Shooting STTL w Inon S-220 and RX100VA

[ReadyDiverOne]

I've just traded down from a pair of YS-D2s to brand new Inon S-220s. With the YS-D2s, I shot exclusively in full manual because I never found that the TTL function worked well.

I'm curious now to try the STTL function on the S-220, but I've never shot in that mode. Do I shoot the camera in automatic, or program, or full manual? Should I adjust my internal flash compensation, which I normally keep at -3 to preserve battery? What about using aperture or shutter priority?

Any insights, advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Barmaglot]

General idea is to shoot full manual, with exposure set for background, and let the TTL logic take care of the flash exposure for foreground. Set the flash compensation to zero to begin with, and use it to adjust foreground exposure if TTL is over- or underexposing. Set metering to center spot and try to keep your foreground subject centered, so that the camera doesn't get confused trying to light up the water column. If you can't get your subject centered, it is possible to meter and re compose using AEL, but at that point it's probably easier to just use manual flash power.

 

[Nemrod]

The Sony RX100 and most of the Alpha cameras always emit a preflash. There is no way to cancel the preflash. This means that you most certainly can shoot sTTL with camera in Manual. And I do with my Sony A6400 and it work fabulous most of the time.

You can select position 2 and M on your Inon S220 and shoot manual strobe power selection. And, then in the next moment push the switch to sTTL and shoot sTTL. The 1 or 2 switch has no affect when the S220 is selected to sTTL, it is only active when the strobe is selected to M.

With a Canon and most others, it is possible to cancel the preflash and turn the camera strobe to lowest power and shoot with no TTL and with the switch set to 1 and M. But alas not possible easily with Sony. This method can save a lot of battery.

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Thank you both, very helpful.