Published: October 2, 2017
I’ve tested and can confirm that Sony a9 camera firmware update 1.10 adds TTL and HSS support for Profoto Air Remote TTL-S for Sony with Profoto B1, Profoto B1X, Profoto B2 & Profoto D2 flashes at shutter speeds up to 1/8000th of a second. Click the link below to update.
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34 thoughts on “Sony a9 Firmware Update 1.10 adds Profoto Air Remote TTL & HSS Support”
Hello Brian,
my TTL-S is version A3, my ILCE-9 updated to ver. 1.10… when I press “test” from the sony commander it pops a flash. when I goto shoot – nothing happens. Was testing this camera a few days ago before 1.10 update using a B1 and things like pushing “play” triggered the flash. Now, I have everything up to date and can’t get this a9/b1 team to fire a flash and capture a photo. Ive set my shutter type to auto or mechanical but curious if any other internal settings on the A9 need to be tweaked that I may be missing? I used same b1 and triggered it no problem from my canon 1ds and canon commander. I know you’re not technical support but you’ve posted you have it working. So was curious if you wanted to share any tips to make this beast operational. There is not a ton of posts out there regarding this issue and so far you’re the only search Im finding that says its works! Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, – Ben Pieper
Set a9 Flash Mode to Wireless.
You the man!!! thank you
Thank you !!!!!!
Im on this page for the very same reason. My test button works but no luck actually shooting. I switched to mechanical shutter and still no luck. my gear is up to date but the a9 won’t work with my profoto remote. oddly enough the remote is missing a middle button that is found on the Nikon and canon remote. It is the button in the middle between Mode and Channel.
Select “Wireless” as the camera’s Flash Mode.
I have same setup and I think Mel’s question was how to set the Sony air remote to HSS function? Which is my question 🙂
Holy crap!!!! How many times do I need to tell you people to set Flash Mode to “Wireless”!!! Once you do that and pick a shutter speed of 1/320 or higher -you’re in HSS. Really simple shit! Follow the effen directions!!!
So when does the front curtain shutter needs to be turned off? Only in high speed sync or always when shooting strobes? Does bending happen otherwise when shooting with B1 or D2?
EFS can be on, but a9 must be set for Mechanical Shutter – not Electronic Shutter (which is NOT the same as EFS)
Brian, I have been using the air remote with the a9 a and Profoto B1 but as long as the remote is on the hotshoe, no matter how how I set the exposure, the live view preview remains always constant. Is there a way to set the camera where I can see my ambient exposure changes as I open or close my aperture, before I adjust the strobes? Otherwise the only way out of this is to turn the air remote off, set ambient light and then turn it back on.
Nope. It’s done that way intentionally so that you don’t get a black EVF/LCD when shooting in a dark studio at 1/250th F11.
ok thanks.
Have you ever heard of an issue that once you do the Sony a9 3.01 that your camera will no longer fire a high frame rate? I reset the camera, have the wireless flash turned on; and when in H I expect the camera to shoot more than one frame and it won’t- it used to before (with my flash) and now its only shooting 1 a few seconds later another. Any advice?
When you say it “will not shoot at a high frame rate when my remote is attached” – make certain you’re set to Mechanical Shutter at 5 FPS or less. Flash is not compatible with Electronic Silent Shutter. Mechanical shutter max is 5 FPS of Sony a9.
Finally, make certain Profoto TTL-S Firmware is up to date.
Yes, I have it on mechanical shutter. It is basically shooting 1 FPS even when on AF-c and it does not matter if I am in L, M or H it will only do like 1 a second with a trigger attached. it would do the 5 before. I don’t see where to set it to 5 fps in the menu systems, I check my manual and didn’t see it.
Shooting Mode > Cont. Lo
Make certain any multi-modes like Auto HDR/DRO are turned OFF. Also shutter speed must be at least 1/125 for 5 FPS. Finally, TTL will cause delay in capture. Once exposure is set change trigger to M to lock in that exposure.
I shoot it in M, auto dro is now off . I don’t have a menu for shoot mode. I change it on the dial. The SS is above 125 (it’s actually 200) . It definitely shot faster than this before the firmware upgrade. Before I could shoot a dress falling and get everything now with auto dro it seems to have helped, but it’s WAY slower not what I was getting before. I guess I will have to live with it if you are saying it can only shoot 5 FPS with flash. Thanks for your help.
That’s always been the case with a9. Flash is only compatible with mechanical shutter and 5 FPS is max speed for mechanical shutter on a9 (a7 III & a7R III mechanical shutter is 10 FPS – but a9 has always been 5 FPS max)
Not sure the luck I had them because it 100% shot closer to 10 FPS not this 5fps before the firmware. I shot with another person today and they even asked me what was wrong with my camera as they noticed it was way slower. Something with the incompatibility error I got before must of been making it work not sure how. Now I wish I could go back to it before the upgrade, the error message I always got was just annoying not limiting.
Nope. Max FPS with flash on a9 has ALWAYS been 5 FPS since pre-release.
That’s a hardware limitation of the a9 shutter that cannot be changed by firmware.
Nothing higher is possible though it might have “seemed” faster. It wasn’t.
Sony a9 Specs
Hi Brian, I’m having a problem with my Sony A9 and this Profoto trigger. It can fire all of my strobes in manual mode. No problem there, but I cannot make it fire as TTL. It will fire each strobe fine, but not adjusting for TTL. Just firing as if manual only. Everything completely updated. Camera, trigger and all strobes (B10, B2, A1) I’ve searched the internet high and low, and cannot find anything about this. Am I missing something?
Are you using Profoto Air Remote TTL-S for Sony?
If you’ve using the Canon or Nikon version – that’s exactly what will happen.
But what about the B10? Or B2?
I am using the Profoto Air TTL-s trigger for Sony.
They all work in TTL with current firmware with the TTL-S trigger. You do have mechanical shutter and wireless flash options selected, right?
Yes. I have wireless flash set and mechanical shutter. Nothing will fire in electronic shutter which makes sense and was an easy beginning to trouble shooting. I just can’t work out why the camera is unable to use TTL. I’m thinking of ordering another profoto trigger just to eliminate product error. It seems off that none of my profoto lights will engage. I wish I had another Sony body to test it with too. I was holding off on expanding the Sony collection until I’d sorted out this whole thing. Got a few 5D mark IV to trade in but wanted to get strobes and flash sorted first
I have no issues with TTL with any of the current generation Sony bodies and any Profoto A or B series flashes.
It REALLY sound like you have a TTL-C or TTL-N trigger instead of TTL-S as that is EXACTLY how those would work.
If you’ve been trying to control TTL on multiple flashes – try triggering one single light at a time with TTL selected on the trigger. If that works add each flash on a separate group.
One more question. What shooting mode are you in?
TTL will ONLY work in Manual or Aperture Priority Shooting Modes and not with Auto ISO
Oh man, I thought this was the solution for a moment, as I do shoot with Auto ISO quite a lot, but unfortunately It still isn’t firing at fixed ISO. Everything else is manual set. Checked the underneath of the trigger, its definitely marked as SONY. When it is mounted to the A9, it doesn’t say what sync it is. That screen is left blank, which is strange as on my Canon it says 1st curtain or HSS depending. Thanks so much for all your help. I’ll be trying a new trigger from Profoto and if that doesn’t work, then seeing if it’s my A9 body.
That sounds like you don’t have the Air Remote TTL-S pushed in all the way. Unlike Canon – the contact pins are in the front of the shoe so if the remote isn’t properly seated the panel will not light up.
You threw me off when you said it fired in manual since manual settings won’t work that way either.
I have been mounting it all the way on the hotshoe, but when you said it might not all the way I thought I should try and add some pressure to the trigger and see if that engages the sync. It does, but when pressure is released it disengages again. So thats the problem… now I need to see if thats an issue with the trigger or the camera. Theres no way of pushing it any further into the hotshoe…. Thanks again for all your help!
Check to see if one of the pins on the Air Remote is bent or in any debris has collected in the front of the MI Shoe. Either would prevent normal contact.
Just a quick update, in case anyone else experiences this. I got a new Profoto Air TTL-S trigger and it worked perfectly out of the box. I had phone into a store to test the trigger and theirs had a similar problem, but this one that just arrived worked perfectly. Engaged TTL straight away. Thanks for all your help Brian!