3rd Party Flash for Dimage 7Hi

[JimC]

Softweigh wrote:

Hi Jim

According to Sigma the EF500 DG will work with Sony/Minolta and other brands too!!

Are you saying that they actually produce a different version of the EF500 SG for each camera??? Like one for Canon and one for Sony etc etc ?????

Exactly (they produce different versions of that flash for each camera brand). You'll need the one that is for Minolta DiMAGE, Maxxum, Dynax or Alpha digital camera models.

There are differences in the shoe/foot between camera brands (contacts used for proprietary signaling with a dedicated flash), even if they use an "iso standard shoe" (and the flash for Minolta and Sony dSLR models has a different shoe type anyway). The protocol (signaling and commands used for communication between the camera and flash) will differ between camera brands.

You'll see the same thing with modern Autofocus lenses. The camera body and lens mount is different between camera brands, as is the protocol used for communications between a camera and lens via the electrical contacts in the mount. So, third party manufacturers like Sigma offer a given lens model in multiple camera mounts (and they are not interchangeable between camera brands).

With a non-dedicated flash, that's not an issue between camera brands using an iso standard shoe (or if you use a Minolta FS-1100 adapter with your 7Hi), since the center pin and outside shoe are just shorted together to trigger a flash, without regard to the extra contacts and proprietary communication you find used with a dedicated flash. Of course, there is no communication (except for triggering the flash) with a non-dedicated flash model. So you'll want to use manual exposure on the camera, setting the camera and flash to match for iso speed and aperture, varying shutter speed to allow more or less ambient light into the image for a given camera/flash setup.

[Softweigh]

Hi Jim

I would say the appropriate word now will have to be "shucks" to keep the topic family orientated!!!

Oh dear!! This guy used it on his Canon so it will indeed be quite wrong!! I'll have to wait for it to arrive and then pop it back on ebay and hope some enthusiastic Canon user wants it. (Canon gear seems to be the most popular here so it should be OK)

Them's the breaks I guess!!! I will now have to look at a manual unit and put it on a bracket beside the camera. Sync cord shoes seem easy to find if the flash doesn't have a sync cord.

I did find one Sigma specifically for Sony/Minolta but the price is already way past what I paid for my camera!!! Manual seems the way to go!!

Thanks again and it looks like it's back to square one for me again!!

Chris