Minolta Maxxum/Dynax 7 Flash set up

[guy_mansford]

Just bought a Maxxum/Dynax 7, partly for its very versatile flash set

up. The instructions however are typically awful and although you can

compensate for flash etc, it gives no guidance on when you are using

full vs fill flash. I understand off camera, rear curtain and slow

sync well but not how I get fill flash with compensation outside of

fully automatic set up. Does anyone have full experience of this

system and can advise me?

thanks in advance

[michael_hohner]

The camera effectively <em>always</em> does fill flash. The TTL sensors don't know which portion of incoming light is from the flash and which is from ambient light. It meters ambient light before the exposure to get ambient exposure about right, and then it fills in the rest during exposure with the flash. When medium exposure is achieved, it cuts off the flash and closes the shutter.

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When ambient light is low, the camera slows down the shutter to 1/60. After that point, exposure is more and more dominated by the flash. With slow sync the camera is using even slower shutter speeds to have more ambient exposure.

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These are the basics. Things get really complicated with ADI and pre-flash.

[emaxxman]

My understanding of the flash algorithm is that the camera will automatically switch to fill flash mode when the brightness levels go over a certain EV. What that EV is, I don't know.

 

I shoot aperture priority, flash -1 compensation in bright conditions all the time and the exposures are dead on. I also use Reala which probably helps with extreme contrasty situations.

 

I haven't noticed my flash exposure to be any more accurate in fill flash mode with or without ADI metering.

[guy_mansford]

thanks for these replies. I am busy experimenting with different set ups on slide film to see. As your two answers demonstrate, the system is difficult to fully work out, with Minolta not helping with inaccurate instruction books. According to the 3600hs flash booklet, full flash is used in full auto but fill flash in P mode. Lots of contradicitions. Does anyone have anything directly from Minolta that's more helpful?

[michael_hohner]

Guy, I disagree. If you just let the system work on its own, it works very well and balances ambient exposure and flash exposure. What exactly is the problem that you experience?

[tom_montemarano]

The manual for the 3600HSD flash says:

 

" With the Maxxum/Dynax 7, automatic flash is used with full-auto, and fill flash is used when P mode is selected"

 

This means that when the camera is set to "full auto" (that is "green P" mode) and the flash is turned on, it will only flash when the camera thinks it should (usually when the light is low). That's what Minolta & some other manufacturers call "auto flash".

 

When the camera is set to "white" P-Mode, and the flash is turned on, it will always flash, regardless of how bright the scene is. That's what they call Fill Flash.

 

The camera will always adjust the flash exposure for proper exposure of the subject using which ever metering method you choose. That doesn't always mean that the ratio of flash to ambient will be what you want. You have control over that by how you choose aperture and shutter speed, or if you select slow sync. In P-mode (not full auto) most older Minolta cameras set the ambient to about -1 to -1.5 ev less exposure. That gives a dark background. Some people like that, others don't. That's where learning how the camera chooses its exposure is important. Some people just go to aperture priority or manual exposure and set the ambient exposure how they want, accepting that the flash will be correct.

 

Tom