The Multi Interface Shoe ( MI Shoe or MIS) is a proprietary camera
hotshoe introduced by Sony in 2012, replacing an assortment of other proprietary hotshoes used by Sony in various types of cameras in the past.
Overview
The ''Multi Interface Shoe'' is a proprietary camera hotshoe introduced by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
on 12 September 2012, replacing an assortment of other proprietary hotshoes used by Sony in various types of cameras in the past, including the
Auto-lock Accessory Shoe (aka AAS or "iISO" shoe) introduced by
Minolta
was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated aut ...
in 1988 and used on
Sony α DSLRs,
SLTs and some
NEX cameras, and the
Smart Accessory Terminals types 1 (SAT) and 2 (SAT2) used on the majority of the Sony α
NEX-line. It also replaces Sony's former
Cyber-shot
Cyber-shot is Sony's line of point-and-shoot digital cameras introduced in 1996. Cyber-shot model names use a DSC prefix, which is an initialism for "Digital Still Camera". Many Cyber-shot models feature Carl Zeiss trademarked lenses, while oth ...
hotshoe,
Intelligent Accessory Shoe (IAS) and
Active Interface Shoe
Active may refer to:
Music
* ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea
* Active Records, a record label
Ships
* ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name
* HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Roya ...
(AIS).
At first sight, the Multi Interface Shoe resembles a standard
ISO 518
Canon EOS 350D Hot shoe
Proprietary hot shoe used by Minolta and older Sony cameras (Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D">Sony.html" ;"title="Minolta and older Sony">Minolta and older Sony cameras (Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D)
A hot shoe is a mounting poin ...
hotshoe with middle contact and frame ground and without any vendor-specific extra contacts, but additional electrical contacts are hidden under the front of the hotshoe. Therefore, the hotshoe is mechanically compatible with any ISO 518-based equipment,
and while it does not allow to control third-party flashes, ISO-based flashes can be triggered at least. The hotshoe also features three holes in its metal base in order to support an optional locking mechanism in the flash or other hotshoe device. It does not, however, provide an auto-locking mechanism as on the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe.
Electrically, the Multi Interface Shoe includes all signals of both the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe and the Smart Accessory Terminal 2, thereby allowing passive electromechanical adapters to be used.
For this purpose, Sony provides ADP-MAA (top: Auto-lock, bottom: MIS) and ADP-AMA (top: MIS, bottom: Auto-lock) adapters. Both adapters route through the "F2" and "F3" signals; the Auto-lock hotshoe's "F1" signal is connected to the middle contact of the Multi Interface shoe, not pin 20 ("F1#"), which is left open. MIS pins 7 and 15 ("REG_GND") are internally connected to both sides of the frame as well as to the GND signal of the Auto-lock shoe's side. "MIC_GND" pin 4 is left open.
The ADP-AMA's Auto-lock hotshoe features a switch, which shorts MIS pin 21 ("PGND") to "GND" when the adapter is mounted on a hotshoe without hole (as on a camera, or with ADP-MAA or FS-1200). Otherwise pin 21 is left open in the adapter (indicating wired or remote use). Assuming that pin 21 is tied to PGND in a camera's hotshoe, this allows flashes compatible with the Multi Interface Shoe to detect if they are mounted on the camera or not as it is necessary for ADI to work.
In the ADP-MAA adapter, pins 2 and 3 ("ID2" and "ID1") are directly connected to GND, whereas pin 1 ("ID3") is pulled low via a 470 kΩ resistor.
The first cameras to use the Multi Interface Shoe are the
SLT-A99,
NEX-6,
NEX-VG900,
NEX-VG30,
DSC-RX1 and
DSC-HX50. It is also used on all newer cameras including the
ILCA-series and
ILCE-series. In 2014, the
Hasselblad HV has become the first third-party camera to support the Multi Interface Shoe as well.
In 2013, Sony released a third hotshoe adapter, named ADP-MAC. It allows to mount equipment with Active Interface Shoe onto cameras with Multi Interface Shoe.
The Multi Interface Shoe was integrated into the existing Minolta/Sony TTL flash cable system by the introduction of the flash shoe FA-CS1M (VX9371), a remote hotshoe with four-pin TTL cable port and a Multi Interface Shoe on its top and bottom.
Electronic contacts
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[{{cite web , url=https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00021059 , title=What accessories are compatible with the Multi Interface Shoe Adapter? , publisher=]Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, date=2015-06-03 , access-date=2018-08-05
Sony flashes for Multi Interface Shoe
Sony A-mount cameras
Flash mounts