AA AAA AA EPX-76 or 2 10L14
2.2. MINOLTA DYNAX/MAXXUM 600SI (507SI, 650SI)
1 AA 1 AA and 1 PXPXMN10LPX1.35 V mercury cell: PX1 or RM1
Notes: PX625 and other PX- type button batteries, as used in many older manual focus SLRs, contain mercury and slowly being outlawed around the world for obvious environmental reasons. A possible solution is the air cell, made by Wein in the USA. Ask for WeinCell MRB625 (to replace a PX625), MRB675 (PX675) or MRB400 (PX400). Some discontinued AF bodies use a separate internal button battery to provide memory backup for settings, etc. Although they last a long time, they do eventually need replacing. The individual requirements of these particualr bodies are not listed in the table above, but I would be glad to add them. Avoid the cheap types of button cells made for virtual pets or market-stall watches. They are not the same as those intended for photographic use: their output voltage varies underload and this will lead to incorrect meter readings.
2.2 Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 600si (507si, 650si)
2.2.1 Beyond the Owners Manual: Tips and Tricks
[Author(s): Peter Blaise Monahon, taken from [12].]
LCD Displays Check: On the Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera, to check the valid functioning of every LCD Liquid Crystal Display element: 1. Set the Drive Mode Selector to Multiple Exposure, 2. Press and hold the ISO Film Speed Button while opening and closing the battery door. All displays appear in the Body and Viewnder Data Panels. 3. Open and close the battery door to return the displays to normal. Auto Exposure Lock: Only the AEL Auto Exposure Lock button will lock exposure when the Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera is set for Center-Weighted Average Metering Mode or Spot Metering Mode. Pressing the AEL Auto Exposure Lock Button locks the exposure settings and switches the meter to Spot Metering Mode. The AEL Auto Exposure Lock control has no function in M Manual Exposure Mode. You have three options for locking and holding the desired exposure value on the Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera: 1. Using M Manual Exposure Mode, once set, the camera auto functions will not override your Aperture and Shutter Speed selections.

Flash Auto Program: The Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera selects a ash program when the retractable ash head or an accessory ash unit is activated. However, in Program Exposure Mode with sufcient available light, the camera will not use the ash unless you press and hold the Flash Control Button during exposure. Auto Focus Illuminator: The Minolta 507si, 600si and 650si camera Auto Focus Illuminator light feature of the built in ash or attached accessory ash will not function in C Continuous Auto Focus mode. Auto Metering Features: The metering system of the Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera starts with a proven auto focus-integrated computer rst introduced by Minolta with the xi series cameras. This computer ensures that the light meters main emphasis is on the area in sharp focus. This optimizes exposure for the primary subject. The camera meter is calibrated for medium gray, which is equivalent to an 18 %, reectance. This value was arrived at with the assumption that average photographic subject scenes have a contrast range of 1:32. This is a valid assumption for common outdoor scenes that include grass, dirt, rocks, trees, and sky, for instance. The various reectance values average to a median value with a density of 0.75, or 18 % reectance. The camera meter measures light reected back from the subject through the lens, hence the term TTL Through The Lens metering. This is also the design of all other modern SLR Single Lens Reex cameras. When the camera metering system determines the subject scene to be a landscape, metering emphasis is on the lower section of the frame. In strong backlighting, such as when shooting toward a bright ocean, the camera metering and exposure computer automatically compensate for a bright rendition of the scene. However, with a small subject on bright sand or surf, such as a small boat on a large body of water, expect to need to dial in a 1 EV Exposure Value compensation factor because the camera metering system interprets such a scene as a landscape. When you set the camera to the evaluative 14 Segment Honeycomb Pattern Metering Mode, the camera computer sets its own Exposure Compensation in an attempt to render a bright scene or dark scene accurately on lm. For example, beyond a certain high brightness level, the camera system increases exposure by one EV Exposure Value stop to render the subject as bright. Use the Exposure Compensation feature to assist the cameras Metering system to accurately match your chosen photographic subject scene brightness dynamic range to your chosen lms sensitivity dynamic range: A white surface reects more light than a gray surface approximately two stops more. + Plus EV Exposure Value Compensation will increase the amount of light reaching the lm to render a light photographic subject accurately. A black surface reects less light approximately two stops less. Minus EV Exposure Value Compensation will reduce the amount of light reaching the lm, to render a dark photographic subject correctly. If the range of brightnesses within your chosen photographic subject scene are within the or range of the Viewnder Data Panel scale, then they can be recorded accurately within most lms reproducible dynamic range. Any index reading of 3 or greater will probably be reproduced as white on lm, and any reading of 3 or beyond will probably be reproduced as black on lm. To toggle on/off the viewnder LCD indicator for Exposure Compensation, hold the ISO Button and the Depth Of Field Preview Button. The center-weighted metering is not linked to the auto focus system, nor does it input exposure corrections of its own. Primary emphasis is placed on the subject area within the brackets etched on the viewnder, with much less emphasis on surrounding areas, and none on the top section where sky might be located. Auto Focus Features: In the Minolta 507si, 600si, and 650si camera, program modes are aware of an attached automatic lens focal length. A telephoto lens activates higher shutter speeds, and a wide-angle lens activates smaller apertures. For example, the camera sets a small aperture for a landscape to achieve an extensive range of apparent sharpness. If the AF Auto Focus system detects motion, it sets a high shutter speed such as second to stop action. For a portrait, a moderately wide aperture is set to

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.

104 63

Max. Magnication

10/9 10/9

1/9 1/9

integral integral

65/8 65/8
400mm f/4.5 APO G 500mm f/8 Mirror Reex *600mm f/4 600mm f/4 G [HS]
. continued from previous page Lens EleAngle ments / Of Groups View

Min. Focus [ft] 9.9

Max. Magnication 1/6.5
103/4 45/8 1711/16 1711/16

67 237/194

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 31/4 31/23/4
211/16 117/16 101/16 101/16 145/8 145/15/813/16 81/2 611/16

175/16 175/16

171/8 171/8
23/4 33/4 27/8 315/16 27/8 4
27/8 33/16 31/2 69/16 31/2 69/16

1/3.84

27/8 315/16 23/4 311/16 23/4 311/16 27/8 67/16 213/16 413/16 213/16 413/16 213/16 413/16

5(1.34) 2.8

1/12.5(1/4) 1/6.5
*3580mm 8/8 f/45.6 3580mm 8/8 f/45.6 II *35105mm 12/14 f/3.54.5 *35105mm 12/10 f/3.54.5N *70210mm 9/12 f/4 *70210mm 12/12 f/3.54.5 *70210mm 10/10 f/4.55.6 MZ 70210mm 10/10 f/4.55.6 II *75300mm 13/11 f/4.55.6 75300mm 13/10 f/4.55.6 75300mm 13/10 f/4.55.6 II 75300mm 13/10 f/4.55.6 (D) (S) *80200mm 9/9 f/4.55.6 *80200mm 16/13 f/2.8 APO 80200mm 16/13 f/2.8 APO G[RS] *100200mm 8/7 f/4.5 *100300mm 11/9 f/4.55.6 *100300mm 11/10 f/4.55.6 APO continued on next page.

1/14.3(1/4) 1/5.7

3.3(1)
*28135mm f/45.6 3570mm f/3.54.5 MZ 3570mm f/4

5 (.82)

1/11(1/4)
. continued from previous page Lens EleAngle Of ments / View Groups

Min. Focus [ft]

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 215/16 45/16 211/16 21/2 211/16 21/16 29/16 215/16 27/16 210/16 211/16 37/16 211/16 25/16 27/8 6
267/16 73/4 91/16 67/8 53/8 171/2 73/4 241/13/16 123/8 111/4 301/2 181/2 171/4 161/4

109/16 451/8 451/8

131/4 147/16 153/8
These lenses have the same glass as the previous MZ models. No Focus scale. No focus lock button. Table 2.5: Macro lenses Lens Elements / Groups 7/6 7/6 5/5 8/8 8/8 8/8 13/8 7/5 Angle Of View
Size of subject that lls the lm plane. Table 2.6: Teleconvertors Lens *1.4 APO

continued on next page.

1.4 II APO [HS]

Elements / Groups 5/4

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 21/2 13/16

Weight [oz] 63/16

Compatibility 200 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/4 APO G 400 f/4.5 APO G 600 f/4 APO G 200 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/2.8 APO G

3/1 1/1

33/8 45/8 33/4 (W H D)

mm (3X) mm (1X)

1 (3X) 1.6 (1X)

.75 1.2 1.2

1/2 1/1 1/1

55 mm 55 mm 55 mm

25/8 23/16 213/16 37/8 213/16 37/8 37/8 72/3
*50mm f/2.8 50mm f/2.8 [RS] 50mm f/3.5 *100mm f/2.8 100mm f/2.8 [RS] 100mm f/2.8 (D) 200mm f/4 APO G Zoom f/1.7 2.8

211/16 25/16 23/4 23/8

Min. Focus [ft].65.65

Max. Magnication 1/1 1/1

31/8 57/8
100300mm f/4.55.6 APO (D) 100400mm f/4.56.7 APO

Dimensions (dia. length) [in] 27/8 4
105/16 117/185/16 185/403/16 3813/16
. continued from previous page Lens Elements / Dimensions (dia. Groups length) [in]
Compatibility 300 f/4 APO G 400 f/4.5 APO G 600 f/4 APO G 200 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/4 APO G 400 f/4.5 APO G 600 f/4 APO G 200 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/2.8 APO G 300 f/4 APO G 400 f/4.5 APO G 600 f/4 APO G
Manual focus only Table 2.7: xi zoom lenses Lens Elements / Groups Elements/ Groups 8/8 Angle Of View Min. Focus [ft] Min. Focus (ft) 1.6

Angle of View

Sold with xi cameras. Not true xi lens as zoom drive was camera AF motor. No motor in lens.

2.3.1 G Series

G-series lenses are Minoltas high-performance class optics. They have the best specications, feature special advanced technology, and offer the best image quality of all Minolta lenses. G-series lenses are designed to meet the high expectations of the most demanding professional. The quality of the image they produce is among the nest in the industry. Each G-series lens incorporates one or more of the following features: circular aperture, double oating and oating-focusing systems, Internal focus, Anomalous Dispersion (AD) glass, aspheric elements, and
215/16 311/16 27/8 33/16 215/16 315/16
1.6 (f/28) 1.6 (f/35) 4.9

213/16 25/8 27/8 3

*3580mm f/45.6 Power Zoom *2880mm f/45.6 *28105mm f/3.54.5 *35200mm f/4.55.6 *80200mm f/4.55.6 *100300mm f/4.55.6

II APO [HS]

111/16
Dimensions (dia. length) [in] Dimensions (in) (dia. length) 25/8 21/8

Weight (oz)

911/16 157/8 175/8 109/16 151/2
focus-hold buttons. Minolta will continue to expand its G-series as the needs and demands of professional photographers grow. Table 2.8: G lenses (I) AF 1735mm f/3.5 APO Circular Aperture Floating focus Internal Focus Anomalous Dispersion Glass Asperhic Elements Focus Hold Button Yes No No Yes Yes Yes AF 35mm f/1.4 Yes Yes No No Yes No AF 85mm f/1.4 (D) Yes Yes No No No Yes AF 2870mm f/2.8 Yes Yes No No Yes Yes AF 80200mm f/2.8 APO Yes No No Yes No Yes
Table 2.9: G lenses (II) AF 200mm f/2.8 APO No No Yes Yes No Yes AF Macro 200mm f/4 APO Yes No Yes Yes No Yes AF 300mm f/2.8 APO No No Yes Yes No Yes AF 300mm f/4 APO Yes No Yes Yes No Yes AF 400mm f/4.5 APO Yes No Yes Yes No Yes AF 600mm f/4 APO No No Yes Yes No Yes
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

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.

3.6 Disabling the lens mount check
Table 3.2: Disabling the lens mount check Camera 5000, 7000, 9000, 3000i, 5000i, 7000i, 8000i 2xi, 3xi, Spxi 5xi Procedure No preparation needed to use T-mount lenses.
Requires circuit modication by Minolta. Press and hold SPOT and FUNC. buttons and switch from LOCK to ON. 7xi/9xi Press and hold AEL and FUNC. buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. 300si Press and hold FLASH and DRIVE/SELFTIMER buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. (Off appears in LCD panel) 400si Press and hold Drive Mode and AV buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. 404si Press and hold the P and Self Timer switches with Function Dial at ME while sliding the Main Switch to ON. 500si Press and hold Drive Mode and SPOT buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. continued on next page.

3.7. REMOTE RELEASE CORD

. continued from previous page Camera Procedure 505si Super Press and hold Self Timer and SPOT buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. XTsi Press and hold the Selftimer-Drive Mode button and Spot/AE button while sliding the Main Switch to ON (OFF appears in LCD panel). 600si Press and hold the LENS RELEASE button and FILM SPEED button with the lens removed and move the power switch from LOCK to ON. (OFF appears in LCD panel) 700si Press and hold SPOT and CARD buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. 800si Press and hold SUBJECT PROGRAM and AEL buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON.(OFF appears in LCD panel) Vectis S-1 Press ON/OFF to turn camera ON. Open door that covers hidden buttons. Press the Drive Mode button (fathest on the left) and the MODE button together. ON will appear in the LCD panel. Press the SEL button (second from right in hidden buttons). OFF Will appear in the LCD panel. Vectis S-100 Subject Program and +/-, then press any other button to conrm; displays on in display even with adapted manual lens attached. RD-175 Press and hold DRIVE/SELFTIMER and AV buttons and move power switch from LOCK to ON. (ON appears in LCD panel)

3.7 Remote release cord

3.7.1 Building your own Remote Cord (v. 1)
[Author(s): Unknown, taken from Minolta AF FAQ [4]; Csaba JOZSA.]
The meaning of each pin is : Back of the camera o C o F o S Front of the camera
C for Common F for Focus S for Shutter release. The way to activate focus is to connect C and F, and for the release, C and S. But there is still a problem: The question of the switch is not so trivial : The Minolta remote cord allow, on the same switch, to focus, and if pushed a bit more, to release the shutter. And to lock the switch with shutter released for long pause. Its possible to implement this with 2 switches, but what appens if the focus switch is held when the release switch is pushed ? Or if the focus switch is held while the shutter is released in pause mode ? I dont want to try this sort of experimentation on my camera. Scott, did you nd a switch with all these functions ? or do you have 2 switches ?

3.7.3 Building your own Remote Cord (v. 3)
[Author(s): Dario Piantanida, taken from Minolta AF FAQ [4].]
(Using an audio cable for the internal connection of CD-ROM drives.) First cut che cd-rom connctor on the cd-rom side, to have a 20-30cm wire for the RC: on this side youll mount the button or the switch (or both). On the audio card side youll nd a 4 pin plastic connector made like this: r - w s
where r=red, -=none, w=white, s=shield (colours dont matter, but its just to number the pins). Youll work to obtain: 3 r - w With a very little scewdriver push a little thin strip that holds the metal shield contact in the plastic connector: this way the metal contact should slip off the connector. Now you can cut the shield wire where it joins red and white ones. Your next step is to le down the plastic connector to make it t the camera hole. First of all you can cut away the old shield contact with a sharp knife (I dont know the English for the knife I mean), then use a le or sandpaper to reduce the size of the connector; I started with a grindstone, but be VERY careful: if you exaggerate youll have to start over with a new connector. Here there is little to say: le a bit and try whether it ts; then le another bit. Youll have to le a lot on the long side that holds the thin strips of the metal contacts. Youll also pay attention to a little notch in the camera hole: try to le the connector to t it. Once you have the connector, I suggest you to strengthen the wires (red and white) that come from it: I used a glue gun (I hope the English is correct here) to create a shell for the wires. Nothing more. This RC works properly on my 700si, even as a bulb switch.

Chapter 4

Flash photography

4.1 FlashAmbient Control

[Author(s): Phil Brandon. Reviewed by: Petr Holub.]
This section is copy of one found on the web [16] (hopefuly I dont violate any copyright by including it in this guide). Its written by Phil Brandon from Minolta USA about 700si and paritally 800si but it seems to work for my 600si as well so its probably general a bit. On the bottom of the web page [16] there are some other notes probably about 800si. It would be really nice if somebody who speaks both Thai and English translates those in English. Whether using its built-in ash or an attached accessory ash, the Expert Flash system of the 700si is designed to recognize basic lighting conditions and adjust ambient light settings and ash duration to achieve the best results automatically. The table 4.1 on page 26 indicates adjustments made for all situations

Night scene EV No adjust 0 EV
TABLE 4.1: Flashambient compensations performed by camera
Control Program ash Control

Mode and operation

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Setting 1 2

Action Auto Switchover Manual Switchover
TABLE 4.2: Changing Program Flash Control with the Custom xi card

4.1.2 A Mode Flash

In A Mode, the photographer sets the aperture and the camera automatically selects the fastest sync speed between 1/200 and 1/60 second that ambient light levels will allow. This provides the advantages of full depth-of-eld control while the Expert exposure system uses multi-pattern metering or center-weighted metering to automatically determine ambient exposure and the necessary ash output. Basically, the system is designed to reduce ambient light exposure by one stop (by increasing the shutter speed) and, if possible, maintain it at this level for backlight, frontlight, and lowlight ll-in. In backlight and frontlight conditions, the ash brightness is reduced from 1/4 to 3/4 stop to produce a pleasing subject exposure. The background will be up to 1-1/2 stops brighter than the subject exposure. For indoor photography, ash brightness is at its normal rating while the shutter speed is controlled to reduce and maintain ambient light brightness by one stop. The slowest shutter speed available in A mode is 1/60 sec. Ambient levels requiring longer speeds will be underexpose to a greater degree. 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.

4.1.3 S Mode Flash

In this mode, any shutter speed between 1/200 sec. and 30 seconds can be selected by the photographer. The 700si Expert Exposure system then automatically selects the appropriate aperture from within the lens working range. Basically, the system is designed to reduce ambient light exposure of the subject by one stop (by closing the aperture) and, if possible, maintain it at this level for backlight, and frontlight ll-in. In these conditions, the ash brightness is reduced from 1/4 to 3/4 stop to produce a pleasing subject exposure. The background will be up to 1-1/2 stops brighter than the subject exposure. Shutter-priority ash is best used when the ambient front or backlight is equal to or greater than the subject brightness. If used in normal indoor ash photography where the background is dark, the aperture will remain wide open until the ambient light level approaches a normal ambient light, exposure. This provides the least amount of depth of eld for the picture. If the indoor brightness is high enough or the shutter speed selected is low enough to produce an ambient exposure without ash, the metering system treats the situation like a front- or back-light ll-in situation by reducing both ambient and ash exposure as described above. When the SPOT button is pressed, ash brightness is reduced by 3/4 stop and the if the ambient light is bright enough to require an aperture smaller than the maxxum for the lens in use, the lens aperture will be opened toward achieving better background exposure. Once again, S mode is not recommended for this procedure.

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)

B.2 Flash Test ADI/Pre-Flash/Bounce/Wireless
[Author(s): Marat R. Saulin. Reviewed by: Petr Holub.]
There are three tables down there: Flash Tests 2485 (Tab. B.4), Flash Tests 2880D (Tab. B.5) and Flash Tests WL (Tab. B.6). Pictures in the rst two tables were scanned with the exposure lock except for the le 2880D ADI 5600 which served as a sample, i. e. I scanned it with the AE and then locked exposure for all other images in order to show exposure differences. Pictures in the third table were scanned with the AE (on the negative there were almost no differences between them). Please, do not judge the artistic value of the images they were made for pure test purpose only. As long as I had only 4 test pictures for the 2880/3.55.6 D lens (I didnt make bounce shots with this lens because I think they would be equal to those made with the 2485/3.54.5) I put two additional images made with the 2485 lens instead, but on them the subject is relatively far away from the camera - focal length was 85 mm, with all other shots, except WL, it was 70 mm. As you
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.

Camera bodies

Dynax/Maxxum 600si [10] Minolta 600si Board FAQ, http://w3.one.net/georgek/minolta/MPG/600SI/ [11] Minolta Dynax 600si Brochure, http://www.geocities.com/minolta600sibrochure/minolta600si-brochure-01.html [12] Peter Blaise Monahon, Minolta Alpha 507si and Dynax Maxxum 600si 650si Classic and Panorama Date Photography, http://www.geocities.com/minolta507si600si650si/index.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[13] Photodo Minolta lens tests, http://www.photodo.com/prod/lens/minolta.shtml\#Minolta [14] Minolta 35mm F2.8 SHIFT CA Lens, http://members.aol.com/cldphoto/shift_ca.html
[15] Walts, G. Minolta Photographs by Gary Walts Minolta Photographer, http://home.imcnet.net/waltsman/flash.html [16] Brandon, P. Flash Exposure by Phil Brandon from Minolta USA, http://www.geocities.com/minoltacamera/tip/0004.html [17] Greely, J. Tech notes from Glamourcons, http://www.munitions.com/jgreely/ [18] Friedman, G. Friedman Archives Wireless Flash Examples, http://FriedmanArchives.com/flash.htm
Interesting books on photography
[19] Burian P. K., Caputo R. National Geographic photography eld guide: secrets to making great pictures, National Geography Society (U.S.), 1999, ISBN 0-7922-7498-9 (reg.) or 0-7922-7496-2 (dlx.)