External flashes on Nex cameras

[chaser]

I am wondering what experience you all have had with nex flash system. I had Nex-3 and the lack of a hot shoe or sync plug drove me craze. Looking around the net I have seen posts from people using wireless triggers connected to optical triggers to rig up flash sync.
Like this
Wireless flash trigger for Sony NEX | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Anyway, I am just curious what your experiences were. I am on the fence between the Nex-7 and 5N, and I definitely like the 5n sensor and price, but the convenience of a real hotshoe is a definite plus for the 7.

 

[teshi]

Optical flash - still a no no for me. When I go off camera, I just want off camera so im looking at the 7 and run a chord or proper RF triggers! So much more options available to really contend with the majority of work I plan to do.

So far the NEX-5 is holding up very well and finding it hard to justify going for the 5n (same would apply if I had the NEX-3) so the 7 just makes more sense IMO.

 

[Henry Peach]

I don't think I can go back to optical flash triggers. If anyone spots a 3' flash cord that would work for the NEX-3 please let me know. I just want to be able to get the flash off camera a bit. Nothing tricky, just held out to the side. I'd be willing to buy an extra NEX flash to disassemble to see if I could make my own, but I think that I'd also need a NEX-3 camera body to get the other end of the cord from.

 

[chaser]

Even just an off camera cord would be nice. Although I would still hate to have to wait for the nex flash to recharge between shots. Hopefully the Nex 7 signals that they will keep putting hot shoes on at least their flagship cameras.

 

[robertro]

This has been an achilles heel of the NEX-3 and 5.

I suspect that the odd fellow who designed the old Minolta proprietary flashes was given the job of designing the Sony flash interfaces.

Does the 7 have a real standard hot shoe or cable connection or does it just connect to more Sony stuff?

 

[chaser]

It looks to have the full sized sony hot shoe. Not as good as a regular shoe, but it'll do the trick.

 

[JJJPhoto]

The proprietary Sony/Minolta hot shoe can be converted to a standard hot shoe with an adapter (either the $100 one that Sony sells or a $20 one on Amazon). This will be helpful for connecting studio strobes, standard flashes, and wireless radio triggers to the NEX-7.

 

[jfazer]

That's the only thing I don't like of the Nex5... If it would be able to handle external flashes, it would be perfect and probably I would sell my canon camera...

Greetings...