Speedlights and Assist af beam

[fekisdw]

hello there. I'm looking for an answer before I switched from canon to sony. ( i own an a7r3) . I work like 80 % with my Speedlight on. BUT, at mirrorless cameras ( i I think all of them) the TTL assist beam won't fire and I cant easily ( like never) focus in the dark. maybe you've heard something or is any update going to be released that helped with this issue?

I mean I have events concerts that are really really low light and I end up getting my old Canon DSLR because of the assist of the beam. thanks.

[Ski542002]

Hello:  I switched from Canon to Sony early in 2018 and was shocked to realize the same issue.  The IR assist beam that worked so well on my Canon DSLR’s, does not work on any mirrorless system.  Something to do with how IR interacts, or doesn’t interact with a mirrorless design. It’s not just sony.

What’s helped me a bit, but not a complete solution, is to shoot with the lens almost wide open and turn off live view.  That has helped me quite a bit, but I think that workaround has more to do with helping the lens focus in low light; not much to do about the flash issue.   I’ve also returned to the old fashioned way of estimating my distance and focusing manually, shooting @ F4.  Used to do it back in the manual focus lens days and with practice, you get very good at it.

[JCC]

I shoot lots of concerts, and most venues and artists forbid flash.  

At fashion events where I'm allowed to flash, use of focus assist is grounds for ejection, it shows up on other photographer's shots and ruins them.

 

JCC