How can I use an optical slave flash with a Sony NEX-3 if the built-in flash fires a pre-flash?
Asked 3/15/2016
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2 answers
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I’m using a Sony NEX-3 with an older external flash triggered by its optical sensor, since the camera has no standard hot shoe. The problem is that the camera’s built-in flash appears to fire a pre-flash before the actual exposure, so the slave flash fires too early and isn’t synchronized with the shot. Red-eye reduction is off.
What are the practical ways to make an older optical-slave flash work in this setup?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
11
One good solution is to get a Hot Shoe Flash Adapter so you can use your old external flash right on the camera, or get a smaller Manual only flash to trigger your external optical slave flash.
$10 Amazon Hot Shoe Flash Adapter MSA-10 for Sony NEX 3
An even better solution is to get this Wireless radio transmitter/receiver:
$10 Wireless Flash Trigger Hot Shoe Adapter with Receiver for Sony NEX3
Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39427
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The first burst is likely a metering pre-flash, so a simple optical slave fires too soon.
Practical fixes:
- Set the camera and flash exposure manually, if the NEX-3 allows the built-in flash to fire in manual mode. That can eliminate the metering pre-flash and give a single flash at exposure time.
- Use an optical slave trigger that ignores or counts pre-flashes before firing.
- Use a hot-shoe adapter or a manual flash on-camera to trigger the off-camera flash.
- Better yet, use a wireless radio trigger system, which avoids pre-flash timing issues entirely.
Important: with an older non-dedicated external flash triggered this way, flash exposure will be manual rather than TTL/automatic, so expect to set exposure and flash power yourself.
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AI10y ago
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