X-A5 Commander Mode (flash) Quirk

[sherwoodpete]

Hi, it's been a while since my last post on this site. (My previous posts related to the F30).

I've one of the very recent Fujifilm cameras but I've also been trying out some of the earlier models including the X-M1 and more specifically the X-A5.

The other day I'd been using an external flash, the Vivitar 283. I figured out that in order to get that flash to fire reliably, I needed to set the X-A5's flash setting to 'Commander'. The built-in flash is not raised so does not fire, but the external 283 worked properly.

That combination worked very well, the old Vivitar 283 is quite versatile.

However...

A couple of days later I was shooting some street scenes which turned out very over-exposed. I had set the camera to Aperture priority, f/2.8 and ISO 200. An appropriate shutter speed would have been something around 1/1600 sec. However the camera chose 1/180.

Eventually I realised that even though I was not interested in using flash for that outdoor scene, the flash mode still played a role, it seems to limit the shutter speed to the range 1/50 to 1/180. I'd already discovered that with the camera on a tripod when I expected an exposure time of a few seconds, it would not budge from 1/50. The solution is to change the flash mode to 'Off' or indeed any option other than 'Commander' which has that unexpected interlocking with the shutter speeds available.

This isn't a question, just documenting how it behaved for me.

 

[Nikita_64]

I am using manual flashes with Fuji X-T20 extensively and the only requirement is non-auto ISO, mechanical shutter and shutter speed slower than 1/180. The internal flash mode does not matter.

I am just curious what issues did you have with the Vivitar flash in other modes?

 

[sherwoodpete]

Thanks for your reply. In the other modes, the external flash just did not fire at all with the X-A5, at least that was my experience. By contrast the X-M1 is different. When the built-in flash is closed, the flash mode sets itself to 'Off' but the external flash still fires properly.

Generally, I'd tend to use Manual mode to set both shutter and aperture (and as you point out, ISO). The part which caught me out was using Aperture priority which had the odd side-effect. Of course my X-A5 might be faulty, it was used when I bought it. But it appears to be ok so my guess is that it is designed this way.

As an aside, my other camera is the X-S20 and I've not yet tried it much with flash.

 

[Nikita_64]

Interesting. I used to have x-A2 and it worked fine the way I expected (ISO 200, Shutter 1/180 or so, and aperture set on lens. It may be something to do with firmware. There was a topic today about Viltrox 28mm F4.5 where one quoted compatibility list, and surprisingly, it is only partially compatible with x-A1 and x-A3 and fully compatible with x-A2.