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A77 flash overexposure

profile.country.GB.title
mikeyp2000
Member

A77 flash overexposure

I was wondering if Sony have any updates for us on a77 flash overexposure issues.  A quick visit to dpreview Sony forums will find many many a77 users have similar problems.

To get a decent flash exposure, flash exposure compensation needs to be set to -.7 to -1.0.   This is true for the built in flash or any Sony external flash, either for direct or bounced. 

My old a700 and a55 used to expose perfectly with flash exposure compensation set to 0.

Outdoors using the hvl-f58 or f-42 flash to fill in shadows on bright sunny days, I now need to use -2.3 to -2.7 flash exposure compensation where the a700 and a55 would need -1.7 to -2 for a natural fill flash. 

So the problem for lots of people seems to be that they can get exposures that seem ok but the flash settings required are a bit unnatural, as if the a77 flash exposure scale is -.7 to -1 out of sync with people's expectations.

Is there any knowledge in Sony about this?

25 REPLIES 25
profile.country.de_DE.title
heho_A77
Visitor

I had sent my A77 to the sony service (germany) two weeks ago. It came back last week with the comment that they count not find a failure. The exposure would be within specification.

I don't think that Sony has a real solution for the problem. Can someone make a direct comparison with different  A77's under the same conditions and find out, if there are "A77's" without the problem out there?

profile.country.en_GB.title
frithmc
New

I get the same overexposure issues using both the built in flash and a 3600hs  it's vey annoying the workarounds work but surely the firmware needs addressing.

profile.country.de_DE.title
dahanse66
Visitor

Anything New in this? I installed the latest Firmware 1.06 but nothing changed...

profile.country.en_GB.title
blaireau_photo
Visitor

Hello dahanse66 :slight_smile:

Could you remind me ...... have you contacted Sony Customer Services and requested for your camera to be inspected already to see if they can identify the issues that you have been describing?

Thanks,

Simon

profile.country.de_DE.title
dahanse66
Visitor

Dear Simon, i had my A77 14 days at the Austrian Sony Repair Center. They couldnt see the problem and said the cam works within the specifications. Problem sometimes accurs and sometimes not. It depends very much the lightning situation.. So in the moment i am without any solution. I use compensation of about -1.0 - sometimes this works. Sometimes its to much and sometimes its not much enough...  In the moment i plan to solute the problem with a Nikon D7000.  But i really like my A77 because of all the good features...

Best Regards

Daniel

This is a very old thread in the forum, but I jist found that on the Metz website there are firmware updates for several Mecablitz flashes, especially aimed at fixing problems with A65 and A77. 

Check this link for the press release and more info on the Metz website

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