Customer Reviews

Sony HVL-F42AM High Power Digital Flash for Sony Alpha DSLR Cameras

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is well worth the money .This flash is a huge improvement over the HVL-F36AM it recycles really fast no wait. I can light up a 15 foot room with one of these.Try putting a gary fong or Stoffen diffuser on this it will even your light out and spread it around the room. A Bare bulb only fires straight forward only filling the forward portion of the room .

On some of these reviews when they say this is a weak flash are uninformed and unaware of their equipments potential.If you buy any flash and use only the bare flash firing forward it will not fill a room it will fire straight forward the way it was intended to do.You will see some idiots fire a bare flash at peoples faces and wonder why it doesn't work .

Try bouncing it off the ceiling preferably a white one a green ceiling will turn everyone into green people aliens.
And also invest in a diffuser or umbrella for it a stoofen or gary fong or a 1 dollar frosted tupperware bowl and cut a hole in it . . Or get a 24x24 softbox and soften it up a bit.

In WL mode it does have to be in line sight with the camera and it is very reliable .(Hint for newbies put the flash on the camera power on camera. Turn on flash head .Select menu on camera go to flash select wireless. Remove flash head from camera then flip camera flash up you are now in wireless mode) ( you can also just push the WL button on the back of the flash and select wireless flash in the camera menu , then flip up the camera flash and you are in wireless mode.
I use two of these and they do everthing that I need them to do and then some .I use only one with a 60" soft white umbrella and get everything I need from that. I will use two on large groups of people 8 or more ... well worth the money I would buy again if needed .
...Highly recomended You can get a hvl-56AM or Hvl-58AM which are more powerful but the 56 is discontinued and don't support white balance mode and the 58 is very expensive but worth every penny (plus the HVL-F58AM will control this flash and fire a flash off the camera at the same time no annoying pre-flash ...The TTL is very nice also ...I chose this over the Sigma after long researching . I get mixed reviews from people using sigmas saying some work great and some don't .
I just wanted it to do what it is supposed to do with no hassels and this is why I chose these flashes and glad I did. I also just ordered the HVL-F58AM I will have two 42's and a 58...I will update later..

I am updating this I have been using the HVL-58AM all can say is what a flash it is powerful and controls the all the 42's I love them all 42's and 58..

I now have 4 HVL-F42AM's and a HVL-F58AM the F58 can fire all these or you can use Radio triggers like the RF-602 canon or Nikon sets with a SC-6 adapter and a FS-1100 adapter for the camera .. The HVL-F42AM have to be mounted on camera to fire Radio triggers just disable the standby mode so they don't go to sleep in 3 minutes or extend it..

I want to tell you that you will see bad reviews from people lacking skills the tools are only as good as the photographer ..A good photographer learns how to use and make the best out of his equipment a bad photographer complains about the equipment ..

You can buy any camera you want in a DSLR it will not make you a better photographer learn to master what you have GO to [...] and find strobist and learn lighting skills 101

I've owned the F42AM flash for about 3 months now and am very pleased. I think it is the most powerful flash out there for the Sony mount for under $300. It 'zooms' the flash focus in conjunction with your camera lens zoom, has a click out wide angle dispersion filter so it works with wide angle lenses, does bounce/angle/rotate orientation, and its wireless capability is not equaled at this price. In auto mode snapshots are consistently right on. Manual or custom control settings are simple and easy. When in off-camera wireless mode using bounce mode with a diffuser it is almost like having a room full of studio lights. I know its big brother has even more power and features that the pros need, but for advanced amateurs or beginner pros this flash can't be beat.

I wanted to change my rating to a five, but am not sure how. Now that I have finally found out how to use it as a slave flash, I love it even more. This light does what I expected. It Does not light up an arena but it does light up a room. It has features that I need and it came at one third the cost of most other retailer.
Great match for my Sony A350

I use this on my Sony a300 DSLR, and it's just amazing to behold how this thing communicates with the camera. It even seems to work great in TTL metering mode when bouncing the flash off the ceiling. The wireless mode is awesome, I sometimes hold the flash off to the side with my left hand and take the photo with my right hand. A great improvement over the built in flash, it eliminates the shadow that was occasionally cast by my workhorse zoom lens when it was extended. I doubt if it would be powerful enough for professional use, but at my level it's just great, and as the title says, I think it's smarter than me.

I have an Alpha 300 and a 58AM speedlight that I've been using for over a year. I needed a second speedlight but didn't want to spend the $350-$400 that another 58AM costs. So I purchased the 42AM. It's a very capable speedlight, especially for off-camera work.

I always shoot using off-camera flash (for my studio work). And I always shoot with ttl (through the lense metering). My biggest issue when I bought the 42AM was whether it would recognize the existence of the 58AM and the two speedlights would ttl meter appropriately. (Remember you cannot set flash ratios or groups on an a300. You need at least an a700 for that.)The answer is that they do! In other words, I can put my two Sony flash units anywhere around a subject and the ttl metering gets it perfect and adjusts the flash for BOTH units accordingly. And I can do that with just an a300! (an a200 can also do that.)

ttl flash metering is essential to dslr photography. You don't have to mess around with manual flash adjustments and do photography by trial and error. ttl flash metering will give you near perfect exposures with very little effort. And it doesn't matter if you're bouncing the flash into an umbrella, soft box, the ceiling or firing directly at you subject. The ttl system knows what you're doing and takes the "big picture" into account when determining the flash exposure. The 42AM is a very sophisticated flash that can ttl and has high speed sync for quick shutter shots. (Of course you always have the choice of using manual flash mode and setting the flash yourself. So you can be as creative as you like with the 42AM.)

One word of caution. The 42AM cannot act as a "controller" (Sony speak)for other off-camera flashes. In other words, you can't attach the 42AM to your camera and fire another off-camera flash. Only the 58AM can do that.

The 42AM is a great speedlight and it's improved my photography a lot.

This flash has really improved my indoor photos. I have been using the built in flash on my Sony A100, but this high powered flash gives me more control of the lighting. I like that I can adjust the flash to bounce the flash around where I want it. This is a needed tool for beginning photographers who need good quality indoor photos. Good quality for the price.

I'm brand new to slr photography, but I knew I needed a good flash. Sony seems to have delivered. I have been using this product for over a month, and have found it to be capable of so much. I have only used some of its potential, and that has already been wonderful. To unlock the rest of its potential, though, I feel that I will have to do some serious studying. Having a desired outcome and making it happen is often more a result of trial and error at this point. This is not a simple product, especially compared to your built in flash on a Sony.

This flash has taken my photography to new levels. It is surprisingly powerful for its size and for the money and its recycle rate is pretty impressive.

I haven't had an issue with the battery life of the unit. 1 set usually gets me through 2 Portrait sessions although I always keep spares on hand just in case. The low battery warning comes on very early on but it keeps going for ages afterwards.

Output definitely benefits from the use of a diffuser for which I am using a little Sto Fen diffuser. Gives a very even spread.

The wireless function is what I use the majority of the time and I find to be seamless over surprisingly long distances in full daylight.

If you wait long enough you can get these for around $165 new from Ebay. I know this to be the case as that is where I got my second one!

The only down point is the awful Sony/Minolta flash connector that is used to connect it to the top of the camera. Every time I attach or remove it I can feel the plastic straining slightly. Also means that you need an adapter to connect into standard flash accessories such as the excellent Pocket Wizard Range.This isn't a fault with the flash just with the range of cameras in general.

I wasn't sure if it was going to be what I wanted or not but I was not disappointed. I took my daughters senior pictures and it was amazing. It did so much more than I expected. Being able to take it off the camera and set it somewhere and have it syc with my on camera flash was fantastic. If you are looking for a flash for your camera, I would highly recommend this flash. It did such a great job and get yourself a lot of batteries because it will use them up. All flashes do that. It helped it making my photos look more professional than just with the flash on the camera.

I'm no professional, but adding the HVL-F42AM to my Sony Alpha 350 has made a nice difference in shooting across large areas of space with little lighting. The flash "talks" perfectly to the body, so there's rarely a setting you have to duplicate on both with the exception of the power switch.

I've only used the RF (wireless) mode to test it, so I can't speak much for it, but it does indeed work with the Alpha 350. I understand that not all Alpha models support this.

The flash comes with a simple stand which attaches to the base easily enough. And this little stand includes a standard threaded tripod mount underneath.

One quick note: the first set of batteries I used weren't up to full power and for whatever reason the flash acted in weird ways and would not "talk" to the camera. I thought it was defective at first until I used brand new batteries.

As for the battery life, I'm still on my first pair. I've probably fired the flash a good 50-100 times.