RX10 ii and remote flash

i purchased the Sony F43M flash to use on and off the camera as a remote WF flash. What I discovered was that the pop-up flash would not function as a commander to trigger the F43M ( no matter what B&H said on July 15). It seemed crazy to have to purchase a second flash, F20M, to do this! Today, after much difficulty (with an uninformed photography store salesperson), I was able to make a Nissin Di700a with Air Commander work with the RX10 ii!!! It worked TTL but my first shots seemed to need a little EV boost. Exposure compensation of +2 EV was a little too much so I am sure that all will be well. I will sell the new F43M or use it as a second remote flash with my Nikon. An in-store vendor here in London sold me the Nissin unit for €170 so I believe a much better price could be had online - I felt bad for taking up at least an hour of his time to get the unit working. READ the instructions carefully and follow the sync steps EXACTLY and it works fine.

I'm sure some people will find your post very useful.

I have to admit, if you're doing studio work where you have all the time in the world to set up a shot, having your lighting where you want it is really powerful in your statement images.

I also think everyone should learn this skill regardless of whether they would ever use it. Nothing else taught me more about light than when I was directing it.

I find nothing more unappealing than an on-camera flash image except when used very softly to fill. Simply holding the flash up and at arms length to the side gives much more pleasant "on the fly" images. On-camera flash reminds me of deer-in-the-headlights or police booking photos. It is not studio quality but doing it this way is uncomplicated and yields pleasant results.

Jcutt said:

An in-store vendor here in London sold me the Nissin unit for €170 so I believe a much better price could be had online

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Good to know the Nissin Air setup worked, as I would consider something similar if and when I get a RX10II (just waiting for the price to fall...)

€170 in London would be a very good price for a Di700 Air. They are £175 GBP online

(did you mean €170 Euro or £170 GBP?)

You can buy a combined Di700 Air + Air Commander bundle for £199 which would have been a better buy.

Note that if you bought it at Jessops or Park Cameras in London their instore prices would be the same as online.

Rechecked my receipt and I purchased the Air Commander and Flash bundle for 190 pounds on Oxford Street at a chain photo store. Works great but had a little trouble synching the Air Commander and Flash but that was my fault for not following the simple instructions EXACTLY in the order directions said. (Spent at least an hour in the store verifying that it would indeed work since B&H had told me the Sony HVL-F43M would work wirelessly with RX10 ii) You have to be sure Sony is set on WL for it to work (duh). When the flash is placed on the camera, it fires well. I have not tried flash sync over 500 but it should work.

Always download and read the manual (if available) before buying a new camera. The wireless situation with this camera was mentioned in many reviews (don't remember if this site said anything). I like wireless flash and realized the need for an extra (triggering) flash for the Sony system. So, that is one of the several reasons that I've kept my m43 system, and may add a third flash soon!

If I were starting from scratch with the Sony as my only system, I would just accept that I had to buy the cheapest Sony flash that would act as a trigger, which is what you seem to have done. I used to have Sony dSLRs, and would buy used flashes (even old Minolta versions that were compatible) from eBay or demos from stores. They all worked fine and were cheap, and I now regret selling them because it appears they would work with my RX10.