Congratulations Alex Vincent, March 2024 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Kitchen". Alex Vincent - #906 Yvonne Raaijmakers - #909 Peter Wingfield - #902 Here's what Alex has to say: Thank you for the award of Photographer of th ...
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The Sony A7II ensures quality resolution and high ISO performance. However, it doesn't have a built-in flash, which may ruin the exposure of your real estate photos. For that, I'm giving you options for the best flash for Sony A7II, including tips on how to choose the right one for your shooting style.
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The best flash for the Sony A7 Mark II must have manual control, powerful light output, and fast recharge rate, and you can find all of these features in the Godox V850II Speedlight .
Aside from my top pick, I also included other flash options that may suit different shooting needs and preferences.
While the Sony A7II is highly in-demand among real estate photographers because of its high-quality sensor, it does struggle a bit with the autofocus system. This is why it needs a full-powered flash like the Godox V850II Speedlight to provide enough illumination and help the camera focus better.
The Sony A7II features in-camera stabilization, which helps you take sharp images even at fast shutter speeds. Its sensor moves to correct accidental camera movements during varying exposure. You can further stabilize this feature by using the different strobing intensities of the Godox V850II.
For the most part, the Sony A7II creates pleasant yet vibrant colors. However, this can be tricky when you're shooting in spaces with light fixtures of varying intensities. You can adjust the flash's power output to add more warmth or fill in shadows in such cases.
Unlike other flashes, the Godox V850II comes with a generous wireless grouping system, enabling you to work on 32 channels and control all of them simultaneously within a 100mm distance. In effect, you can shoot in vast spaces without struggling to determine where to position the Sony A7II.
Since the flash doesn't support TTL autoflash, this is ideal for manual flash mode. In this way, you can modify the exposure compensation that would complement the settings of the Sony A7II.
If you prefer a low-profile flash with a decent light output for the Sony A7II, the Meike 320S Mini Speedlite has the features and intuitive controls you would need to speed up your lighting systems.
You may notice that the body of the A7II is physically larger than the original A7 series cameras. While still more compact than the full-frame DSLRs, the A7II feels roughly 25% heavier than other Sony Alpha cameras.
This is why the small and lightweight design of the Meike 320S complements the size of the A7II, providing you with a proportionate camera and flash system. You wouldn't feel as if the flash would break off the hot shoe and detach itself from the camera body.
The Sony A7II's autofocus system works great when shooting in normal daylight conditions. While it is fast and accurate in most situations, it struggles to keep up with moving subjects.
Even if the power output of the Meike 320S can't compete with the full-size flashes like the Godox V850II, it does provide enough illumination, especially for a fair price.
Despite that, the flash's TTL and manual functions are equally beneficial. With a recycle time of 0.5 to 1 second, the flash can quickly cover a beam angle of up to 24mm.
Packing in quite a bunch of features in a tiny device, the Neewer NW320 Mini Speedlite is my top pick as the most affordable yet quality flash for the Sony A7II.
The Sony A7II does a superb job controlling noise, whether in the lower or moderate sensitivity settings. However, you may notice slight chromatic aberration when using the A7II with a wide-angle lens.
In this case, the flash's manual exposure mode can let you correct ambient exposure by manually adjusting the aperture and shutter speed settings. You can also use a colored gel insert to change the flash color.
Despite the A7II's built-in noise reduction, you may notice some loss of details and colors at extremely high ISO levels. In cases where you're struggling to find the correct exposure, you can rely on the flash's TTL system, which would automatically calculate the necessary amount of light to fire.
As you can see, the Neewer NW320 works great both as a straight and bounce light, although you may still notice some shadows when you're using wide-angle lenses. Additionally, the diffuser tends to cut the output by about 2/4 of a stop. Still, this produces soft yet adequate light.
The downside is that, at 4 seconds, the Neewer NW320 has a slower recharge rate than the Godox V850II and Meike 320S Mini.
There are several flashes compatible with the Sony A7II. While they share some features, it's important that your chosen flash has these aspects. Make sure to check out my guide on the best flash for the Sony A7Rii (the upgraded version of the A7ii).
The guide number or GN measures the power of an external flash. In general, the bigger the guide number, the brighter the light your subject will receive.
The Godox V850II has the best guide number out of all the flashes on the Sony list, bragging a GN of 60m at ISO 100. On the other hand, both the Meike 320S Mini and Neewer NW320 Mini have a guide number of 32m at ISO 100, understandably so because of their small size.
Like when you're managing the perspective of a lens, you can also control the zoom range of the flash. In effect, you can avoid putting out light to parts of the frame that don't need extra illumination.
Particularly when you're shooting wide for real estate or landscapes, you may notice that the light spreads out to the corners. Meanwhile, a telephoto lens would redirect the light in a narrower part of the photo.
The same goes when firing a flash. Out of the three flashes on this list, only the Godox V850II has an adjustable zoom range of 20 to 200mm.
A flash needs to take a quick recharge before firing again. This is why it's essential that you check a flash's recycle rate because this indicates how fast the flash is ready to shoot again.
If your subjects are usually fast-moving, you need a flash with a fast recharge rate of up to 1.5 seconds, just like in the Godox V850II and Meike 320S Mini.
Meanwhile, if your subjects are mostly stationary, like landscape, architecture, and real estate, even the slower 4-second rate of the Neewer NW320 Mini would work well for you.
If you prefer having complete control over your exposure settings, it's crucial that your desired flash allows manual control. All of the external flashes here on this list offer flexible manual control, letting you program varying intensities and color temperature to match the Sony A7II's settings.
Through The Lens Metering or TTL is an automatic mode for external flashes. While this mode isn't applicable in the Godox V850II, you can try it on either the Meike 320S Mini or Neewer NW320 Mini.
The amazing thing about external flashes is that they fire two flashes: a pre-flash and the main flash. When you're pressing the shutter release, the flash produces a pre-flash and sends that information back to the Sony A7II.
In microseconds, the camera would process that data and fire again to take the photo. This is a helpful feature when you don't have enough time to change flash settings.
Finally, a rotating head is among the things that differentiate it from a built-in camera flash. With this feature, you can tilt the head upwards or downwards, as well as swivel from right to left. Thus, you gain better control of the direction of the flash's direction.
External flashes give you more control over the lighting and exposure of your real estate photos. Whether you need to soften shadows or brighten far-away subjects, you can choose any of the flashes mentioned above to create beautiful, quality images your clients will love.
