The Sony A7 II: The Unofficial Quintessential Guide

Slow Sync. Use this Flash Mode option with slow shutter speeds. The flash fires, and the camera shutter is kept open so the sensor can capture light from the background. Typically in flash photography, this area is illuminated by ambient light and the flash illuminates subjects that are close to the camera. This

A smaller flash unit—HVL-F43M, HVL-F32M, or HVL-F20M—is a better choice.

The Sony website has software for Windows or Mac that you can download so you can use your computer to fire the camera. After you download the software, it appears as an application (on Macs, it is RemoteCameraControl.app). You can then fire your camera and make some adjustments to it from your computer. You have to open the program, connect your c

There are two major categories of tripod heads: pan and tilt heads, and ball heads. Pan and tilt heads are heavier and less expensive (about $65 for the Manfrotto 804RC2). They allow you to pan across the scene (horizontal movement) and tilt the camera (vertical movement). To lock the head, you must tighten two knobs: one for the pan and one for th

When you use your a7 II for flash photography, you must set the shutter speed to 1/250 second or slower to make sure the entire surface of the sensor can receive light from the flash unit. Sony designed many of the a7 II shooting modes to use a shutter speed of 1/60 second.

One reason to use the HVL-F43M instead of the inexpensive HVL-F20M flash unit is its greater power output, which is needed for bounced light. Although the light from the HVL-F20M can be tilted up at a fixed 75-degree angle, its intensity will be insufficient at ISO 100 with a stopped-down lens. You either have to raise the ISO or switch flash units

Flash Off This option is disabled in P, A, S, and M modes. An attached flash unit that is turned on and fully charged will always fire in these modes. If you do not want the flash to fire, either remove it from the hot shoe or turn it off. The [Flash Off] option is available only when the mode dial is set to Intelligent Auto, Superior Auto, and the

To exert full control over the shutter speed and aperture, use M mode. It allows you to use a shutter speed faster than 1/60 second and smaller apertures. This is critical because it allows you to use flash outdoors as a fill light.

You may want to use direct flash to avoid this problem, but you should diffuse the light. To do so, you can place opalescent filters over the flash head. An example is the STO-FEN Omni-Bounce unit, which uses friction to fit in front of a flash unit so it can easily be removed. It costs about $12. Lately we have been using Gary Fong’s Lightsphere (