Sony HVL-F43AM Sony Alpha System HVL-F43AM Flash Unit for Alpha DSLR

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Price: $454.39    

Product Feature

• Quick Shift Bounce; for lighting freedom
• Bounce flash: 90° right, 90 left, 150° up, 8 down
• High power (guide no. 43)
• Auto WB adjustment w/ Color Temperature Info
• Effective over 30 ft. (10.5m)

Product Description

The Sony HVL-F43AM flash unit delivers flexible lighting control for � DSLR photographers. The innovative � Quick Shift Bounce� system allows the flash to pivot 90 degrees left and right, and Wireless Ratio Control allows the wireless control of up to three groups of flashes with user-selected luminosity ratios.

Sony HVL-F43AM Sony Alpha System HVL-F43AM Flash Unit for Alpha DSLR Review

First of all, this is my first external flash purchase, though I had been looking at the previous generation F42 flash and the flagship F58 for my Sony A55. I was holding out for this unit's release before I got a flash. The F58 is highly-regarded, though it is a chunky and heavy unit- something I wasn't looking forward to for my relatively small camera. The F42 seemed like the right size, though it was missing the "Quick Shift Bounce" system that the F58, and now this new F43 flash has. That basically allows you to operate the camera in vertical mode while still having the flash bounce off the ceiling. I thought it was just a Sony gimmick, but it's something that really works well. From what I've read, Canon and Nikon have no similar flash feature. For as much as Sony cameras get wrongly bashed by fans of the other brands, the same people will envy this flash.

It also comes with a built-in wide angle screen (sort of diffuser), apparently for super wide lenses, and a bounce sheet. I have not had the chance to use a 3rd-party diffuser on this flash yet since I can't be sure what product works with it right now. For wireless shooting, it comes with a foldable mini-stand, which also serves as the tripod mount. It also came with a good quality protective case for the flash unit with the alpha logo (though I don't use it because I stow the flash in a Crumpler bag).

Because of all the new tech that the A55 camera has, I was expecting this flash to be some clunky and dated photography tool by comparison. Instead I'm amazed at how this flash operates and how it integrates with the camera. It manages to take crisp and properly-exposed photos at the right white balance with minimal tweaking.

Setting up wireless flash was surprisingly easy. After it's set up, the camera knows when the flash is mounted and when detached, it's automatically set to wireless mode. It will operate the external flash when the built-in pop-up flash is used (which serves as the wireless trigger through infrared signals)- in a few conditions, there can be some pre-flash artifact from the camera's pop-up flash that shows in the final image, but a certain Gary Friedman says you can use an exposed film strip to block the visible light. Wireless flash use is lots of fun.

It supports high-speed sync (HSS) flash, which from what I've read allows you to use very wide apertures and fast shutter speeds to get a nice depth-of-field effect with flash! When shot this way and when bounced, it doesn't look like harsh flash lighting was used at all. The flash also has many more advanced features (ex. wireless ratio control, manual mode), but I'm not familiar enough with using them.

When it's on the hotshoe of the camera, it's very capable of firing fast- my A55 is usually set to continuous shooting at 6fps, and the flash doesn't seem to slow down the camera at all! I didn't even know it was capable of this even after playing with the unit for some time until a friend took pictures of me in burst mode and I saw the flash going off very fast like it had an electrical problem! I reviewed all the pictures taken and all of them were also properly exposed and sharp. From what I've experienced, it's not capable of this rapid shooting in wireless mode, probably because of the slower flash rate of the built-in camera flash. For those not familiar with external flashes, this one also has an infrared illuminator that allows fast autofocusing in pitch black when the flash is mounted. I even tried this with the not-for-low-light Sony 18-250mm zoom lens and got very good focus and a very good picture with the flash.

My only complaint really is that it still uses AA batteries. OK, this is completely my opinion as I'm sure professionals may want the option to get replacement batteries in the field, but Sony being the proprietary company that they are, they should have seized the chance for the good of humanity to use their InfoLithium battery packs in this thing (the F43 seemed to be made for their compact SLT line anyway!) to get it even smaller and lighter. I would have gladly bought more of those and be able to put it into my camera or the flash when they ran low. That would make for a very compact set-up! Alright I'm just being silly. I bought rechargeable NIMH AA's (Sony Cycle Energy) for these and like it very much (great, fast charger). I'm sure Eneloop batteries would work great too.

In short, if you have a Sony camera and don't need the extra flash output of the F58, and are looking for a flash, definitely get this.

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