Sony NEX-F3 Flash

Coverage and Range
Limited flash range, with narrow, uneven coverage at wide-angle. Our standard indoor portrait shot required average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage was quite narrow and uneven at wide-angle (18mm), leaving very dark corners and a slightly darker band across the center in our flash coverage test image. Narrow coverage at wide-angle isn't unusual, though, as manufacturers look to increase range by concentrating the light. Coverage was much more uniform at telephoto (55mm).

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene was bright with +0.7 EV flash exposure compensation which is the average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene, though the camera's Auto white balance rendered the scene too warm here. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced very bright results with no flash exposure compensation, though with a stronger orange cast from the room lighting.

ISO 200 Range. With the 18-55mm kit lens, flash exposures started out bright at 6 feet at wide-angle and actually increased in brightness before decreasing, peaking in brightness at 8 feet. Flash shots remained fairly bright to about 11 feet, where they continued to decrease gradually as distance increased. At full telephoto, flash exposures started out very bright at 6 feet and decreased in brightness from then on, though 7 feet was still reasonably bright.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Sony NEX-F3's built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 6m or 19.77 feet at ISO 100. That works out to about 7.9 feet at f/3.5 and 5.80 feet at f/5.6 and ISO 200, the maximum apertures of the kit zoom lens. In the test shots above, the NEX-F3 performs as Sony says it will, producing bright flash exposures at the rated distances with ISO set to 200.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.