Joanne Maly: Sony Unveils the HVL-F60RM Flagship Flash with Guide Number 60

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Sony Unveils the HVL-F60RM Flagship Flash with Guide Number 60

Sony just announced HVL-F60RM, the company’s new flagship flash with guide number 60. It’s a flash that “combines continuous flash performance with advanced operability and wireless control,” Sony says.

The HVL-F60RM covers illumination angles from 20mm (down to 14mm with the wide panel) up to 200mm with “uniform wide-range zoom coverage without shading.” The unit can fire off 220 flashes with a single charge of the Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, and the recycle time between flashes has been dropped to 1.7 seconds (down from 3.5 seconds). Attach the new Sony FA-EBA1 External Battery Adapter and the recycle time is further reduced to 0.6 seconds.

The flash succeeds the HVL-F60M and is up to 4 times more resistant to heat than that predecessor thanks to new algorithms and heat-resistant materials.

Quick Shift Bounce on the flash lets you switch the lens from horizontal to vertical orientation (90 degrees left/right, 150 degrees upward, and 8 degrees downward).

The flash’s functions can be assigned to the four-way controller, center button, and control wheel to put your desired adjustments at your fingertips. In manual mode, the flash can memorize and recall TTL flash output.

Wireless radio communication in the HVL-F60RM is non-directional and allows the flash to be placed anywhere within 98 feet (30 meters) of the camera. The HVL-F60RM mounted on a camera can be paired as a transmitter with up to 15 flashes assigned to 5 groups as receivers.

Other features include independent output level (-/+) buttons, a comprehensive display, a dust and moisture resistant design, an LED light and AF illuminator, and a durable redesigned metal foot.