The red in redeye is the observation of light reflected off of the mass of blood vessels that are part of the retina of the human eye. All electronic flashes will produce redeye. That’s because a flash is much brighter than normal indoor lighting and the human eye pupil is very large indoors. There are two ways to reduce or eliminate the amount of redeye that is recorded in a photograph. The first is to cause the subject’s eye pupil to close down to the size that is normal for daylight conditions. The second and most effective way is to increase the distance between the flash and lens. Increasing the room light or using the redeye reduction feature of a Dynax camera’s built-in flash will cause the subject’s eye pupil to close down. If the subject’s eye pupil reacts and closes down to the proper amount, the reflection from the retina will be significantly blocked by the iris and redeye will be virtually eliminated or greatly reduced. Of course, the effectiveness of this method depends on the sensitivity of the subject’s eye. Using an accessory flash, such as the Minolta 3500xi, 5400HS, 2500(D), 3600HS(D) or 5600HS(D), will provide the added flash-to-lens distance needed to move the lens out of the red-eye circle projected by the subject’s flash-illuminated eye. Studies have shown that the red-eye-safe working distance between the camera and subject can be related directly to the distance between the flash reflector and lens. One study shows this relationship to be approximately 1 to 30. That is, for every inch the flash is moved away from the lens, one can expect approximately 75cm of red-eye-safe, camera-to-subject distance. Most Minolta AF flashes position the flash about 12cm above the lens. Using the 1-to-30 relationship, you can expect red-eye-safe results at camera-to-subject distances up to approximately 3,4m. Further, you can expect to see redeye in pictures of people taken beyond 3,4m. By using the wireless, off-camera capability of the flashes listed above and today’s Dynax cameras, you can move the flash further away from the lens and once again produce good results. Another study has shown that most flash pictures are taken of groups of three to four people standing together. Using this as a guide, you can expect redeye-safe results using a Dynax camera with accessory flash at focal lengths (zoom settings) up to 85mm. That’s because a group this size will comfortably fill the camera’s viewfinder within the 3,4m safe distance. Pictures taken at focal lengths (zoom settings) greater than this, say 105mm, 135m or 200mm, will once again begin to exhibit redeye as the group will be standing beyond 3,4m safe distance. Using wireless off-camera flash technique described in your instruction manual can help to produce even better results. Finally, the growing use of digital cameras has caused the introducion of new print processors which enable making prints from digital medium. These new machines have the capablity of removing redeye as they print. If you experience redeye even using the above techniques, ask your local printer if they can print from digital medium. If they do, ask them to remove the redeye from your pictures during printing.