I apologise opening an old thread but I've recently re-acquired a XA which this time came with a more powerful A16 flash instead of the puny A11 I had before and never bothered to use. I'd be glad to hear of your own experiences of using A16 particularly with other XA models. There are three other flash models (A9, A11, A1L) for XA cameras but I'm not interested of these flashes at the moment. I don't have a manual for the A16 flash and my XA manual covers only the A11 flash so I'm on my own here. The information described here is collected from various sources or simply found out with trial and error. Better take it with a pinch of salt before you try it by yourself.
Let's start from basic A16 specs. The GN (guide number) for the A16 is surprisingly 16 for ASA100 in meters and the equivalent GN number in feet is 53. I'll use meters from now on but that shouldn't be a show stopper for anyone who's interested in the subject. Flash modes available for A16 are automatic (thyristor) and manual mode "Full". Available ASA's for automatic mode are 100 and 400. The mode switch is really tiny at the left side of the flash front. I didn't find it first. The automatic flash mode defaults at f/4 and the shutter speed is 1/30s. The maximum working distance for automatic flash mode is 4 meters for ASA100 and 8 meters for ASA400.
1) Normal flash and quick fill flash use
Use 100 or 400 ASA film. Set the flash to "100" or "400" ASA according to the film used. Use the Auto flash mode by activating the flash using the aperture lever. The flash indicator pops up. Remember that the aperture fefaults at f/4 when in flash position. Shoot away. Note that the camera will use fixed 1/30s shutter speed so don't drink too much espresso before your flash session. If you want to use fill flash just return the aperture level down to f/5.6 for one stop fill and f/8 for two stops fill.
2) Manual flash
The manual flash mode is activated when you switch the flash mode lever to "Full". The flash will give a full blast every time the shutter is triggered.
The manual flash is useful when the photographer wants to use smaller apertures than f/4 or a faster shutter speed than 1/30s. XA's lens is at its best stopped down so there is a good reason to use the manual flash mode. Note that in manual mode XA does not fix the shutter speed to 1/30s but meters in a normal no-flash way. You'll see the shutter speed in the viewfinder as usual. I don't know what is the sync speed limit for XA's shutter but for the sake of convenience I assume there isn't any (if someone has information about the sync speed please let us know). You can use any shutter speed within the normal limits. We need to know the relation between the estimated distance to our target and the aperture we need to set for the XA. I have prepared a small table for apertures and target distances:
Film: ISO 100 - ISO 400
Aperture and Distance
f/22 ------ 0.7M - 1.5M
f/16 ------- 1M - 2M
f/11 -------1.4M - 3M
f/8 -------- 2M - 4M
f/5.6 ------ 3M - 6M
f/4 -------- 4M - 8M
f/2.8 ------ 6M - 11M
Auto: 4M max, 8M max
The table is handy taped in the back of the flash. For example if you are shooting with 400 speed film and your target is approximately 3 meters away you should switch to f/11. If you want a one stop fill flash you can use f/16 instead. Keep an eye on the shutter speed that it stays within an acceptable range. The manual flash is not to be used in very low light situations because shutter speed will become too long. In low light use the normal flash method described above.
