How can I brighten the Sony A57 EVF/LCD when using a manual external flash?

Asked 11/1/2013

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On my Sony A57, the LCD and electronic viewfinder get much brighter in low light when I use the built-in pop-up flash, which makes focusing easier. But when I mount a manual Yongnuo YN560 II external flash, the display stays very dark. Is this normal with a non-TTL/manual flash, and is there a camera setting that will make the EVF/LCD stay bright enough to compose and focus?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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From what I understand, that Yongnuo is a manual flash. While I am not experienced with Sony Alpha cameras, I am assuming that it is unable to simulate any brightening the flash unit may provide through the EVF or LCD because the flash is not communicating any information to the camera. Manual flashes must be manually configured. My best suggestion would be to go into the camera's settings and increase the brightness of the EVF and the LCD to see if that helps.

Originally by user21592. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user21592

12y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes—this is normal with a manual, non-TTL flash because the camera may not get flash information from the unit. On Sony SLT/EVF bodies, the key setting to check is the live-view preview mode.

Try this:

  • Open the camera menu
  • Go to the gear/settings section
  • Find Live View Display
  • Change Setting Effect from On to Off

With Setting Effect Off, the EVF/LCD behaves more like an optical viewfinder display and won’t stay dark just because your current exposure settings would underexpose the ambient light. That makes composing and focusing much easier when you plan to light the scene with flash.

If needed, you can also raise the EVF/LCD brightness, but the main fix is disabling the setting effect preview.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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