If you're looking for the best Sony flashgun, I've got them all right in this guide. My hand-picked list includes the latest and greatest Sony strobes for professionals, as well as small and portable flash units designed for intermediate photographers and those on a budget. Whatever your needs, there should be a great Sony-fit flashgun here for you.
As they can deliver a quick, powerful burst of illumination to any shooting situation, flashguns are the perfect way to freeze action, light up a dark interior, smooth out the shadows of a portrait, and do much more besides. If you're serious about photography, learning how to control flash is essential – you can check out our guide on how to use flash for your photography if you need a hand getting started.
I've based my list around Sony's own flash units designed specifically for its Alpha mirrorless cameras. If you're looking for more general options, our list of the best flashguns includes plenty of options for Sony as well as other manufacturers.
Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is DCW's foremost flashgun tester, and brings his expertise to recommending the best Sony-compatible flash units.
The quick list
The Sony HVL-F46RMA offers a tremendous balance of power, performance, and price for amateurs, enthusiasts, and pros alike. It features RF master/slave, as well as infrared.
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This smaller flashgun is perfectly suited to the more compact range of Sony cameras with APS-C sensors. It can make use of face-detection for perfect portraits.
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The top dog of the Sony flash world, offering super-fast recycle speeds and advanced camera communication. Though it's not that much more powerful than the HVL-F46RMA...
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Best Sony flashguns
Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
Best Sony flashgun overall
A properly grown-up flashgun, the HVL-F46RMA is a new and improved version of the HVL-F46RM. It runs on four AA batteries and packs some seriously high-end features such as an LED light to assist with focus in dark environments, which can also be useful for close-range stills. Another advantage of the LED lamp is that the flash light could be used to shoot movies
There’s certainly no shortage of power from the main flash tube, which has a Gn 46 rating and a motorized zoom range of 24-105mm, plus a generous -8 to 150 degrees of bounce and full 180-degree swivel to both the left and right. Another enhancement over the lower-end Sony flashguns is that this one features RF (Radio Frequency) wireless master and slave functions as well as infrared. The RF mode boosts the connectivity range from five to 30 meters, and doesn’t require direct ‘line of sight’ between master and slave flashguns.
Best Sony flashgun for small cameras
A minor update over the Sony HVL-F28RM, the HVL-F28RMA is a light and nippy flashgun that nonetheless packs in the latest features and functionality. Top of the headline specs is its ability to work with a camera's face detection for perfectly balanced portraits, balancing its light output with the ambient lighting of a scene. Another handy feature is the extensive weather-sealing, which allows it to be used in all conditions, for location shoots outdoors.
It's a fairly light flashgun, and while it will work perfectly well on a full-frame Sony mirrorless camera, it's a perfect fit for those with smaller APS-C sensors. It's smaller and lighter than the HVL-F46RMA, though not quite as comprehensively specced, so weigh up the two before deciding which is right for you.
Best professional Sony flashgun
If you want to come all flashguns blazing, the HVL-60RM2 is a real quick-shooter. With a mighty Gn 60 power scale, it can fire off more than 240 flashes with a 1.7-second recycle time while running off a set of four standard batteries. Add the optional FA-EBA1 external flash battery adapter, and you can get those recycle times down to just 0.6 seconds.
Just as you’d expect from a range-topping flashgun, it’s not short on features either. There’s a monster 20-200mm zoom range (full-frame) and a -8 to 150-degree bounce facility. However, the unconventional swivel mechanism is less generous, limiting movement to just 90 degrees to the left and right.
Like in the HVL-F46RMA, there’s both infrared and RF (Radio Frequency) connectivity, enabling master and slave linking for up to five and 30 meters respectively. An advanced hotshoe with extra contact points also enables an advanced level of communication with the newer of Sony's Alpha camera bodies.
How to choose the best Sony flashgun
Which of Sony's flashguns you choose will depend on what you need! Sony's naming scheme for its flashguns uses the Guide Number as part of the name, so the Sony HVL-F46RMA, for instance, has a Guide Number of 46. Guide Number essentially refers to a flash unit's power (for a more detailed explanation, see the FAQs section below).
Greater flash power is not only useful for firing at your subject, but also means a flash is more effective at being diffused or bounced off another surface, which generally opens up your options and makes a flashgun more useful for portraiture, where harsh light on a subject's face is undesirable. Some of the less expensive flashes have only rudimentary bounce mechanisms, while the more sophisticated ones will have heads that can swivel horizontally for maximum versatility.
How we test flashguns
We test the power of flash units that come through our labs by using a Sekonic flash meter, placed at a distance of one metre from the flashgun. We check the range of manual power settings in 1-stop increments, and correlate the figures with the Gn (Guide Number). We double-check results by taking shots of a gray card with the appropriate lens apertures and using the camera’s histogram display in playback mode. If possible, we use flash zoom settings of 24mm, 50mm and 105mm.
We also look at flashguns more holistically, and assess features like battery life, build quality, and portability to give you an overall picture of how useful the product is for photography. We look at any unique features a particular flashgun has, and assess how well they work in the real world – not just the labs.
Further information on how we test photographic equipment.
Sony flashguns: frequently asked questions
What does 'guide number' mean on a flashgun?
Guide Number (Gn) basically represents the maximum power output of a flashgun, and is expressed in metres (or feet) at the sensitivity setting of ISO100. To work out the effective range you're working with, divide the Gn by the aperture you're using – so, if you're using a Gn 60 power output and shooting at f/4, you'll have an effective reach of 15m. The higher the Gn, the more powerful a flash you're working with – but this also tends to mean a more costly unit.
What does zoom mean on a flash
When people say that a flash can "zoom", they mean you can boost your power by changing the effective focal length of a flash so that it only illuminates the part of the scene you want the light on. You'll find that the cheaper flashes offer very basic functionality in this regard. More expensive flashguns, however, will have motorised zoom mechanisms that can interface with a zoom lens and adjust according to the zoom setting. The HVL-F60RM2, currently top of the range, has a class-leading 20-200mm motorized zoom function.
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