Wireless Flash F58AM on Maxxum 9

It should work, I think...
If you don't get an answer, I'll try it tonight when I be back home.
I used the Sony F56AM with Maxxum 9 without any problem, but the F56AM is the same system as the Minolta. In the F58AM Sony introduced new wireless protocol. However, it should also work with the old protocol, as far as I know.

If I understand the table on this page correctly, the only film cameras that can control the F58 in wireless mode are the 5, 7, and 60.

Maybe I can find help in this topic as well. I just bought a HVL-F42AM for my A200, and I was wondering if I could use it on my Dynax 505 as well. For what I understand, it is supposed to work on camera, but not wireless, right?

Now I have a Maxxum 7 and I still can't get the F58AM to work wirelessly with the 7. Could some of you kindly advise? Thanks.

I learned something else about Maxxum 9 and wireless flash today - it wouldn't trigger the Pocket Wizard when it is connected to the hot shoe (via adapter)
When the PW is connected with the same adapter to the A700 it shoots. I tried to take off and on, turn the PW off, turn the camera off and all the combinations. Nada. It wouldn't work on M9 but it works on A700.

Eventually I connected the PW via the PC port and it works fine.

Is there an explanation for this?

Edited by rovhazman - 02 January 2010 at 23:55

kowloon_chan wrote: I am aware of the shutter speed limit. I have tried 1/60, 1/45, 1/30 on the 7 but it still didn't fire the F58AM.

Of course, not. These shutter speeds are longer than (or equal to) the camera's (wireless) X-sync speed. They would be perfectly fine for TTL-OTF, and therefore for the TTL-OTF based wireless flash protocol generation 1 as well, but not for the P-TTL based wireless flash protocol generations 2 and 3.

The film cameras will try to use a TTL-OTF based metering method for as long as possible, since TTL-OTF works - for technical reasons lying in the very nature of flashes and how to control them - more reliable than P-TTL. This is why even P-TTL capable cameras such as the Dynax 9 and Dynax 7 will utilize pre-flashes only to assist the TTL-OTF metering for a combined P-TTL-OTF metering method, instead of switching to a P-TTL-only metering mode.

However, it is, also for technical reasons, impossible to support TTL-OTF for shutter speeds faster than the camera's X-sync speed - for faster speeds a camera's slit shutter is never fully open and a normal flash, shorter in duration than the shutter's speed, would reach only part of the film's surface. The unexposed areas would remain dark.

This is where a linear flash and HSS come into play. Since no form of TTL-OTF will work for shutter speeds faster than X-sync, the camera will have to switch over to a P-TTL-only flash metering method.

However, since wireless flash was based on TTL-OTF as well, wireless HSS (a new feature introduced with the Dynax 7) required the introduction of a new P-TTL based wireless flash protocol. This new wireless protocol is supported with HSS and HS(D) flashes.

In a perfect world, this new protocol would have been used only in HSS mode, however, when digital cameras showed up, they too could no longer use TTL-OTF, since (conventional) imaging sensors will reflect light in a very different way than film. This is the reason, why the less reliable HSS method is now used for all shutter speeds on DSLRs, whereas it is only used for HSS speeds on film bodies.

If you want to force the Dynax 7 to trigger the HVL-F58AM wirelessly, you will have to use shutter speeds faster than 1/60s, for example 1/90s. You will have to enable HSS in the flash before the camera will allow you to set such speed settings with the flash enabled.
I know, photographically this does not make sense most of the time, that's why I am quite upset about the fact, that Sony removed support for wireless protocol 1 from the HVL-F58AM, and why I think, the HVL-F56AM is still the better flash unless you own a DSLR-A900 or DSLR-A850 (which don't have a built-in flash and require the HVL-F58AM or HVL-F20AM as a wireless controller).

Greetings,

Matthias

Edited by matthiaspaul - 29 December 2009 at 14:49

Thanks Matthias for your reply.

I am not going to modify the PW - the PC port is good enough...

I was just curious about the reason. I am away now and I cannot check the output from the camera. I can tell you that there are no problem when using Sony F56AM connected to the hotshoe, so I believe the output is fine (although it can be that the PW has smaller range of trigger voltage).
I'll make few more tests when I am back home.