I just got my RX1 yesterday and barely got to play with it.
I was very disappointed in the flash, no swivel option. For me, that's an important thing, having the option to get the flash to shoot up or to the side.
Not to mention that you are locked in to using a VERY expensive Sony flash if you want the wireless capability.
Well...I found a very workable "workaround" based on my DSLR experience.
Materials:
1 50 cent piece of craft foam in white
1 Yongnuo manual flash YN560 (about 40.00 to 60.00) Powerful and simple
The idea is this; you want the off-camera flash to fire, giving you light that's from the side, side light is flattering light. You want any direction but "camera axis" because flash from the camera is just not that flattering. Having light and shadow (think sunset...) just makes better pictures.
So...how to get the on camera flash to not contribute flash but to just trigger the cheap manual flash? You need to direct the on-camera flash away from the subject and still allow the flash to bounce into the room and trigger the cheap Yongnuo flash via optical triggering.
So I cut up a 50 cent piece of white craft foam and taped it with electrical tape into a small tube, covered it with black gaffers tape so light wouldn't leak out towards the subject...It is something that would fit over the flash, and not bind on it where you have to shove it on and risk breaking the flash. It's crushable so you can just put it in you camera bag and not worry about messing it up, and it doesn't weigh anything.
Check out the results; I think you'd agree that side lighting is more effective than on camera lighting, when you have time to pull out a strobe and this is a dirt cheap way to achieve it.
Image #1: Off camera flash
Image #2: On camera flash
Image #3: flash/umbrella set up (less than 100.00 U.S.
Image #4: the little foam doohicky.
I was very disappointed in the flash, no swivel option. For me, that's an important thing, having the option to get the flash to shoot up or to the side.
Not to mention that you are locked in to using a VERY expensive Sony flash if you want the wireless capability.
Well...I found a very workable "workaround" based on my DSLR experience.
Materials:
1 50 cent piece of craft foam in white
1 Yongnuo manual flash YN560 (about 40.00 to 60.00) Powerful and simple
The idea is this; you want the off-camera flash to fire, giving you light that's from the side, side light is flattering light. You want any direction but "camera axis" because flash from the camera is just not that flattering. Having light and shadow (think sunset...) just makes better pictures.
So...how to get the on camera flash to not contribute flash but to just trigger the cheap manual flash? You need to direct the on-camera flash away from the subject and still allow the flash to bounce into the room and trigger the cheap Yongnuo flash via optical triggering.
So I cut up a 50 cent piece of white craft foam and taped it with electrical tape into a small tube, covered it with black gaffers tape so light wouldn't leak out towards the subject...It is something that would fit over the flash, and not bind on it where you have to shove it on and risk breaking the flash. It's crushable so you can just put it in you camera bag and not worry about messing it up, and it doesn't weigh anything.
Check out the results; I think you'd agree that side lighting is more effective than on camera lighting, when you have time to pull out a strobe and this is a dirt cheap way to achieve it.
Image #1: Off camera flash
Image #2: On camera flash
Image #3: flash/umbrella set up (less than 100.00 U.S.
Image #4: the little foam doohicky.
