Phil Brandon (??) Chuck Cole cncole@earthlink.net) CyberSimian (CyberSimian@BTinternet.com) Gary Friedman (gary@friedmanarchives.com) Petr Holub (hopet@ics.muni.cz) Csaba JOZSA (??) Scott Kimball (SCOTTK@MAINE.maine.edu) Peter Blaise Monahon (peterblaise@yahoo.com) Dario Piantanida (ario@logic.it) Marat R. Saulin (??) Magnus Wedberg (mw@9000.org)
I would really appreciate having other people contributing to this guide to help other from the community. If you have anything what you think could be valuable for others dont hesitate to contact me. The same holds if you discover some valuable discussion in Minolta group archives. I will be happy to add your contributions! P. H.

Chapter 2

Information on bodies and lenses

2.1 Minolta AF bodies

2.1.1 Overview of Minolta AF bodies
[Author(s): Unknown, taken from Minolta AF FAQ [4].]
Table 2.1: Minolta AF Bodies in Chronological Release Date Order Released Europe Dynax 7000 AF 9000 AF 5000 AF 3000i 7000i 5000i 8000i U.S. Maxxum 7000 AF 9000 AF 5000 AF 3000i 7000i 5000i 8000i SPxi 3xi 7xi 2xi 5xi 9xi 700si 400si 500si 600si (Classic) 800si HTsi XTsi 9 QTsi NYA Canada Maxxum Japan Alpha ( ) 7000 Alpha 9000 Alpha 5000 Alpha Alpha 7700i Alpha 5700i Alpha 8700i
1991 3xi 1991 7xi 1992 2xi 1992 5xi 1992 9xi 1993 700si 1994 500si 1995 300si 1995 500si Super 1995 600si (Classic) 1997 800si 1998 505si 1998 505si Super 1999 303si 1999 404si continued on next page.
807si Alpha Sweet 9 STsi 7 5

2.1. MINOLTA AF BODIES

. continued from previous page Released Europe U.S. Dynax Maxxum 3L 3L

Canada Maxxum

Japan Alpha ( )
2.1.2 Batteries for Minolta equipment
Table 2.2: Batteries for Minolta equipment Body or Meter Dynax/Maxxum AF Bodies All except below & XTsi Dynax 5, 505si, XTsi Dynax 7 and 9 body VC-700 and VC-800 grips VC-7 and VC-9 grips Original AF Bodies & 5000 with original battery holder 7000 & 5000 with optional BH-70L MF SLRs XM, XE-1, XE-5, XD-7, XD-5, XG-1, XG-2, XG-9, XGM, X-9 X-300, x-300s, X320s, X-500, X-700 SRT-101, 100, 202, 303, 100x, 101b, 303b, SR7, SR1 Meter Vectis APS Bodies S-1, S-300, 30, 25, 200, 20, 10, UC, Weathermatic, GX variants Himatic Compacts and Earlier Rangender Bodies Minolta AL-F, AL-E, Himatic 7, 7s, 9 and 11 Himatic 7S-II, 5, G, G2, C Himatic E, F Himatic S, S2, GF, AF, AF2, AF2M Minolta CLE (Leica M lensmount) AF and Focus-free Compacts (modern) 140EX, 135EX, 105EX, Panorama Zoom 28 90EX, 70C, Weathermatic DL 115EX, 75W, 70W, 70EX, RZ 70, Pcio, Mini, Panorama 105i, 90C, Twin 28, AF Zoom 65, AF Zoom 90, AF Tele Super AF5, 100AF, AF35EX, AF35, AF35C, Riva 35 AF-101R, AF-20R, F-10/BF, C-10, Memory Maker FS-E, FS-EII, FS-35, AF-E AF-C AF-T AF-Z, AF-EII, AF-DL, AF Tele 60, AF-SP continued on next page. Batteries Used 1 2CRCRCR123A 4 AA or 1 x 2CRAA or (1 2CR5 and/or 1 CR123A)

2.3. DYNAX/MAXXUM LENS CHART
blur a distracting background while keeping both the subjects nose and ears in focus. In selecting an aperture-shutter speed combination, the system considers such factors as focal length, subject reectance and contrast, subject distance and type, and the reproduction ratio, or degree of magnication. The system then selects an appropriate combination of aperture and shutter speed for the situation, however it will try to maintain a hand-holdable shutter speed, such as second shutter speed with a 50 mm lens, to reduce the risk of blur from hand held camera shake. To disable AF Auto Focus lens to Shutter interlock, hold the ISO Button and the Lens Mount Button while turning the camera ON. Automatic Exposure Bracketing: Automatic Exposure Bracketing drive mode exposed 3 consecutive images, one at normal EV Exposure Value, plus one at stop EV Exposure Value and then one at stop EV Exposure Value, which is a rather narrow exposure range best suited for the sensitivity and dynamic range of slide lm. For other lm, you can use manual Exposure Compensation control, perhaps taking two additional frames, one at +1 or greater and the other at the +2 or greater setting. Multiple Multiple Exposures: Although you can pre-set a maximum of nine exposures on one frame of lm, you can actually achieve any number. If you want to shoot 16, for example, merely reset the Multiple Exposure feature to 8 after shooting the rst 8. Body Depth: The depth of the Minolta lens mount to lm plane is 44.7mm. Setting DX Film For More Than 24 or 36 Frames: The Minolta 507si, 600si and 650si camera will rewind the lm immediately after the last frame of 24 or 36 exposures as sensed by the DX coding on the lm can. The selected Aperture and Shutter Speed values will disappear immediately after the last exposure when rewind begins preventing you from viewing and recording these values. To wind to the true end of your lm and expose additional available frames, scrape the paint off the lm can DX sections 8, 9 and 10. The camera will then rewind only when lm advance is not possible due to reaching the true end of the lm, or if you manually press the Rewind Button. This permits you to manually rewind after recording your Aperture and Shutter Settings after the nal frame, either 24 or 36, or to expose an additional frame. However, be aware that rewind will begin immediately after the nal exposure, so watch for and record you nal frame Aperture and Shutter Speed before or during the nal exposure.
2.3 Dynax/Maxxum Lens Chart
[Author(s): Minolta Corp.]
Used abbreviations: * Discontinued RS Restyled HS High Speed For detailed explanation see section 2.3.3 (page 14).
Table 2.3: Fixed focal length lenses Lens Elements / Groups 11/8 10/9 10/9 8/8 8/8 9/9 5/5 10/8 10/8 7/6 7/6 7/6 7/6 6/5 6/5 7/6 7/6 Angle Of View

1/7.14

integral

1/6.25

3.28 2.85

1/6.25 1/4

55 mm 72 mm
29/16 31/4 31/8 315/16 51/4 51/4 93/8 93/8 811/16

3.3 2.62

1/7.7 1/5.88

55 mm 55 mm

25/213/16 31/16
*85mm f/1.4 7/6 G [RS] *100mm f/2 7/6 100mm f/2.8 7/7 Soft *135mm f/2.8 5/7 135mm f/2.8 8/6 [T4.5] STF *200mm f/2.8 8/7 APO 200mm f/2.8 8/7 APO G [HS] *300mm f/2.8 11/9 APO 300mm f/2.8 11/9 APO G [HS] 300mm f/4 9/7 APO G continued on next page.

1/7.81

1/6.66

1.5 1.5

1/6.66 1/6.66

49 mm 49 mm

25/8 25/8

49 mm 55 mm

29/16 29/16

1/5.88 1/5.88

115/16 115/16 11/2 11/2 19/16 19/16 12/3 213/16 213/16

1/7.7 1/7.7 1/5

55 mm 49 mm 55 mm
25/8 115/16 29/16 111/16 29/3

1/6.5 1/6.5

1/7.7 1/7.7

72 mm 72 mm

31/6 31/6
16mm f/2.8 Fisheye *20mm f/2.8 20mm f/2.8 [RS] *24mm f/2.8 24mm f/2.8 [RS] 28mm f/2 28mm f/2.8 *35mm f/1.4 G 35mm f/1.4 G [RS] *35mm f/2 35mm f/2 [RS] *50mm f/1.4 50mm f/1.4 [RS] *50mm f/1.7 *50mm f/1.7 [RS] *50mm f/1.4 [RS] *85mm f/1.4

215/16

Min. Focus [ft].7

Max. Magnication 1/6.6

Filter (dia.)
Dimensions (dia. length) [in]

Weight [oz]

25/8 201/8 21/8 13/4 13/4
141/10 19/16 19/16 101/16 61/2 169/16 179/16 87/16 81/2 85/16 85/6 85/16 193/8 193/8 1615/16 151/2 127/8 253/4 177/8 177/8 871/2 871/2 493/4
Table 2.4: Zoom lenses Lens Elements / Groups Angle Of View Min. Focus [ft].98

27/8 31/8 27/8 31/8

2.6(.8)

1/8.3(1/4)

211/16 33/8 211/16 33/8

2.6(1.2) 1.3

1/9(1/4)

1/5.88

1/5.55
211/16 23/8 211/16 23/8 27/8 27/8 27/8 27/8 213/16 211/16 31/4 49/16 211/16 21/16 29/16 211/16 27/16 29/16

1/12.3

1735mm 15/12 f/3.5 G 2035mm 13/11 f/3.54.5 *2450mm 7/7 f/4 2450mm 7/7 f/4[RS] *2485mm 14/12 f/3.44.5 2485mm 14/12 f/3.44.5[RS] 24105mm 12/11 f/3.44.5[D] 2870mm 16/11 f/2.8 G *2880mm 7/7 f/45.6 MZ 2880mm 10/10 f/3.55.6 II 2880mm 8/7 f/3.55.6 (D) (S) *2885mm 13/10 f/3.54.5 *2885mm 13/10 f/3.54.5 [RS] *28105mm 13/10 f/3.54.5 MZ 28105mm 13/10 f/3.54.5[RS] continued on next page.

104 63

Max. Magnication

10/9 10/9

1/9 1/9

integral integral

Circular Aperture Floating focus Internal Focus Anomalous Dispersion Glass Asperhic Elements Focus Hold Button
Table 2.10: G lenses (III) Lens Elements / Groups Angle Of View Min. Focus [ft] 1 2.30 4.9 8.2 8.2 9.9
23/8 51/4 51/16 93/8 39/16 811/16 41/4 103/4
35mm f/1.4 G 10/8 85mm f/1.4 G 7/6 (D) 200mm f/4 13/8 MACRO APO G 200mm f/2.8 8/7 APO G 300mm f/2.8 11/9 APO G 300mm f/4 9/7 APO G 400mm f/4.5 9/7 APO G continued on next page.

f/22 f/22

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 29/31/16 213/16 31/8 72/3

169/16 193/4 403/16

177/8 871/2 493/4 67

2.3.2 D-Series

D-Series lenses include new distance-encoding device which enables improved calculation for ash exposure with Maxxum 5 and 7 cameras when used with 3600HS D and 5600HS D ashes. Table 2.11: D lenses Lens Elements / Groups 12/11 8/7 Angle Of View Min. Focus [ft] 1.6
Manual focus ring does not rotate during AF
2.3.3 RS = Re-Styled Lenses
Fixed Focal Length Lenses AF 20mm f/2.8 RS Rubber focusing grip. Circular aperture up to f/5.6. Revised Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 24mm f/2.8 RS Rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Circular aperture up to f/5.6. Revised Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 35mm f/1.4 RS AF lock/lens function button on lens. Rubber focusing grip. Circular aperture up to

31/5 213/16 213/16 37/8

213/16 413/16 4
24105mm f/3.54.5 (D) 2880mm f/3.55.6 (D) (S) 75300mm f/4.55.6 (D) (S) 100300mm f/4.55.6 APO (D) 85mm f/1.4 G (D) 100mm f/2.8 Macro (D)
Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 25/8 25/8 27/16 29/16
1735mm f/3.5G 2870mm f/2.8 G 80200mm f/2.8 APO G

600mm f/4 G

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 65/8 1711/16 31/4 31/5 31/4 49/16 31/2 69/16

194 211/16 267/16 451/8

13 15/16 611/16

171/10

193/4 18
f/5.6. Revised Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 35mm f/2.0 RS Rubber focusing grip. Circular aperture up to f/5.6. Revised Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 50mm f/1.7 RS Rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 50mm f/1.4 RS Wider rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Circular aperture. Large, detachable lens shade. Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. 55mm lter thread. The new lens is optically the same as the original. AF 85mm f/1.4 RS AF lock/lens function button on lens. Rubber focusing grip. Circular aperture up to f/5.6. Revised Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. Zoom Lenses 24-50mm f/4 RS Rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Foot/Meter focus scale in all white paint. The new lens is optically the same as the original. 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 RS Circular Aperture. New style rubber focusing and zoom grips. The new lens is optically the same as the original. 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 Introduced with 9xi in 1992. Polycarbonate barrel. Faster focusing.* 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 RS Circular Aperture. New style rubber focusing and zoom grips. The new lens is optically the same as the original. 80-200mm f/2.8 APO HS The 80-200mm f/2.8 APO received a stronger focusing shaft which enabled better focus tracking, a rubber focusing grip for easier manual focus, and white paint nish. Macro Lenses 50mm f/2.8 Macro Rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Circular aperture. Focus Range limiter. Focus hold button. 100mm f/2.8 Macro Rubber focusing grip. ABS plastic focusing barrel. Circular aperture. 40 HS = High Speed APO Lenses 200mm f/2.8 APO

300mm f/2.8 APO 600mm f/4 APO 80200mm f/2.8 APO
These lenses were redesigned in 1988 for the Maxxum Series-i cameras. Internal changes include a faster focusing gear and a new IC ROM to enable faster focusing with Series-i, xi, and si cameras. External changes include AF lock/lens function button (one for 200mm, two for 300mm and 600mm lenses), and High Speed Focus decal on lens shade. Additionally, the 80200mm f/2.8 APO received a stronger focusing shaft which enabled better focus tracking, a rubber focusing grip for easier manual focus, and white paint nish.

APO Tele Converter

The converters were redesigned with new gear and IC ROMs. External changes include TYPE II designation. It is OK to use old-style converters on new lenses. Using a new converter on an old, nonupgraded lens will cause slower focusing Warning: THE APO CONVERTERS CANNOT BE USED WITH THE 80-200MM APO LENSES. If mounted together, the front element of the converter will contact back element of the lens and damage both.
2.3.4 Maxxum Lens Glossary
Circular Aperture Defocused background highlights take the shape of the diaphragm in wide-aperture portrait shots. The 9-blade apertures found in some of the G-lenses is specially designed to provide a circular opening at widest apertures (small f-numbers). A circular aperture produces softer, more natural-looking backgrounds at wider apertures than a lens having a standard 5-, 6-, 7-, or 9-bladed aperture. Floating Optical Design Rather than moving all lens groups as a single unit, designated optical groups in some of the G-lenses move independently as the lens focuses. This oating movement provides an extremely at image at the lm plane thus assuring corner-to-corner sharpness. It also provides a high degree of control over sagittal are, and eliminates coma, an aberration that causes off-axis object points to appear as short comet-like images on lm. Reducing sagittal are and coma provides an extremely sharp, high-contrast image which more effectively separates the subject from its background at large apertures. Internal Focusing The AF 200mm, 300mm, and 600mm APOs internal focusing system moves lighter internal lens elements to focus the image instead of the larger front elements used in conventional systems. This along with a high-ratio lens drive provides quick, accurate focusing of fast moving subjects. In addition, a focus limiter permits selecting a focusing range for even faster response. Anomalous Dispersion (AD) Glass Different wavelengths of light come into focus at different planes. This effect is know as Chromatic aberration and can cause a rainbow halo around points of light and reduced sharpness. Standard achromatic telephotos are corrected to bring the red and blue components into focus at the lm plane. The Anomalous Dispersion (AD) glass, used G-Series APO telephotos and zooms as well as the 100-300mm APO and 100-400mm APO virtually eliminates the effects of lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration, providing increased sharpness and extremely accurate color rendition. Aspheric Design Different than the smooth continuous arc of a normal lens element surface, the curvature of an aspherical lens element changes shape across its surface. This irregular surface helps to correct spherical aberration and coma, an aberration that causes off-axis object points to appear as short comet-like images on lm. It also reduces sagittal are. The inclusion of aspheric elements in a lens design enables designers to reduce the amount of elements in the design. This in turn reduces the amount of are producing surfaces, two per element, which increases the contrast and snap to the nal image. The reduction in elements also makes the lens smaller and lighter. Focus-Hold Button When pressed, it locks focus or can be used to select spot focus or continuous AF (with Custom Function Card or Customize Function Card xi). Distance Encoding Distance encoding with new and revised D lenses provides rened multi-segment metering for manual focus operation and depth-of-eld display on Navigation Display with the Maxxum 7 as well as ADI ash functions when the new 5600(D) and 3600(D) ashes. Integral Filters Because a front-mounted lter would be expensive and would cause excessive are, the 300mm and 600mm Apo lenses have a built-in lter holder. Six lters are provided: NORMAL (clear), Y52 (yellow), O56 (orange), R60 (red), 1B (skylight) and ND4X (2-stop neutral density). Achromatic Coating Minoltas Achromatic, multi-layer coating provides remarkably accurate color rendition and excellent contrast by virtually eliminating reections between lens elements.

Chapter 3

Flash-less photography
3.1 Photographing with M42 / Minolta AF lens reduction

[Author(s): Petr Holub.]

Needs more testing!!! Tested in following setup: Date: 20020813 20:3023:30. Place: Flamenco concert, Brno, CZ
Minolta Dynax 600si Russian mirror lens: 500/6.3 3M-6A (or ZM-BA Russian alphabet???) N840247 with M42 M42 / Minolta AF lens reduction Fuji Superia 1600 (with 4th layer) pushed to 3200 ASA
Testing showed that metering doesnt work correctly. System tends to underexpose at least 1 EV. Also working conditions during this experiment were difcult because of overall low-light situation (correct exposition was about 5.6/20 with 3200 ASA lm!) and strong spotlight. After that I tried to play with it using different metering modes and comparing results to the ones measured through the standard lens I use (2485/3.54.5 and 70210/3.5-4.5) but without actually shooting on the lm. Ive found the measurements through the M42 reduction generally not very reliable (in all three modes average, expert, and spot) with tendency to underexpose which matches experiences from the amenco concert. To get proper exposure I suggest using either other light measurement (through other lens or using external exposure meter) or bracket through 2 5. It should be tested more thoroughly, especially inuence of different metering modes and the results should be shot on slide lm to get precise results.

3.1.1 Comment on M42

[Author(s): Magnus Wedberg.]
My own testing indicates that using M42 lenses on Minolta bodies is somewhat hit-and-miss. Results seems to heavily depend on which lens you are using, and on the camera, too. I never use any compensation with my Super Takumar 55/2.
3.2. MORE ON PHOTOGRAPHING WITH M42 / MINOLTA AF LENS REDUCTION
3.2 More on photographing with M42 / Minolta AF lens reduction
[Author(s): Chingfeng Au. Reviewed by: Petr Holub.]

Part 1

This is just a fast test. All metering were segment metering (maybe I should use spot instead of segment) http://auching.duc.auburn.edu/TEMP/pentax_minolta.htm
In F8.0 test, Pentax SMC Takumar under about 1.5 EV 2.0 EV. But when I set the aparture to F1.4, the shutter time seems near correct. When using ash, it works well though.

F IGURE 3.1: Results of M42 adapter tests (1)

Part 2

Heres the test base on Minolta 50/1.7 and Pentax SMC Takumar 50/1.4. It looks like you have to +1EV for F2.8 F5.6, +1.5EV for F8.0 F11.0, and +2EV for F16.0 http://auching.duc.auburn.edu/temp/m50p50.gif
Test using aparture priority mode. (I still dont know why this happened? Theoretically, using aparture priority mode and spot metering, the TTL system should get correct amount of light and calculate correct shutter time, isnt it?)
3.3 Alternative testing of vignetting
[Author(s): CyberSimian. Reviewed by: Petr Holub.]
This experiment was desribed for 24105/3.54.5 lens in [3] with Hoya lter attached. Try this experiment when there is no lm in the camera:
3.3. ALTERNATIVE TESTING OF VIGNETTING
F IGURE 3.2: Results of M42 adapter tests (2) 1. Set the zoom to the 35 mm focal length. 2. Set the exposure mode to M (manual), the shutter speed to bulb, and the aperture to the maximum (f4 at 35 mm focal length). As the maximum aperture varies with focal length on the 24105 zoom, remember to set the aperture AFTER setting the focal length. 3. Remove lens cap, lens hood, and lter. 4. Open the camera back and re the shutter, holding the shutter open (a cable release helps here). 5. Point the camera at a bright wall or the sky and look through the back of the camera with one eye, about 1218 inches from the lm gate. You will see the rectangular lm gate, the black bafing in the mirror box, and a bright circle (the rear element of the lens). 6. If you are holding the camera horizontally in the normal position and rotate the camera about a vertical axis, your line of sight through the lens appears to move horizontally towards one edge of the lm gate. However, we actually want to check for vignetting at the corners of the frame, so instead rotate the camera about an axis displaced somewhat from the vertical, such that your line of sight through the lens appears to move diagonally from the centre of the lm gate towards a corner of the lm gate. It does not matter which corner, but I will assume the lower left corner in the following. 7. As you rotate the camera, you will see in the bright circle an area of darkness emerge from the upper right. As you rotate the camera more, the area of darkness will move towards the lower left, and you will be able to see that the area of darkness is an out-of-focus image of the interior bafing in the lens. Continue rotating the camera until the area of darkness reaches the lower left corner of the lm gate. What you have just seen is the normal behaviour of the lens, and is the reference that we will use to compare the effect of the lens hood and lters. 8. Attach the lens hood and repeat step (7). What you see will be identical to step (7), i.e. the lens hood does not obstruct the light falling on the lm plane. This is what you would expect if the lens hood is correctly designed.

4.1.1 P Mode Flash

When the ash is up or any dedicated accessory ash is attached to the 700sis hot shoe, either directly or through accessory connectors, it will re automatically in P mode whenever necessary. The shutter speeds between 1/200 and 1/60 second and apertures within the working range of the lens will be set automatically depending on the ambient light level. The cameras TTL ash metering system monitors the amount of light which reaches the lm plane and automatically stops the ash output when it detects that sufcient exposure has been received. In backlight conditions requiring ash or when the forced-ash button is pressed, the ambient light exposure of the subject will be reduced by approximately one stop and the ash brightness will be reduced from 1/4 to 3/4 stop to maintain proper subject exposure. The background will be up to 1-1/2 stops brighter than the subject exposure. When the SPOT button is pressed for slow-sync ash photography, ash brightness is reduced by 3/4 stop and shutter is set to a speed slow enough to allow normal background exposure. The ash will not re if the 700si is set for either PA or PS modes. Press the MODE button to resume normal P Mode ash operation. Changing Program Flash Control with the Custom xi card Normally the 700sis exposure computer will decide when to use ash even if the built-in ash is popped up or an accessory ash is attached and turned on. If you would like the ash to re everytime the ash is lifted, use the Custom xi card to switch the Program ash control to manual switchover. The table 4.2 shows the function number and setting to make.

Exposure control

4.1. FLASHAMBIENT CONTROL
Function number 5 Backlight ll-in EV 1 EV or less EV or less Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Frontlight ll-in EV 1 EV No adjust Low light ll-in 0 EV 1 EV or less No adjust Yes Main Flash light subject Ambient light Backgroud (ambient) P mode + Auto ash P mode + Forced ash A mode + Flash ON S mode + Flash ON P mode + SLOW SYNC A mode + SLOW SYNC S mode + SLOW SYNC Backlight ll-in Frontlight ll-in Lowlight ll-in Night ll-in Daylight situation when the main subject is much darker than background Daylight situation when there is no big difference between subject and background brightness Dark condition or a situation which may cause blur due to camera shake Lowlight situation when background exposure is desired as much as the main subject.
Night scene EV No adjust 0 EV
TABLE 4.1: Flashambient compensations performed by camera

4.2 Short summary on using ll-in ash
Based on my experiences and experiences of other people [3] here is a short summary on how to get gentle ll in ash: M mode (called Brainer mode by Gary Walts in [15])
Meter your subject and set aperture and shutter speed for proper exposure with ash turned off. You can also use results of measurement in P mode again with ash turned off and set those vaules in M mode.
Dial-in the desired ash compensation e.g. dial-in even no ash compensation at all.
ash compensation or you can set
4.3. SHORT SUMMARY ON USING WIRELESS FLASH
P and A mode (called No-Brainer mode by Gary Walts in [15]). Just press the force ash button on camera body. The result will habe about one stop underexposed background/ambient light so its not what you usually want as daylight-balanced ll-in ash. But its great for backlight.
In P and A mode you can use SLOW SYNC method. SLOW SYNC is designed to make your shutter speed long enough to get proper exposure of ambient light 1. According to Phil Brandons notes on ash programing (Table 4.1 on page 26 and 4.1.6 on page 28) the ambient light in this mode should be exposed without any compensation (in my experiences it is sometimes up to EV underexposed) the same situation you probably want with daylight ll-in ash. In my experiences it worked O. K. except for the high-speed sync (HSS mode) when it has usually no effect on shutter speed 2. When you want especially subtle ll-in you can dial 1 or even 2 EV ash compensation. P and A mode You need to compensate (ambient) exposure decrease invoked automatically by the camera in those modes when ash is turned on. Amount of compensation varies on ambient light level but usualy you need to set about 1 EV. Unless you have Maxxum/Dynax 7 with ash compensation detached from ambient compensation bear in mind that ash output increases by the same amount as the ambient compensation set. Now you need to compensate ash for both the automatic increase due to ambient exposure compensation and the ash compensation that you want to dial in. In case of 1 ambient compensation you need to dial 1 ash compensation to get original ash power. Than you can go further with your intended ash compensation if you want to have ash power increased by you need to dial-in total ash compensation. Disadvantage of this approach is in the fact that overall exposure compensation that camera sets after turning on the ash may be exactely one stop (if camera decides its frontlight situation) but it may be even more so you never know what compensation exactely should be set unless you do the measurement with ash turned off.

Most precise ll-in ash can be obtained using M (Brainer mode) mode described above but its the most time consuming. For faster work SLOW-SYNC would be probably the choice. Notes: When ash is the main (only) source of light you can achieve following results with compentsation (C) and ash compensation (FC)

C C C C

0; FC 0; FC 0; FC
0 properly exposed picture 1 one stop underexposed picture
1 one stop overexposed picture 1 properly exposed picture (no effect)
(this is based on tests with Dynax 600si/3600HS(D)/Kodak Ektoachrome E200 slide lm).
4.3 Short summary on using wireless ash
[Author(s): Gary Friedman. Reviewed by: Petr Holub.]
Well, embedded within these comments lie two other misconceptions about Minoltas wireless ash which will be debunked in the forthcoming article. However, Ill outline them briey here:
1 Intent behind described in Minolta manuals is night photography with some foreground object e. g. person lit by ash; both foreground and background should be properly exposed 2 This behavior can be expected because of primary raison d tre of SLOW SYNC mode, i.e. low-light photography, when you e wouldnt have your ash in HSS mode.
As misleading as Minoltas documentation is, you do NOT need to buy the wireless IR ash controller in order to control more than one off-camera ash! Your built-in ash can do this unaided. Just put all of your off-camera ashes on automatic and aim them at the subject, and during exposure the cameras built-in ash will send the All Off command whenever it detects that enough light has hit the lm regardless of which ash (or combination of ashes) produced the light.
Armed with this knowledge you can also set up 1:3, 1:6, or 1:Anything ash ratios just by changing the ash-to-subject distances, and the camera will send the all off signal when the light is sufcient (usually this will be the light from the closest ash - the ash that is further away will be turned off before it has a chance to put out enough light hence the ratio.) This technique also means you can achieve automatic ash ratios using HSS off-camera; youre not tied to Minoltas built-in 1/60 th of a second (1/30th of a second on the Maxxum 9) ash synch limitation. When used as a controller, the built-in ash puts out a negligible amount of light as compared to what is required for a proper exposure. That is why you cant see any evidence of the on-camera ash being present in any of the examples. To prove this to yourself, take a ash meter (in cumulative mode) and measure the total amount of light coming out of the built-in ash, both when in wireless controller mode and in normal mode, and compare the results.

A.1.4 Settings for Konica Centuria 400
[VueScan] [Device] Mode=1 [Device-ScanDual-35mmFilm] Rotate=3 [Color] ColorBalance=1 AutoBlackPoint=0 BlackPointRed=0 BlackPointGreen=0 BlackPointBlue=0 AutoWhitePoint=0 WhitePointRed=40 WhitePointGreen=40 WhitePointBlue=40
[Media] SlideVendor=1 [Media-ScanDual-35mmFilm] AutoMask=0 MaskRed=800 MaskGreen=880 MaskBlue=774 [Crop-ScanDual-35mmFilm] AutoCrop=0 XOffset=750 YOffset=1209 CropSize=0 XSize=23004 YSize=34631 XSpacing=49998 YSpacing=49998 [Options-ScanDual] RGBExposure=977 NumberOfPasses=4 Filter=2 SizeReduction=4000 [Files] TIFFFileName=scan01+.tif [Window] ExternalViewer=0 BeepWhenDone=1
A.1.5 Settings for Konica VX 100
[VueScan] [Device] Mode=1 [Device-ScanDual-35mmFilm] Rotate=3 [Color] ColorBalance=1 AutoBlackPoint=0 BlackPointRed=0 BlackPointGreen=0 BlackPointBlue=0 AutoWhitePoint=0 WhitePointRed=40 WhitePointGreen=40 WhitePointBlue=40 [Media] SlideVendor=1 [Media-ScanDual-35mmFilm] AutoMask=0 MaskRed=685 MaskGreen=993 MaskBlue=820 [Crop-ScanDual-35mmFilm] AutoCrop=0 XOffset=750
YOffset=1209 CropSize=0 XSize=23004 YSize=34631 XSpacing=49998 YSpacing=49998 [Options-ScanDual] RGBExposure=901 NumberOfPasses=4 Filter=2 SizeReduction=4000 [Files] TIFFFileName=scan01+.tif [Window] ExternalViewer=0 BeepWhenDone=1
A.1.6 Settings for Fuji Superia 1600
[Media] SlideVendor=1 [Device-ScanDual-35mmFilm] Rotate=3 [VueScan] [Device] Mode=1 [Color] AutoBlackPoint=0 BlackPointRed=0 BlackPointGreen=0 BlackPointBlue=0 AutoWhitePoint=0 WhitePointRed=40 WhitePointGreen=40 WhitePointBlue=40 ColorBalance=3 ImageBrightness=500 [Media-ScanDual-35mmFilm] AutoMask=0 MaskRed=658 MaskGreen=925 MaskBlue=648 [Crop-ScanDual-35mmFilm] XOffset=958 YOffset=1417 XSize=23004 YSize=34631 XSpacing=49998 YSpacing=49998 AutoCrop=0 CropSize=0 [Options-ScanDual] NumberOfPasses=2 RGBExposure=1559
A.2. RECIPROCITY CORRECTIONS BROOKS INSTITUTE
Filter=2 [Files] TIFFFileName=scan01+.tif [Window] ExternalViewer=0 BeepWhenDone=1
Reciprocity Corrections Brooks Institute

1 Ive heard rumors that Canon cameras together with Canon ashes can be programmed in such a way that they are distance independent. The only way Im able to come up with how to do this sort of thing is that ashes are red sequentionaly so camera can balance them to get equal portion of light from each of them. Nota bene: this note is not to provoke any amewars or brand-wars but its rather because of my technical curiosity!!! 2 The other possibility is that on-camera ash is so weak in this case that I havent noticed it on the resulting photos. This shoud be re-measured using slide lm with small exposure latitude.
may see, the camera was badly tricked by the uorescent lighting in the room and the picture 24-85 Preash 5600 Vertical is severely underexposed, though the ash still provided some weak light. :-((. If we accept the sample picture, 28-80D ADI 5600 as perfectly exposed one, then the 4segment metering comes the best after it with about 1/2 overexposure regardless the lens ash combination used. With the pre-ash metering results are practically unpredictable if a non- D lens is used - in some cases it gives heavy overexposure (like in 2485 Preash 5X00 les) or shows bad underexposure (see the previous comment). With the D-lens even non-D 5400 showed similar results to 4 segment metering.in the pre-ash mode. In the wireless mode results should be interpreted the following way: the rst ash in the name stands to the left of the camera while the second one stands to its right. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the ratio power for each ash. ctrl means Control, slv means slave for the pictures where one of the ashguns was used as a control for another. For getting this work I made a trick with the OS1100 lling in the whole on the shoe. But as long as the ashes were relatively close to the subject (I think less than 1 meter) the results in this mode are contradictory to what it should be in reality the control ash, even set to (1) ratio power overexposes its side of the picture, though it should be way around. Another note: when the 5600 acts as a controller the camera does not give an OK signal, though the pictures were apparently exposed properly. With the 5400 set to the controller everything works as it should and the camera gives OK signals. I think that this is understandable, as long as the manual for the 5600 warns against using the 5600 as a controller if a non-D ash is used as a remote because the latter wont re. Well, in my tests the 5400 red all right, though without OK signal after the shot.
The built-in ash works in fact as a real wireless controller, so it is possible to use 1:2 ratio between two remote units. Though the it works the best with the 5600 set to (2) and 5400 set to (1). With reversed setting the effect of the ratio is much less prominent, but this way it is possible to play with lighting in a more exible way, IMHO. When both ashes are set to the equal power (i.e. without any ratio, just plain wireless mode) they provide equal illumination.