coolhoosier Loc: Dover, NH, USA

Fortunately, they're transitioning from that proprietary design back to the more conventional universal hot shoe.

Be that as it may, I have a problem with the Sony shoe. I have an A77 that refuses to recognize my Yongnuo 560 II flash even though they supposedly have compatible Sony shoes. The flash selection is for fill in flash, but the electronic display shows the flash is off or not attached.

I also have a remote trigger that the camera won't recognize either. I suspect the either the camera shoe is faulty (would have happened suddenly) or (just as likely) I'm doing something or not doing something that keeps the camera from seeing the flash.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

I did this on my A6000 to get it to recognize my Canon 430 speedlight. You remove some paint from the hot shoe contacts. There are U tube videos to show you how.

IShootEverything Loc: TN

I think part of (or most) that has to do with the flash, Yongnuo is cheap stuff, and they are NO Sony, Nikon.... ect (some of their stuff is good)

hcmcdole

Sony does odd things at times - Betamax and their own proprietary memory stick are two examples. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose - (lose) their fan base when they do these kinds of things.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

I agree that the Sony (originally Minolta) hotshoe was a bad idea. I think they did it just to get folks to buy their flash. Shortly after I bought my Alpha 850, I bought a Metz 52-AF1 used from Amazon. It's between the Sony HVL-43 & 60 but costs considerably less.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

I have a Problem in Reverse! I bought two Minolta Maxxum SLR cameras in the 1990's along with a Minolta Flash that still works. This flash mates, as expected, normally with my first two Sony dSLR cameras, the A100 and A55, but NOT with my Sony a6000.

So a couple of months ago, I purchased a Sony multi-shoe adapter (from B&H Photo,) so that my Minolta Flash now mates with my a6000. Yes, the pair does function together. However, I subsequently discovered I cannot detach the Adapter from the Flash. I had multiple other people try as well; all failed. The obvious next step for me is to consult B&H, even though it would be too late to return the Adapter even I wanted to.

So my problem is that I have, perhaps permanently, converted my Minolta Flash to work with Sony's "multi" mount? Besides no longer being functional with my Sony A-mount cameras, does this "obligatory" conversion have any other drawbacks or any unheralded advantages (e.g. now usable with different camera brands)?

Secondly, does anybody know of a method to detach that hot shoe adapter without damaging it or the Flash to which it is attached?

Thank you.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Exactly: I did video production in the 90's. Without question the Betamax was superior in every way to VHS and S-VHS. Too bad, their short-sighted proprietary mentality killed a very good product

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Without hijacking the posted Topic, I'd love to learn more from you regarding Sony's "short-sighted proprietary mentality." I have my own thoughts regarding a couple of other moves they made.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

It may not be well known anymore, but when the video wars hit, Sony guarded their proprietary interests so well that the result was that VHS became the only option. In other words it back-fired when several other VCR manufacturers chose VHS as the format and flooded the market with much lower priced options. The consumers chose the lower priced options over the more expensive, higher quality tape players. I did a lot of format conversion back then: SVHS to VHS, Beta to VHS, 3/4" to VHS, 1" to VHS, and later 8mm & Hi-8 to VHS.

I remember the rental store down the block from me that rented both VHS & Beta movies…. Memory lane…. BTW, I still have a H-8 VCR and a lot of H-8 tapes of my children as infants….

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

LoneRanger,
In what manner did Sony guard "their proprietary interests so well"? To me, that is one of the key questions. On a different note, I wonder if you're a bit like me, slow to digitize those Hi8 videos to put on DVD & Hard Drives? If those tapes are your only copies, you might not want to wait that long. I realize you're probably very busy with & your family life, but STILL?

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

A "one of these days" projects.

;-)

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I will agree if you are talking about acceptance, however if you are talking design the Sony is mechanically superior... and is Auto-Lock. Sony would be MIL Specification, but we are not the military and 20 cents per camera is 20C. No one on UHH would pay 20 cents for a superior product, would we (?). The ISO design is "cheap" and works. Works and cheap is sufficient for most. A good read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_shoe

Jcmarino

I did the same thing on my a6000 and now all my flashes work, Nikon, Nissan and SRL Strobies.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

It's worse than that. ..the new is hot shoe is also different and the firing center pin doesn't lineup worn standard ISO devices. However I am able to use yungnuo 560 flashes with my sony a99. Did have to get a special cable and shoe to use my sony flash with pocket wizards and then again only in manual mode.

scsdesphotography Loc: Southeastern Michigan

Here is what happened to Betamax, which was superior to VHS with regard to video quality. Sony refused to license movies released in Beta for rental, perhaps fearing that the rentals would cut into their sale of the retail versions. They actually took legal action against many of the video rental stores that carried Beta movies. Some of the smaller rental places were able to fly under the radar and continued to carry the Sony product for a while longer.

Consumers made the final choice by deciding to by a VCR that could be used for recording and for watching rental movies (VHS) or one that could only be used for recording (Beta). Professional video studios continued to use Betamax for quite a while after the consumer market collapsed. Maybe Sony should have looked at how the automotive companies handled rentals.

By the way the same thing happened to IBM when they switched from off the shelf parts to their proprietary Microarchitecture PS2 system. It would do well for these business honchos to study business history before making those executive decisions.