Mario Dirks: "How to use freeze studio flashes with a Sony Alpha"

The new mobile Rollei Freeze 6S & Freeze 4S flashes are suitable for both studio and outdoor use, with a built-in radio receiver that allows the flashes to be triggered wirelessly from a long distance. The associated Mark II radio transmitter is multifunctional and compatible with all common camera manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji, and Sony. This is practical if you use several camera systems simultaneously or perhaps even change your camera system. Of course, additional camera information such as TTL and HSS is also transmitted to the flash via the transmitter.

For shooting with flashes, I use the mirrorless camera Sony Alpha 7 III. I explain what you need to pay particular attention to with this camera in order to quickly achieve meaningful results in this blog post.

First, I'll focus on the camera settings. The Sony Alpha 7 III, like most mirrorless cameras from other manufacturers, has an electronic viewfinder. The advantage is that you can see all settings live in the viewfinder or on the display while shooting. For example, I work in manual mode. If I adjust the shutter speed or aperture, I immediately see what the finished image will look like. Trigger - done.

However, problems arise when working with external flashes - for example, in the studio. If I set a 1/250s shutter speed, aperture 11 at ISO 100 here, I don't see anything in the viewfinder anymore. Because the camera doesn't know that a flash will be added when I trigger.

But so that I can still see something in the viewfinder, there is a setting for this in the menu. The menu item is called: Live View Display

When working with flashes, this setting should be "off". After that, the electronic viewfinder functions almost like that of a normal DSLR camera.

In addition, you should also make sure to deactivate the functions "Red-eye reduction" and "Wireless flash" in the camera menu.

Now you can attach the radio transmitter to your camera's hot shoe. For the Sony Alpha 7 III, you will also need an adapter to work with TTL or HSS, which is supplied with the Mark II radio transmitter.

You can now conveniently adjust your flashes remotely from your position using the radio transmitter. To ensure flawless transmission, you must set the same transmission channel and the corresponding group on the flash and the transmitter. The groups allow you to control several flashes differently. For example, you can control the main flash via Group A, while you control your fill light in Group B and perhaps effect or rim light in Group C.

On the flash, you now need to activate TTL-ALL and on the transmitter, select the camera you are using (in my case, Sony).

Now the shooting can begin. Via the transmitter, you can conveniently set from your position which mode you want to shoot in, such as manual or automatic via TTL. You can then adjust the flash power with the dial on the transmitter. Either in 1/10 increments or, after pressing the dial for a little longer, in full power steps.

In automatic TTL mode, you can correct the flash power by up to +/- 6 stops using flash exposure compensation.

The flashes also have a continuous LED light, which helps the camera focus and allows you to assess the light/shadow formation in advance. Of course, the continuous light can also be switched on or off from the transmitter.

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