Using A35 in low light conditions

[sandman20]

I have the A35 camera and if I set it to manual for studio work, the viewfinder and LCD screen are very dark. The only way I can find to overcome this is to use a wider aperature or higher ISO. Is there an alternative as this seems to be a desing flaw.

[blaireau_photo]

Hello sandman20 - welcome to the Sony Forums

The steps that you have described are the usual ones for getting the most out of low light conditions. You have mentioned how the images look on the viewfinder and LCD screen (the viewfinder is electronic so it will give the same result as the screen anyway). When you view the images afterwards, are they of an acceptable quality?

Thanks,

Simon

[dasallen]

I was using my a35 camera in a studio last night with the flash guns in the studio wired through an adapter in my hot shoe and wired though a PC cable. I had it set on manual with a shutter speed of 1/160 and an aperture of F11, ISO was 200. This made the both the view finder and screen very dark because the camera did not know about the flash. I could only just make out the model and took some really good shots as the photos came out really good.

Is there a setting on the camera that tells it that a flash will be fired or that makes the viewfinder think it is an optical view finder. Someone must have overcome this problem before.

Thank you for any help

David

[gimp69]

There is no setting on the A35 to turn off the simulated exposure in the EVF.  There is on my A77, which doesn't therefore have the dark EVF problem you have.

The only thing I can suggest is that you pop-up the on-board flash to compose and then pop it back down to take the shot.

This is a frustrating firmware only issue that Sony could simply fix on the A33/35/55, but will not.

[sandman20]

Hi, this is a desing flaw with the A35 and I had to get a refund from Jessops and I have pgraded to the A65. This works fine in  a studio situation. I did try to discuss this with Sony but I was advised to take the battery out of the camera and put it back in again. Their call centres are worse than useless.

[Jules74 · Accepted solution]

Hi dasallen,

yep, it is quite annoying that on models before A65/77 you cannot set the camera to have a bright LCD/EVF image in M-mode when using a studio flash, but there are two very simple tricks you can use for framing when shooting a static subject, but not practical when the subject is moving:

Make your settings in M-Mode (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc.) and then

1. switch to P/A/S for framing and then back to M-Mode to take the actual photo

or

2. pop-up the internal flash for framing and put it down again to take the actual photo

When the subject is moving, you need an external (Sony/Minolta/?) flash that enables manual flash settings mounted on the camera. Having a flash mounted on the camera will also always deliver a bright LCD/EVF image. In addition you need a studio flash or special accessory that allows the studio flash to be triggered by a light impulse from the flash mounted on the camera (no cable needed).

Then set the flash on the camera to the lowest flash out-put possible, because it should not have an influence on the image - it is just there to trigger the studio flash. If you find that light from the mounted flash is on the final image, you can try to point the flash had to the ceiling or rotate it away from the subject. And/or use some tape and carboard to cover most of the flash.

Good luck and have fun experimenting!

Jules