Sony A7IV flash sync speed

I took my new Sony A7iv on a dive for the first time over the weekend and found that the flash sync speed at 1/250 is inconsistent. I have a many shots where I have a black bar across the top of my picture when the shutter speed is set to 1/250 and then I have a few others with no black bar at 1/250.

There is definitely more picture with the black bar at 1/250 than without and pictures at 1/200 are all fine. The camera specs says flash sync is 1/250 and am just wondering why some pictures came out fine and other not.

Has anyone else seen this on the Sony A7iv?

I have not had this issue at all. Another on the boat did. Turned out to be something about the flash setting. In the camera.  The issue as I remember it is to make sure it is set on "first curtain" for flash.

Thanks, the only options I have is fill in(which is selected), slow sync and rear sync.

I found in the sony manual they say 1/250 when using a sony flash. I’ll reach out to some of the underwater camera dealers to see if they have any information on this.

how are you triggering the flash?  That can make a difference.  Manual only flash triggers can be designed to trigger without reporting to the camera and this may cause the camera not to sync.

10 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

how are you triggering the flash?  That can make a difference.  Manual only flash triggers can be designed to trigger without reporting to the camera and this may cause the camera not to sync.

The type of flash trigger is very important.  My experience with the Sony A7RIV was similar to your problem.  The A7RIV's max sync speed of 1/250 is for flashes (or triggers) that use Sony TTL logic.  If you use a flash/trigger that doesn't use Sony TTL logic the maximum sync speed is 1/200.

I started out with a Nauticam trigger which doesn't use Sony TTL logic and could only sync at a max 1/200 most of the time.  On rare occasions I could sync at 1/250.

I switched to a S-TURTLE Smart TTL Trigger for Sony Systems which does use Sony TTL logic and have had  no problems with syncing at 1/250 ever since.  Extra bonus for me was the ability to also use HSS (high speed sync) with my Retra Pro flashes to use sync speeds much faster than 1/250

Okay this makes sense, I am using a Marelux housing with their manual flash trigger and fiber optic cable to the strobe.

all pictures at 1/200 and 1/160 are fine.

thanks for the info Chris & Gudge

The Sony A7 IV is the onlySony camera I have used that won't sync with a manual (one pin) flash trigger like the Marelux and Nauticam flash triggers. 

The Sony A-1 syncs at 1/400th and 1/500th, APS-C with the Marelux and Nauticam manual flash triggers. I have also used A7 II, A7r II, A7 III, A7R III, A7R IV and A7C all with Manual flash triggers and got 1/250th or top flash sync.

So far it appears that the A7 IV will only sync at 1/250th using the UN Technics or Turtle TTL flash triggers or hard wired flash like an Ikelite system.  

Hi Phil, I'm curious to know your thoughts, if you were to build a new set today and choosing between Nikon D850, Z7II or Sony A7IV (all in similar price points) what would you choose? 

On 8/2/2022 at 7:59 PM, DewaltK said:

Okay this makes sense, I am using a Marelux housing with their manual flash trigger and fiber optic cable to the strobe.

all pictures at 1/200 and 1/160 are fine.

thanks for the info Chris & Gudge

Based on past Sony models the A7 IV should sync at 1/250th with the Marelux manual flash trigger or any other manual flash trigger. So far it has not. Two firmware updates have been released for Sony A7 IV this week. I would try downloading and Installing these updates and see if they correct the sync problem. 

2 hours ago, Zow said:

Hi Phil, I'm curious to know your thoughts, if you were to build a new set today and choosing between Nikon D850, Z7II or Sony A7IV (all in similar price points) what would you choose? 

Zow,

My personal equipment is from Sony and I was building my kit before Canon and Nikon ever launched full frame mirrorless cameras so I have a bias towards what I already own and would not want to replace my excellent Sony lens collection for a new brand when I already have the best camera for underwater photography on the market. 

I have used the D850 and the Z-cameras and I would say that the Z6 II is more in line with the A7 IV and the A7R IV is more in line with A7 II both being higher res cameras. The D850 is an excellent camera if you are investing in used equipment, however the DSLR is all but dead so you will be investing in a system with little future. As far as new lenses and likely no new bodies. The Z-system would be my last pick because I think Canon offers better options. If you go with the Z-system the Z-105 macro and Z 14-30 F/4 are both excellent choices. 

If you intend to use the WACP-1 or WACP-C wet optics for Z-cameras the only lens that allows full zoom through is still the Sony lens with adapter. 

Also you need to judge price not just by the camera body price but more as a complete system. Example the the Nauticam A7 IV housing is $4127.00 US while the Nikon Z7-II/6 II is $5056.00 US. For Marelux it is Sony $2998.00 while the Z-6/7 II housing is $3468.00 both in black, add $200.00 for the other five colors.

I am sure others will have a completely different view, discourage full frame and so on. 

36 minutes ago, Phil Rudin said:

Based on past Sony models the A7 IV should sync at 1/250th with the Marelux manual flash trigger or any other manual flash trigger. So far it has not. Two firmware updates have been released for Sony A7 IV this week. I would try downloading and Installing these updates and see if they correct the sync problem. 

Zow,

My personal equipment is from Sony and I was building my kit before Canon and Nikon ever launched full frame mirrorless cameras so I have a bias towards what I already own and would not want to replace my excellent Sony lens collection for a new brand when I already have the best camera for underwater photography on the market. 

I have used the D850 and the Z-cameras and I would say that the Z6 II is more in line with the A7 IV and the A7R IV is more in line with A7 II both being higher res cameras. The D850 is an excellent camera if you are investing in used equipment, however the DSLR is all but dead so you will be investing in a system with little future. As far as new lenses and likely no new bodies. The Z-system would be my last pick because I think Canon offers better options. If you go with the Z-system the Z-105 macro and Z 14-30 F/4 are both excellent choices. 

If you intend to use the WACP-1 or WACP-C wet optics for Z-cameras the only lens that allows full zoom through is still the Sony lens with adapter. 

Also you need to judge price not just by the camera body price but more as a complete system. Example the the Nauticam A7 IV housing is $4127.00 US while the Nikon Z7-II/6 II is $5056.00 US. For Marelux it is Sony $2998.00 while the Z-6/7 II housing is $3468.00 both in black, add $200.00 for the other five colors.

I am sure others will have a completely different view, discourage full frame and so on. 

Actually no the Sony A7 IV is the only full frame camera I would consider due to the compact size and reduced housing costs

How does it work with the nauticam trigger?

If you are asking me how the A7 IV works with the Nauticam trigger, it now sync's at 1/200th but may go to 1/250th after the firmware upgrade. I have the UWTechnics TTL trigger for A-1. 

5 hours ago, Phil Rudin said:

 

Zow,

My personal equipment is from Sony and I was building my kit before Canon and Nikon ever launched full frame mirrorless cameras so I have a bias towards what I already own and would not want to replace my excellent Sony lens collection for a new brand when I already have the best camera for underwater photography on the market. 

I have used the D850 and the Z-cameras and I would say that the Z6 II is more in line with the A7 IV and the A7R IV is more in line with A7 II both being higher res cameras. The D850 is an excellent camera if you are investing in used equipment, however the DSLR is all but dead so you will be investing in a system with little future. As far as new lenses and likely no new bodies. The Z-system would be my last pick because I think Canon offers better options. If you go with the Z-system the Z-105 macro and Z 14-30 F/4 are both excellent choices. 

If you intend to use the WACP-1 or WACP-C wet optics for Z-cameras the only lens that allows full zoom through is still the Sony lens with adapter. 

Also you need to judge price not just by the camera body price but more as a complete system. Example the the Nauticam A7 IV housing is $4127.00 US while the Nikon Z7-II/6 II is $5056.00 US. For Marelux it is Sony $2998.00 while the Z-6/7 II housing is $3468.00 both in black, add $200.00 for the other five colors.

I am sure others will have a completely different view, discourage full frame and so on. 

I appreciate your thoughts, Phil! highly appreciated. I have been contemplating few options recently to upgrade from my Panasonic GH5. Video is excellent and relatively a smaller to travel. I just find the photo lacking in performance especially autofocus in macro. 

1. Sony A7IV  - I plan to get the marelux housing if I go the Sony route. for lens, I plan to start with 28-60mm with a wet lens. For macro, i'm still choosing between Sony 90mm or Sigma 10. This seems to be the front runner as of now. I've been reading a lot of positives about this camera. 

2. Nikon D850  - My local dive shop offered me a great deal for a brand new S&S housing. Given this, i am being swayed to go the SLR route. Though I hear your sentiments on future proofing especially that I will be spending similar amount considering ports, vacuum, viewfinders etc. 

3. Canon R6 - I was intrigued by the animal eye tracking reviews. The only reservations I have is the 20MP resolution since I mostly shoot macro. 

4. Nikon Z7II/Z6II - Seems in the bottom of my list now, I agree with your thoughts. The housing + camera will be more expensive than A7IV that has better autofocus. 

8 hours ago, Zow said:

I appreciate your thoughts, Phil! highly appreciated. I have been contemplating few options recently to upgrade from my Panasonic GH5. Video is excellent and relatively a smaller to travel. I just find the photo lacking in performance especially autofocus in macro. 

1. Sony A7IV  - I plan to get the marelux housing if I go the Sony route. for lens, I plan to start with 28-60mm with a wet lens. For macro, i'm still choosing between Sony 90mm or Sigma 10. This seems to be the front runner as of now. I've been reading a lot of positives about this camera. 

2. Nikon D850  - My local dive shop offered me a great deal for a brand new S&S housing. Given this, i am being swayed to go the SLR route. Though I hear your sentiments on future proofing especially that I will be spending similar amount considering ports, vacuum, viewfinders etc. 

3. Canon R6 - I was intrigued by the animal eye tracking reviews. The only reservations I have is the 20MP resolution since I mostly shoot macro. 

4. Nikon Z7II/Z6II - Seems in the bottom of my list now, I agree with your thoughts. The housing + camera will be more expensive than A7IV that has better autofocus. 

 

Just be sure to read the fine print on the video specs, as I understand it the GH-5 has a pretty complete set of video features, whereas many other cameras do not with things like the 1.5x crop for 4k60p video in the A7IV.  It all depends on how important these video features are to you.

35 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

Just be sure to read the fine print on the video specs, as I understand it the GH-5 has a pretty complete set of video features, whereas many other cameras do not with things like the 1.5x crop for 4k60p video in the A7IV.  It all depends on how important these video features are to you.

None of those animal tracking features work with fish

The GH5M2 has an improved AF engine and the CAF works well enough for me

13 hours ago, Zow said:

I appreciate your thoughts, Phil! highly appreciated. I have been contemplating few options recently to upgrade from my Panasonic GH5. Video is excellent and relatively a smaller to travel. I just find the photo lacking in performance especially autofocus in macro. 

1. Sony A7IV  - I plan to get the marelux housing if I go the Sony route. for lens, I plan to start with 28-60mm with a wet lens. For macro, i'm still choosing between Sony 90mm or Sigma 10. This seems to be the front runner as of now. I've been reading a lot of positives about this camera. 

2. Nikon D850  - My local dive shop offered me a great deal for a brand new S&S housing. Given this, i am being swayed to go the SLR route. Though I hear your sentiments on future proofing especially that I will be spending similar amount considering ports, vacuum, viewfinders etc. 

3. Canon R6 - I was intrigued by the animal eye tracking reviews. The only reservations I have is the 20MP resolution since I mostly shoot macro. 

4. Nikon Z7II/Z6II - Seems in the bottom of my list now, I agree with your thoughts. The housing + camera will be more expensive than A7IV that has better autofocus. 

 

As a hybrid camera for video I think I am safe in saying that the Sony A7 IV has the best video features of the cameras you have listed with D850 being by far the worst. 

Regarding Marelux the MX-A7IV housing is the only one of the listed cameras above that can be used with the Sony FE 28-60mm using both the Nauticam WWL-1B and closeup lenses like the Nauticam CMC-1/2. 

Regarding the Sony 90mm macro V Sigma 105mm macro both are excellent lenses but the Sigma is slower to auto focus. With the Marelux system you can use the 32 macro port (for the Sony 28-60) stacked with 70mm of extension for the Sigma 105mm. You can also use the 32 flat port with a 30mm extension for the Sony FE 50mm macro, this lens is quite good. Note that I would be buying the Marelux 20, 30 and 40mm extensions and stacking them together rather than buying the 70mm extension. Between the three you can cover just about any port configuration you will need going forward. 

Last as was said above none of the animal, bird or people eye focuses seen to work well at all with fish. The Sony human eye focus does work well within a reasonable distance.

When one is not really interested in video features: would not the Sony A7 RIV be the better choice, compared to the A7 IV? Or is the C-AF of the A7 R IV too weak, compared to A7 IV?

Wolfgang

Actually the Sony A1 would be the better choice because of its speed. The A7 IV uses the A1 AF system but because it does not have the stacked sensor system it is a bit slower. The A7r IV lags behind both in AF speed. I always seem to catch hell over talking about future products but it is pretty common knowledge that Sony will announce the A7R V in the next few months. I expect this camera will be high resolution with the faster AF speeds.

Any of these cameras will AF well for wide lenses but for macro AF the A1 and A7 IV are quicker.

13 hours ago, Interceptor121 said:

None of those animal tracking features work with fish

The GH5M2 has an improved AF engine and the CAF works well enough for me

 

I'm not referring to any sort of AF features, I'm suggesting to read the fine print on video specs - frame rates, crop factors when doing video such as the 1.5x crop of A7IV when doing 4k60p for example.

I'm not referring to any sort of AF features, I'm suggesting to read the fine print on video specs - frame rates, crop factors when doing video such as the 1.5x crop of A7IV when doing 4k60p for example.

Actually the Sony A1 would be the better choice because of its speed. The A7 IV uses the A1 AF system but because it does not have the stacked sensor system it is a bit slower. The A7r IV lags behind both in AF speed. I always seem to catch hell over talking about future products but it is pretty common knowledge that Sony will announce the A7R V in the next few months. I expect this camera will be high resolution with the faster AF speeds.
Any of these cameras will AF well for wide lenses but for macro AF the A1 and A7 IV are quicker.