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Cameras

First Impressions: Using the Sony A99 and HVL-F60M Flash for Studio Photography

Chris Gampat
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10/10/2012
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony A99 Studio Samples continued (8 of 9)ISO 100

After posting my first studio sample image from the Sony A99, I was able to edit a couple more images. This morning, I spent a good portion of the time shooting studio photos on-location with the camera, 24-70mm f2.8, Sony HVL-F60M, the latest version of the RoundFlash, and an Impact 60 Inch White Interior Umbrella.

So how did they perform?

Gear Used

Ergonomics

The Sony A99’s ergonomics are honestly really quite astounding. After spending a half hour to memorize the camera and explore the menus, it is really quite a joy to use. It wasn’t heavy; but the 24-70mm wasn’t exactly what I was used to and I should have asked for an 85mm f1.4 instead since I digg prime lenses much more.

The camera feels very beefy and like the perfect fusion between a Nikon and Canon DSLR. For this reason, I feel like it will appeal to so many people. Indeed, I’m considering purchasing one and the trip isn’t even over yet.

For studio shooting the camera has two critical modes that you’ll want to remember: Live View Preview and Wireless Flash Control. Live View Preview will either give you a preview of what you’ll see in the viewfinder or it will automatically compensate itself to let you see your subject. That is key for when you’re using Pocket Wizards, for example. The Wireless Flash Control setting is accessed after using the Fn button and then setting the flash to wireless. This is easier for me than going through Canon’s menu and then submenu followed by confirmations.

Focusing

The A99 can focus relatively quickly, but then can also sometimes take its time in low light situations. It is best to place your focusing point on a contrasting area and use an exact focusing point as well.

The photo above was one that I absolutely fell in love with after having two flashes fire into the Umbrella camera left and one flash behind Kayla.

The problem: the photo is out of focus. But that’s only for the major tech nerds. It’s an otherwise great shot in my opinion.

Using the HVL-F60M

Many photos I shot outside were done with high speed sync though others were done without it. To accomplish HSS mode, the flash needs to aimed directly forward. It’s a good idea to set the flash to Pre-Flash TTL to ensure that it doesn’t also become part of the exposure but instead just triggers other flashes via Infrared transmission. Additionally, the flashes cannot accommodate my Pocket Wizard Plus IIIs due to the lack of an appropriate port.

Remember the RoundFlash? Well, if you’ve kept up with the news, they produced a new version based off our initial results. The new version is excellent and had both Sony reps, photographers and journalists all mesmerized. For my images, I set the flash to 1/4 output because TTL didn’t work well enough for me. The results looked great.

But the HVL-F60M flash is also extremely powerful and the Sony reps said that it can output around 120 Watt seconds of power.

First Impressions

Besides the fact that the HSS setup annoyed me a bit, the flash and camera worked seemlessly and the HVL-F60M was also extremely simple to use once you navigated and played with the menus. Another small quirk of mine though is that I really wish that the head could also tilt backward; but instead it can only go left, right, up and down. It is versatile and pretty nice; but I did encounter some issues when trying to use it with a Softbox because sometimes the infrared sensor would need to be covered when the flash was being held in place by a Speedring.

Here are some more photos: there’s more to come soon.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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