problem as I have a Vivitar battery holder which uses 4 D cells. I also fabricated a battery holder for the 352 which gives much faster recycling than the AA's. I don't always take horizontal shots and there is usually enough room behind the subjects so that shadows are not a problem. Not much artistic going on in my shooting, mostly just for the record.
Thanks for the info.

You are very welcome -- let us know how it works out for you . . .