Anyone familiar with these flashes? Old Minolta 3600HS(D) and 5400 HS

I agree with the above , but if you can get hold of a Minolta 5600 HSD/D at a good price that would be best .

You'll get the best of both worlds with that . I have a few of them .

It's also compatible with all Sony and Minolta cameras with the same iISO hotshoe ( film and digital ) and later Sony gear with the hotshoe adapter .

Sony also sold it as the HVL-F56AM , same flash , different badge .

The 3600hs/d is also sold as the Sony HVL-F36AM .

neilt3 wrote:

I agree with the above , but if you can get hold of a Minolta 5600 HSD/D at a good price that would be best .

You'll get the best of both worlds with that . I have a few of them .

It's also compatible with all Sony and Minolta cameras with the same iISO hotshoe ( film and digital ) and later Sony gear with the hotshoe adapter .

Sony also sold it as the HVL-F56AM , same flash , different badge .

The 3600hs/d is also sold as the Sony HVL-F36AM .

I'm not sure they are 100% the same. I think the Sony version has newer protocol support. E.g. a 3600HS(D) or 5600HS(D) can be a slave to a Sony flash on a current Sony camera, but it can't be the trigger. Even with my A900, I have to use the HVL-F20M as the trigger (with adapter) to trigger these Minolta flashes. The Minoltas will fire in the hot shoe, and do HSS and TTL, but they won't act as triggers.

1. SQLGuy wrote:

neilt3 wrote:

I agree with the above , but if you can get hold of a Minolta 5600 HSD/D at a good price that would be best .

You'll get the best of both worlds with that . I have a few of them .

It's also compatible with all Sony and Minolta cameras with the same iISO hotshoe ( film and digital ) and later Sony gear with the hotshoe adapter .

Sony also sold it as the HVL-F56AM , same flash , different badge .

The 3600hs/d is also sold as the Sony HVL-F36AM .

I'm not sure they are 100% the same. I think the Sony version has newer protocol support. E.g. a 3600HS(D) or 5600HS(D) can be a slave to a Sony flash on a current Sony camera, but it can't be the trigger. Even with my A900, I have to use the HVL-F20M as the trigger (with adapter) to trigger these Minolta flashes. The Minoltas will fire in the hot shoe, and do HSS and TTL, but they won't act as triggers.

Regardless of if it's the Sony or Minolta badged versions , they work the same .

The Minolta 5600hs/d and Sony 56am can only act as a controller (trigger) on film cameras .

On digital cameras , Minolta or Sony , that function was disabled .

Sony DSLRs and SLTs with a pop up flash can control all four of these flashes .

The Sony HVL-F20AM can be used to control them as the trigger on cameras without a pop up flash ( and some others )

The Sony HVL-F58AM also controls them and also has ratio control .

Some other Sony flashes can also be used as a controller .

Some later Sony flashes had different protocol's and have restricted use on film cameras and would only function correctly in HSS mode .

pcunnin wrote:

If I'm reading the manual right, the Minolta 5600 can be used as a controller or slave. It can also use the on-camera built in flash as a trigger, up to the flash sync speed of the camera.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/104126/Minolta-5600hs-D.html?page=26#manual

Two 5600HS (D), 3600HS (D), 5400HS, or 5400xi, or one 5600HS(D), 5400HS, or 5400xi, and one 3600HS (D) or 3500xi • Use Maxxum/Dynax 9, 7, 800si, 700si, When two flash units are used, the unit attached to the camera is used as the controller, and the other as the off-camera flash"

I don't plan on using more than one off-camera flash though, so it shouldn't matter.

neilt3 wrote:

Regardless of if it's the Sony or Minolta badged versions , they work the same .

The Minolta 5600hs/d and Sony 56am can only act as a controller (trigger) on film cameras .

That's correct , when used on a film camera as you are .

It's only if you wanted to use them on a digital camera that it's different .

The flashes came out before Minolta brought out the Dynax 7d and 5d , so don't mention them on the manual .

pcunnin wrote:

It says here on sony website the 7d and 5d will work with “multiple flash” whatever that may mean:

https://docs.sony.com/release/hyperlinks/PDC_KM_PROGRAM_MAXXUM_5600HS_D.PDF

Multiple flash just means that the camera can trigger more than one flash at the same time , all metered TTL .

But if the person who wrote says that this flash works only as a slave and not as trigger, and on newer sony cameras, I believe them since the camera is far removed, supposedly the 3600hsd does not work at all in ttl with some newer cameras (MIS models), despite being a newish flash model it doesn’t have the same compatiblity for some reason. 5600hsd will work on a sony a7 for example.

Do you also plan on using the flash on an a7 or other digital camera ?

neilt3 wrote:

.

That's correct , when used on a film camera as you are .

It's only if you wanted to use them on a digital camera that it's different .

The flashes came out before Minolta brought out the Dynax 7d and 5d , so don't mention them on the manual .

pcunnin wrote:

I plan on using it with an A7 II to try out flash on digital before buying a Godox TT685s and wireless trigger, want to try it before investing a bunch. This Minolta 5600 HSD is great! It's really advanced despite it's age, even though it doesn't have great wireless capability, I can use it with a TTL cable.

Looking forward to seeing how it comapres to the TT685s, they have about the same guide number.

After looking at all the manuals, I believe that "multiple flash" may refer to using multiple flashes at once but also in Minolta terminology, having the flash fire multiple times during an exposure in order to create multiple images during a slow flash sync exposure.

neilt3 wrote:

Multiple flash just means that the camera can trigger more than one flash at the same time , all metered TTL .

Do you also plan on using the flash on an a7 or other digital camera ?

Why do you say, "...it doesn't have great wireless capability,"? So, it can't be used as a trigger from the A7II... it still can act as a slave, by itself, or with other 3600s or 5600s, including supporting TTL and HSS with a newer trigger, like the HVL-F20M. With an F43 or better trigger, it can even do ratio lighting.

It supports HSS. It also supports multiple flashes for testing/preview. I don't think it supports multiple flashes during slow synch. I don't know of any flash that does that. Slow synch is for flash for a close subject and long exposure ambient for a background.

• Makkita wrote:

It can also use the on-camera built in flash as a trigger, up to the flash sync speed of the camera.

That's right , the pop up flash will control them as mentioned in my second post , however the Sony a7 series camera the O.P also wants to use it with doesn't have a pop up flash and therefore requires a second flash that is capable of acting as a controller .

Other Sony E mount cameras that do have a pop up flash are unable to trigger / control other flashes with it for some reason , so also need another flash to act as a controller if the camera is fitted with a hot shoe .

You can get slave triggers that can be set up to fire a flash that are triggered by an on board flash , but you have no TTL metering with this .

SQLGuy wrote:

pcunnin wrote:

I plan on using it with an A7 II to try out flash on digital before buying a Godox TT685s and wireless trigger, want to try it before investing a bunch. This Minolta 5600 HSD is great! It's really advanced despite it's age, even though it doesn't have great wireless capability, I can use it with a TTL cable.

Looking forward to seeing how it comapres to the TT685s, they have about the same guide number.

After looking at all the manuals, I believe that "multiple flash" may refer to using multiple flashes at once but also in Minolta terminology, having the flash fire multiple times during an exposure in order to create multiple images during a slow flash sync exposure.

neilt3 wrote:

Multiple flash just means that the camera can trigger more than one flash at the same time , all metered TTL .

Do you also plan on using the flash on an a7 or other digital camera ?

Why do you say, "...it doesn't have great wireless capability,"? So, it can't be used as a trigger from the A7II... it still can act as a slave, by itself, or with other 3600s or 5600s, including supporting TTL and HSS with a newer trigger, like the HVL-F20M. With an F43 or better trigger, it can even do ratio lighting.

It supports HSS. It also supports multiple flashes for testing/preview. I don't think it supports multiple flashes during slow synch. I don't know of any flash that does that. Slow synch is for flash for a close subject and long exposure ambient for a background.

Correction. It does support multiple flashes during slow synch for strobe effect. E.g. a moving subject in a dark environment with multiple exposures captured in a single frame over a long exposure.

From memory - Do not use a Minolta flash on digital unless it contains a "D" in the name as 3600 HS (D).  Ones without the "D" designation may have a flash voltage too high, and it could damage a digital camera.  I have a 5400 HS (D) and it works fine on digital.

Peace.

John

kcdogger wrote:

From memory - Do not use a Minolta flash on digital unless it contains a "D" in the name as 3600 HS (D). Ones without the "D" designation may have a flash voltage too high, and it could damage a digital camera. I have a 5400 HS (D) and it works fine on digital.

Peace.

John

All Minolta flashes with the iISO foot are safe to use on both digital and film cameras .

Some of the earlier flashes with the standard type ISO foot have a too high a voltage that can cause damage .

Regards to your flash , if it works on your digital camera ( including TTL flash metering ) it must be the Minolta 5600HS/D you have .

There isn't a 5400HS/D , but the  there is a 5400HS which is one made for film cameras .

You can mount it on a digital body , but there is no TTL flash control , you would have so set the output manually and set the aperture to suit .

Otherwise it just puts out full output only , no automatic exposure .

You are right. I have the 5600HS-D.

https://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/flashes.php

Note the column "digital ready."

Peace.

John