The new Nissin Di700A & Air 1 wireless TTL flash for Sony
I used the great wireless i-TTL flash for many years with my Nikon DSLRs and after switching to Sony some time ago I was missing this wireless TTL flash most.
Many weeks ago I read about the new Nissin flashes here at SAR and tried to order them. Many dealers offered the flash and some the commander Air1 too, but no one could deliver! I had to wait several weeks, till I got the kit set and one extra flash unit.
I want to mention, that I payed for the gear and do this post for the readers of SAR!
you find the following pictures here in my flickr album
Here is what I got.
The camera is the A7RII with the Zeiss Batis 2/25mm. The Air 1 commander is mounted on the camera, the two flashes are mounted on the included stands and you can see the box with the batteries. Nissin offers extra battery holders for a fast replacement of batteries during shooting. They also offer extra power boosters. If you want more info go to the Nissin homepage.
The A7RII with the Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 and the Nissin Di700A (do some exercises
for you arm befor you start shooting 🙂 )
I would like to share with you how I used the flashes.
Let’s start with a typical setup for a portrait.
One flash simply bounced against the white wall and ceiling.
Sony A7RII with Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/100@f/5.6
And one flash with a silver umbrella reflector
Sony A7RII with Zeiss Otus 1.4/85@ f/4
Next is a test with the use of HSS (high-speed synchronization)
This HSS also works with the A7R and even with the NEX-6!!
A7RII with Otus 1.4/85@ f/4 and 1/640. One flash and umbrella reflector.
I reduced the exposure of the background by -3 EV. With shorter exposure times you can of course eliminate the ambient light completely.
the same situation with automatic exposure without flash, f/4
Macro
Sony A7RII with Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/100 ZE@ f/11,
one remote flash outdoor
Sony A7RII with Micro Nikkor PC 85mm/2.8
light tent, two flashes left and right
Stills
Sony A7RII with Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/100@ f/11 light tent, two flashes left and right
Same set up, the exposures with white object and black object are both perfect!
Architecture
All with Sony A7RII and Zeiss Batis 2/25mm@ f/2.5, 1/250, ISO 100 first without flash
Two flashes in front of the building, same camera and lens, same time
Again two flashes positioned next to the camera, f/2.0, same time, distance to the building about 40m!
and last but not least
Digitizing with Sony A7RII for slide/film
copy slides and negatives with 5.300 DPI, exposure controlled with TTL
The set up:
this is a normal bellows, in this case for Nikon, with a slide duplicator adapter. The lens is a Leica Focotar 4.5/50mm enlarger lens. You will get enlarger lenses for very good prices now. It is set on f/11. Or look for “Slide Duplicator”, I just saw one for 87$ including the bellows.
There are not many scanners, that can do it and with this set up you need only seconds per “scan”, no scanner is that fast. For 6 negatives you need about 20 seconds, every image ist perfectly exposed.
To protect the lens against the flash, I put some dark paper over the lens and the slide holder. Not used here for better demonstrating the set up.
What I like:
the price
the menu system
wireless radio (tested up to 30m, may be more), not IR
zoom reflector from 24-200mm and 16mm
three groups of multiple flashes
individual remote control of exposure and zoom reflector for every group
remote control of TTL with/without HSS or manual exposure from 1/1 to 1/128
What I don’t like
—
I hope, these infos are helpful for you
regards
dierk
51 Responses
Hi, I recently purchased a Nissin Di700A for my A7 as well, but The somehow the wireless trigger is a hit & miss for me. I have tried to take a Silhouette photo using the flash as a back light, and it just doesn’t fire. However if I move the model out of the way, then the flash fires properly. Did I do something wrong here when pairing The remote trigger with the flash?
I have this same setup with two flashes now and want to add a third but the system is very nice and it works really well in a lot of situations. Two things you can’t do . One is use one flash as a transmitter and two in HSS mode you can’t tilt the flash but that’s easily solved by putting it on a light stand with a tilt umbrella adapter.
Very nice post and beautifull pictures. This challenge all the discussion about pro work with A7 cameras. The results are clear. Congrats Dierk.
Nice copy set-up. How are you coping with different negative sizes, any solutions this elegant?
Thank you for putting out your pictures and explaining how you used the flash. I just got mine in this weekend and dont know anything about flash or off flash photography. So I was very happy to get a unit that fully supported Sony and to see this write up by you this morning.
Short and informative – a pleasure to read.
Well, aside from a couple of example shots this does not really contain any real information, at least it was not called “Review” or “Test” 😉
If you use it for a little bit longer your “What i don’t like” list will also grow. Not to say the system ist not great. Aside from the Phottix the best option – And i gave up trying to order Phottix stuff, as i could not find anything anywhere available for almost a year. So Nissin was a blessing and i got myself already 4 of the DI700A.
The flashes are pretty good, mostly solid and super easy to use. BUT:
They are crazy slow recharging. Normal manual shooting works ok, but once you turn on TTL the refresh time goes up quite a bit and if you even go into HSS you can expect to wait at least 5sec between shots – usually more.
Also the Sony Multi-Interface foot on those flashes is pretty flimsy (not sure if it’s better on original sony or others). I already had one flash foot break when it was mounted in a ordinary flash-shoe – one of the side-clamping. So be sure to avoid those, and only use the supplied shoes (they can be mounted on a tripod but are pretty unhandy) or get proper “slide-in-shoes”.
you are right, Benjamin,
but for my personal use this is no problem.
The plastic foot is sure very flimsy and may be a problem for professional between a dozen colleagues shooting celebrities.
It is also very flimsy, when you mount it on the little plastic foot and mount this on a tripod for studio shots.
But as said, for me it works great and I am glad to have a wireless TTL system again for my Sony.
PS: for professional (studio) works I would get the extra power boosters.
Another thing that bothered me is the lack of zoom control when using as a on camera flash.The camera communicates with the lens if there’s a proper lens attached, but if a old lens(without metal pins) is attached, the zoom finction become moot.
The walk arround is to have the flash off-camera since the Trigger is able to set up zoom distance, but still. Guess I might need to buy oje of those flash casket if it bothers me even more.
> The plastic foot is sure very flimsy and may be a problem for professional between a dozen colleagues shooting celebrities.
I wish, i had it mounted on a light stand and just moved the stand to the side (standing up, not throwing it around or anything) and it fell of.
That was the second time i used it 😉
Since then i use the supplied flash shoes (they can be mounted on light stands) and the slide-in mechanism seems to work fine. But typical Flash-Shoes on light stands do not.
For us Newbies – can you explain/demonstrate “To protect the lens against the flash, I put some dark paper over the lens and the slide holder.”? My mind’s picture is the dark paper blocking light to the lens – I don’t think my thoughts are correct.
Thank YOu
Jamb,
sorry for the very short description.
I put a sheet of dark paper over the gap between the film holder and the lens in order not to get direct flash light into the lens. As I need the access to the aperture of the lens and it is easier that the use of the bellows, that is built in the film holder.
I hope, this explanation is a bit better? 🙂
Yes, thank you. I have a ton of slides I would like to convert. I have been hesitant to start a project of that size. I may give this a try.
I wish Nissin would release something like a i40A or a much compact Di700A
Does anyone have any advice on how to get HSS to work with the Nissin and the original A7R, as mentioned above. I don’t seem to have found that.
Push and hold down test flash button for few seconds, HSS should be activated.
Edit: to deactivate same procedure
No action on the camera? No shutter shadow at high speeds?
Not willing to read the manuals and not even to simply try. Wow.
Sorry. Just asking a question.
I have tried. Succeeded on the a7s (which, like the A7rII, has an electronic shutter) but not on the a7r (which does not).
I probably am doing something stupid, which why I thought to ask a forum of people with similar kit.
I “liked” Dirk’s initial helpful answer and yet was met with puerility when I posted what I thought was an innocent follow up question.
as Dirk described below.
and it works on the A7R and even on my NEX-6!
Read the manual! When the flash is on camera hold down the TEST button for 3-5 secs to enable HSS. When the AIR 1 is on the camera same routine! NOTE: The camera’s flash mode has to be WIRELESS for the units to communicate remotely! Set the camera’s mode to WIRELESS then put the AIR 1 on the camera. With the AIR 1 and flash ON set the AIR 1’s mode to WIRELESS (last icon on the right). I’m presuming of course that you have already PAIRED the flash and AIR 1.
Yes I get that (having read the Nissan’s manual, thanks) but there is something I’m doing wrong with the a7r. As I still get a shadow (even, a tiny bit, at 1/160)
You can shoot past 1/160 on the A7r with anything . It’s stops there. I could never get past 1/160 with studio strobes or the Sony 43 flash. Never even on a good day. It’s the camera
I don’t understand why Sony doesn’t give us a flash solution like this, but glad to see at least others are picking up their slack.
Thanks Dierk! I was just thinking about buying one of these this weekend and you’ve made the decision much easier.
Steven,
I had this problem too with the architecture shots, till I discovered, than one flash was behind a metal paper basket.
It may be the same reason on your set up?
I guess so, maybe it’s due to the silver lining inside the softbox that interrupted the signal?
you may find a set up I described last year at Steve Huff:
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2014/05/29/digitizing-slides-and-negatives-on-the-cheap-by-dierk-topp/
Today I use a better copy stand and put the whole thing on an opaque glass plate over a transparent gray plastic box with the two flashes pointing into the box. The TTL works great as expected.
Sorry, no pictures jet of this set up.
Many thanks, I’ll go take a look.
thanks for all your comments!
As said, this is not a review. There are many out there, but they concentrate on the “normal” use of these flashes.
I am glad, if I could share my experiences.
Separate Question .. how do you do the borders?
John,
I use Mogrify 2 as plug in for LR
http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrmogrify2.php
any framing, printing of any EXIF and other IPTC data during the export
I have different export settings for all kinds of situations.
Thanks. Tried it and it does exactly what I was trying to do
Cheers for he review! I have a single 7100 with the Air and love it. These result are encouraging me to pick up a second unit!
Did you find a way to put the flash into rear curtain sync?
I have the a7r and you have to put the camera into “wireless” and you lose the menu options for rear curtain sync.
So I understand how HSS works but when I use the flash on more than 1/160, I start seeing horizontal lines on my image. Any clue why this is happening?
Are you using electronic shutter?
Posted picture was with electronic first shutter on. Am I supposed to use HSS without electronic first shutter?
Not sure. But electronic shutter combined with fluorescent or Led lighting generally causes this. Start by closing your aperture or taking the pic worth no ambient light and see where that goes.
Turning electronic shutter (and first curtain!) off works. I’m not sure if it’s a nissin issue, but on all (nissin) flashes i tried something like this was present. Interestingly on the i40 its less than a Di700A with identic settings.
I bought a set immediately upon availability and absolutely LOVE IT except for the hot shoe mount. I’m just used to flashes being able to take a little more abuse for weddings. I’m about to start the communications with NISSIN about getting it fixed. I want to add 2 more, but this makes me a sad panda.
Absurdly deficient for secure flash bracket mounting. Why copy Sony screw up when they could have improved it?
Yeah… Sony interface shoe is real standard ISO. Yeah… right.
I’m so pissed off how Sony destroyed our flash system that I could spit.
Looks like mine. I sent it in a couple weeks ago to be fixed. Seems like i get a full replacement now because they wait for ages for the spare part (too many broke? …)
Do NOT use clamping flash shoes like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61ioFQ2Xi-L._SY355_.jpg
Using a proper sliding one seems to do the trick, at least i did not have any problems there – with much bigger movement.
What was your turn around time? There warranty process looks vague. Do I call/email first or just send it in?
Still waiting back for it.. since 5 weeks. But i’m in Europe so it might work differently here. Been told last week that i have to send in the whole kit (i only sent the flash after explicitly asking if its ok) for it to be switched out – apparently fixing it wasn’t working (no replacement part?)
I have to wait til 2nd week of December before I can be without it. Yea this could suck. I ordered them separately so that is beneficial as I can send in the flash only. I’m on the fence about ordering another one.
Nissin… why does this flash have the same four plastic toes as the Sony flash, instead of full metal sleds like the CaNikon versions? Should have improved Sony’s train wreck instead of contributing to it.
This flash is more likely than all others to be mounted to flash stand bracket. They have metal teeth. Why not full metal sled to accommodate extra stability and weight of head modifiers?
Nothing says “SECURITY” like exposed micro pin connections. Thanks Sony! Thanks for making strobists work around the foibles of a microphone jack that should have been ported to the side.
You can fix this Nissin… We want robust metal foot for mounting onto light stand bracket without worry. Until then I’ll stick with my excellent Phottix Odin with big fat full plastic sleds on receivers and screw tensioners for extra security. Combine that with the bracket tensioner and I can leave them in the bag set up ready to go. Only problem is the Odin transmitter must adapt with the Sony MIS converter. Sony screwed their flash users.
Second that! I already had the foot of one Nissin break due to this. And this was not doing anything crazy, just move a Lightstand where it was mounted.
At least warranty seems to cover it, still sucks that i had to send it in and been waiting for a couple weeks for it to be fixed.
there was the question, if HSS works for more than one flash.
Here is my test.
I used the NEX-6 for demonstration, it works for the A7 series as well.
set up only for demonstration of two flashes and HSS high speed sync.
Nobody would do a product shot with HSS 🙂
Handheld, Zeiss 35mm 2.8, 1/1600, ISO50, F2.8, SOOC.
Flash overhead: https://flic.kr/p/z46eAj
I soooo wish Nissin would make a Sony version of there Ring Flash MF-18 it is so badly needed!