Minolta 1200 Ring flash

Can someone please tell me if the Minolta 1200 Ring flash work with the A77ii?

https://www.ffordes.com/p/277543/minolta-af/1200af-ringflash

Thanks

stiuskr wrote: Yes and no. It will fire but at full power only.

Are you sure it won't work in TTL mode with the correct flash shoe adapter?

Thanks for the info, but can you clarify.

The flash shoe on the Control Unit of the Minolta 1200 Ring Flash has three connections. To me that indicates TTL flash capability. Am I missing something?







Edited by XKAES - 09 May 2022 at 16:29

As neilt3 explaind, it has TTL, but the wrong TTL for digital.

Also, do not mix up Minolta Ring Flash 1200AF and Minolta Macro Ring Flash 1200.
Please read here:
https://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/flashes.php?ov=1#macro
https://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/faq.php#1200AF
https://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/flashcomp_acc.php

I you want an old ring flash that works well also in manual mode you may search for a Sunpak auto DX 12R and the corresponding MX-1AF adapter for Minolta iISO.

neilt3 wrote: I got the lot for the princely sum of £25 !

If you fancy a quick 100% profit - I'm your man!   

Just an extra clarification for the benefit of XKAES

Initially, TTL flash was implemented in film cameras reading the surface of the film as it was being exposed. This was done by a reading cell in the mirror box of the film bodies that were so equipped. So this cell would read the light hitting the film surface DURING the actual exposure and this cell would send a message to the body/flash when it saw enough light reflected from there to allow for sufficient flash exposure to command a stop to the flash.
This is what was called OTF for Off The Film. Unexposed film surfaces were matte in finish and either grey for black and white film or beige for color film making this process pretty reliable except for off center subjects or very light/dark colored subjects that would fool the exposure a bit like built-in meters get fooled by unusually light/dark subjects.

Early in the digital age, OTF sensors were becoming a lot less reliable since the sensor surface of digital cameras is a very shiny and reflective surface (that can also reflect from the rear lens elements) which can actually fool the system into thinking there is enough light when there is actually not enough so this is where Pre-Flash TTL was created. The way it works, as you depress the shutter to take a picture, the camera requires the flash to emit a small pre-flash of pre-determined power that can be read on the shutter blades PRIOR to exposure and that reading is then interpreted and a calculation of how much more power is required for sufficient exposure is then made by the body and flash and as the shutter opens up completely, the amount of power pre-calculated is then applied by the flash.

This pre-flash capability is something that actually appeared during the i series of bodies when the 5200i flash was released, it had the capability to do Multi flash during a single exposure but in Manual mode only and with no TTL capability whatsoever. This is considered a gadget but this capability eventually allowed a flash to emit successive flash bursts that later allowed WL flash in the next generation xi series of bodies and also HSS when the si series of bodies came along. The update to Pre-Flash capacity occurred about the time of the Maxxum/Alpha/Dynax 7 with the introduction of the 2500D/3600HS(D) and 5600HS(D) flash units that could be used on the Image cameras of that era. This was considered an alternative way to measure flash light on film cameras so it was an optional setting on them, but was a necessity on digital cameras so it kind of became the new TTL but you need to understand the history to realize the fact that film era flashes don't work in TTL with digital cameras.

As an example, i fitted a Minolta 360PX flash (TTL on X-700, and still working on first generation Maxxum bodies like 7000 but with no pre-flash capability) on a Sony A7r body using the right Minolta FS-1100 adapter and Sony ADP-MAA adapter.
Result: the flash gets recognized by the body so it goes to X-Synch speed in A Mode once the flash has recycled its capacitors, but when you depress the shutter, the exposure is all black since the camera is at X-Synch speed at whatever aperture i chose and the flash does not fire since the camera was expecting a pre-flash that it did not see, it did not even fire the flash but still used the exposure settings shown.

Its like the body is sending an e-mail to the flash but the flash does not know what an e-mail is since it is from 1985 when the word was probably not invented yet so it does not answer and the body not getting an answer, does not fire the flash. So getting the proper adapters for this flash/Mirrorless body is likely to even prevent the flash from triggering when releasing the shutter.

Edited by michelb - 10 May 2022 at 01:10

XKAES wrote: Thanks a lot. Sounds as "problematic" as ADI flash. It's great, and I like it better than TTL or Pre-TTL flash, but you have to have a lens, a camera, and a flash that are each ADI capable to use it. If any of the three can't.....the weakest link in the chain.

AND use the flash head in the direct position otherwise the system reverts to Pre-Flash TTL