Available at AmazonI have an Alpha 300 and a 58AM speedlight that I've been using for over a year. I needed a second speedlight but didn't want to spend the 0-0 that another 58AM costs. So I purchased the 42AM. It's a very capable speedlight, especially for off-camera work.
I always shoot using off-camera flash (for my studio work). And I always shoot with ttl (through the lense metering). My biggest issue when I bought the 42AM was whether it would recognize the existence of the 58AM and the two speedlights would ttl meter appropriately. (Remember you cannot set flash ratios or groups on an a300. You need at least an a700 for that.)The answer is that they do! In other words, I can put my two Sony flash units anywhere around a subject and the ttl metering gets it perfect and adjusts the flash for BOTH units accordingly. And I can do that with just an a300! (an a200 can also do that.)
ttl flash metering is essential to dslr photography. You don't have to mess around with manual flash adjustments and do photography by trial and error. ttl flash metering will give you near perfect exposures with very little effort. And it doesn't matter if you're bouncing the flash into an umbrella, soft box, the ceiling or firing directly at you subject. The ttl system knows what you're doing and takes the "big picture" into account when determining the flash exposure. The 42AM is a very sophisticated flash that can ttl and has high speed sync for quick shutter shots. (Of course you always have the choice of using manual flash mode and setting the flash yourself. So you can be as creative as you like with the 42AM.)
One word of caution. The 42AM cannot act as a "controller" (Sony speak)for other off-camera flashes. In other words, you can't attach the 42AM to your camera and fire another off-camera flash. Only the 58AM can do that.
The 42AM is a great speedlight and it's improved my photography a lot.
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One of the dirty little secrets about these white-balance filters is that almost any white material held in front of the lens will work. Melita coffee filters are often used for comparison with the latest 0+ filter. It seems, from what I have read, that Melita filters don't work as well as white plastic, but that the cheap white filters like this one work as well as those costing ten and twenty times as much. I haven't tried it yet.
(For the uninitiated: In artificial light, digital cameras need to have their white balance adjusted. This is done by taking a reading with the white cap over the lens (auto-focus OFF) and locking it in.)
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The new packaging is about 3 times as big as it needs to be. This makes it hard to pack. I found five 10 packs can fit into an Altoids tin making it far easier to carry and in a more durable container. The zink paper is not as good as my dye-sub printer, but the convenient size is the reason I bought it.
Cheap "Polaroid Zink media 80 Pack Photo Paper for Polaroid Pogo Cameras and Printers" Discount Review Shop
