Hi mikeyp2000

I am discussing this with a contact of mine and I will let you know their thoughts (just double checking a couple of things first).

Thanks,

Simon

Hello again

Apologies for not getting back in touch sooner - I have been trying to verify some information about whether this is something that should have been rectified by the last firmware update - further apologies for the slight typo

I have now highlighted this thread to technical support at Sony to see if this is definitely something that should have been fixed in the update and if this is indeed the case, I can advise further.

Thanks,

Simon

Dear Michael

regarding flash exposure of A65/A77 it took me a while to find out how the camera works and what settings will suit better for certain shooting conditions.

Generally I found out that the flash indeed is set to a somewhat higher level compared what I was used from A55 or even the old Minolta 7D.

One clue to understanding is the way the A65/A77 try to balance ambient/natural light with the flash light. It

seems that the camera and its exposure algorithms are setup up to gain more of the ambient light, so that

parts of the scene which are not reached by the flash are not underexposed, which could happen with A55. In this regard I have found flash exposure of A65/A77 indoors (with poor lighting) better most of the times than on previous models.

When using A65/A77 as pure fill in flash outdoors (brighten up shadows) it seems however that the new algorithm produces images with less balanced results, in fact the parts which are lit up by the flash seem to be overexposed and I too end up  using flash compensation.

On close inspection of the images however I found out that most of the images which seems too bright are not overexposed in a technical aspect (burned out highlights which can not be recovered) but just very very bright. Too  bright however to result in a natural looking fill flash image. So what I do now is to make sure I use the following settings for outdoor fill flash work:

- set ISO to low values, avoid high settings (please note that there can be situations where the flash output

already has reached its lowest possible setting and therefore flash overexposure will happen. E.g. when using F2, ISO1600 and 2m distance required GN would be 1 - which is not available)

- enable High Speed flash (custom setting of the flash)

- use flash exposure compensation

- in addition to this basic settings I also found out that using a flash diffuser will give me best results (set

metering to TTL instead of ADI)

I have attached a comparison of a basic setup:

from left to right (A65 using HVL-F58 as external flash, P-mode, ISO 200):

0 flash compensation, -1 flash comepnsation, -0.7 flash compensation + diffuser

For my taste the one with the diffuser looks best, other might even prefer the "paparazzi" style harsh flash of the standard setting.

For critical exposure I always use RAW format as it gives the opportunity to adjust exposure to a large degree in post processing. The RAW files from Sony contain enough headroom to enable recover of highlights even from flash images which seem to be overexposed.

I hope this hints are helpful for you.

Message was edited by: cmosse

Hello again everyone

I have just had some further feedback from customer support at Sony relating to outdoor flash use and I wanted to summarise this here.

Set ISO to low values, avoid high settings (please note that there can be situations where the flash output already has reached its lowest possible setting and therefore flash overexposure will happen. E.g. when using F2, ISO1600 and 2m distance required GN would be 1 - which is not available).

Enable High Speed flash (custom setting of the flash).

Use flash exposure compensation if necessary.

In addition to these basic settings use of a flash diffuser can also enhance flash illumination results (when using an diffuser metering has to to be set to TTL instead of ADI).

For critical exposure always use RAW format as it gives the opportunity to adjust exposure to a large degree in post processing. The RAW files from Sony contain enough headroom to enable recover of highlights even from flash images which seem to be overexposed.

Thanks,

Simon

Hello All,

I have been reporting this issue, along with many other, since December 2011.  I still don't get it, how come Sony cannot fix it.  Simon and Cmosse, thank you for the "WORKAROUNDS", we know them already, some are even on Gary Friedman's book.

WE DON'T NEED WORKAROUNDS, WE NEED THE ISSUE TO BE FIXED ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Let me resume the issue again:

At ISO 640 and above, using P, A, S, or M, either in TTL or ADI, the sony a77 erratically overexposes while using the onboard flash or Sony External flashes.

The last firmware 1.05 didn't fix it ...

Cheers

Message was edited by: gbloncourt