Posted by Larry Fischer on September 22, 2008 at 12:27 PM
I usually shoot sunset, sunrises.
A friend ask me to shoot his wife and himself.
The day was partly cloudy with heave humidity, i.e. high contrast between foliage, subjects and sky. I used a fill-in flash with the on-board flash.
The problem I had was indoors. After shooting outdoors, the flash was slow to respond and I could tell the shutter was very slow. I looked for adjustments but an not familiar with flash enough to have made corrections.
I guess I'll set the camera back to default.
Now the flash is 1/250 and the shutter 1/60 on the settings but much slower in acuallity leading for overexposure and movement?
I'll read my instructions for the D300 tonight but does any Nikon owner have quick observation before then? This is the built-in flash; not an SB-type...
I need to know what camera settings you were using before I can speculate.
Posted by Larry Fischer on September 22, 2008 at 2:52 PM
ISO = 200
White Value = Auto
Quality = Large, Hi Res JPEG
Shutter and Aperature = Auto
Flash: sync @ 1/250 and Shutter 60th (when built-in flash is lifted)
Focus = auto
Servo = single
I used the flash early in the day indoors and it worked fine. I used it outdoors for fill-in.
Then indoors, I would press the shutter release and it would take a long time for the sensor light to come on and the unit to operate. When it did the shutter went "clllluuuuunnnnccckk" and the photo was overexposed. I figure I need to reboot the bank settings by going to default and reloading my settings.
I'm betting that the root of the problem is in the ISO 200 setting and having the camera on auto. It also may have been searching for a focus before allowing the shot, depending on the background in the lower light. Judging by the slow shuuter speed I'm guessing the camera was exposing for ambient light, and somehow the strobe was kicking in way too much light on top of that.
Our stunt indoors is to select an ISO which allows us to shoot at a comfortable shutter speed with the right aperture for the DOF requirements. Then we either manually set the shutter & apperture for those readings or simply set the camera for S, A, or P depending on the specifics of the location. After all that we dial in a - (minus) setting on the strobe ranging anywhere from -1 to -2, depending on the amount of fill we want.
Background is a big factor indoors when you are shooting on any program setting rather than manual. If the subject is large in the frame it's tonality can also affect your settings when shooting auto. If there's a big window behind your subject so ambient outdoor light can fool your camera (a check of the LCD will confirm that's going on), we will dial as much as a +3 into the camera itself without changing the minus setting on the strobe. If the subjects are standing in front of a white wall, we'll dial something on the order of a +2 into the camera, again depending on what we're seeing on the LCD and histogram. This also applies to a closeup of a bride in a white dress with lots of dress in the frame.
All that goes topsy turvey with something large and black filling the frame such as a groom in a black tuxedo. You have to dial a -2 or so into the camera to keep it from trying to turn that tuxedo gray. Interestingly, if both bride and groom are in the photo, it usually works best to have no (0) compensation in the camera because the black and white average out, even as you maintain the -1 to -2 in your strobe settings for suitable fill.
Is that too much info, or does it help make sense of what appears to be going on?
Posted by Larry Fischer on September 23, 2008 at 8:14 AM
OK, here's the scoop, esp. for Nikon users. Nothing like reading instructions. Mine were at home and I was at work loading my photos when I saw the problem. Not sure about all Nikons but the D300 has 6 flash modes. They are accessed by pushing the flash pop-up button and then spinning the command wheel while holding down the button. One is "slow sync" and that's where I was. I have not used flash much and this was a learning experience. These new cameras are nothing but mini-computers and one simply has to read and use to command it rather than it commanding you. Thanks to Hank for his reply. Hopes this infor helps other Nikon users. the fisch
Hadn't even considered slow sink as a possibility, Larry. But it makes perfect sense.
Posted by Dave Gill on September 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I use flash with a Nikon D3 and D300 often. My preference is for off camera directional lighting so I rarely use the D300's built in flash except in commander mode. I much prefer using Manual, Aperture, or Shutter preferred modes (in that order) for the greater control that they give. Program mode just gives the camera too many opportunities to pick something that doesn't give the DOF desired or picks a shutter speed that isn't optimal.
The different flash modes can be useful, but can cause havoc if you haven't selected the right one. I was shooting some folks playing pool and got some interesting effects using rear curtain sync and 1/8 second shutter speeds, but if you weren't expecting the flash to fire at the end of the exposure it sure could lead to some unexpected results.
Hank's summary is on the money in my book. Another good source of info on flash shooting is the Strobist blog at http://strobist.blogspot.com.
Posted by Larry Fischer on September 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Thanks for the info Dave. Yes, Hank does have some good stuff. I don't have a strobe. I guess that should be one of my priorities. I've seen some nice outdoor photos using fill-in with strobe. The SB-800, I think, has received good reviews even with one above it of recent times. Does the SB-800 etc. have several shooting modes, also?
Posted by Alex Lofquist on September 26, 2008 at 1:03 AM
One solution for a slow sink (sic) is a "plumbers friend"..
Posted by Brent Murphy on October 2, 2008 at 3:36 PM
Glad you found the solution to your problem. Funny story....
I was at a get-together this weekend, and a friend came by with her point-and-shoot. She was having problems and needed some advice (I'm usually the one people come to with camera questions these days). Many, but not all, of her photos were coming out blurry, and she wanted to see if I could figure out why. It's an old P&S, so it didn't have many options. I thought maybe the flash wasn't firing, but that wasn't the case, and the photos all seemed properly exposed. I even thought maybe the fingerprint on the lens was causing a problem, but cleaning it didn't help. Eventually, I noticed the little "S" with the lightning bolt next to it in the corner of the LCD. Aha! Slow-sync flash!!! Once I found out how to set it back to "auto", everything was fine.
If you somehow accidentally manage to set it to slow-sync, it's definitely not the first thing you think of.
I have a similar problem, when I set my D300 pop-up flash to Commander mode. It fires pre-flashes to trigger an off-camera flash, but not enough the light the scene. So, if I forget to reset the flash mode to normal, the flash goes off, but it takes me a while to figure out why my photos aren't exposed properly. I've had to get attuned to the little "buzz" sound of the trigger flashes, and it reminds me that the flash is set incorrectly.
Discussion
9 repliesA friend ask me to shoot his wife and himself.
The day was partly cloudy with heave humidity, i.e. high contrast between foliage, subjects and sky. I used a fill-in flash with the on-board flash.
The problem I had was indoors. After shooting outdoors, the flash was slow to respond and I could tell the shutter was very slow. I looked for adjustments but an not familiar with flash enough to have made corrections.
I guess I'll set the camera back to default.
Now the flash is 1/250 and the shutter 1/60 on the settings but much slower in acuallity leading for overexposure and movement?
I'll read my instructions for the D300 tonight but does any Nikon owner have quick observation before then? This is the built-in flash; not an SB-type...
I need to know what camera settings you were using before I can speculate.
White Value = Auto
Quality = Large, Hi Res JPEG
Shutter and Aperature = Auto
Flash: sync @ 1/250 and Shutter 60th (when built-in flash is lifted)
Focus = auto
Servo = single
I used the flash early in the day indoors and it worked fine. I used it outdoors for fill-in.
Then indoors, I would press the shutter release and it would take a long time for the sensor light to come on and the unit to operate. When it did the shutter went "clllluuuuunnnnccckk" and the photo was overexposed. I figure I need to reboot the bank settings by going to default and reloading my settings.
Whatchu thunk? the fisch
Our stunt indoors is to select an ISO which allows us to shoot at a comfortable shutter speed with the right aperture for the DOF requirements. Then we either manually set the shutter & apperture for those readings or simply set the camera for S, A, or P depending on the specifics of the location. After all that we dial in a - (minus) setting on the strobe ranging anywhere from -1 to -2, depending on the amount of fill we want.
Background is a big factor indoors when you are shooting on any program setting rather than manual. If the subject is large in the frame it's tonality can also affect your settings when shooting auto. If there's a big window behind your subject so ambient outdoor light can fool your camera (a check of the LCD will confirm that's going on), we will dial as much as a +3 into the camera itself without changing the minus setting on the strobe. If the subjects are standing in front of a white wall, we'll dial something on the order of a +2 into the camera, again depending on what we're seeing on the LCD and histogram. This also applies to a closeup of a bride in a white dress with lots of dress in the frame.
All that goes topsy turvey with something large and black filling the frame such as a groom in a black tuxedo. You have to dial a -2 or so into the camera to keep it from trying to turn that tuxedo gray. Interestingly, if both bride and groom are in the photo, it usually works best to have no (0) compensation in the camera because the black and white average out, even as you maintain the -1 to -2 in your strobe settings for suitable fill.
Is that too much info, or does it help make sense of what appears to be going on?
The different flash modes can be useful, but can cause havoc if you haven't selected the right one. I was shooting some folks playing pool and got some interesting effects using rear curtain sync and 1/8 second shutter speeds, but if you weren't expecting the flash to fire at the end of the exposure it sure could lead to some unexpected results.
Hank's summary is on the money in my book. Another good source of info on flash shooting is the Strobist blog at http://strobist.blogspot.com.
I was at a get-together this weekend, and a friend came by with her point-and-shoot. She was having problems and needed some advice (I'm usually the one people come to with camera questions these days). Many, but not all, of her photos were coming out blurry, and she wanted to see if I could figure out why. It's an old P&S, so it didn't have many options. I thought maybe the flash wasn't firing, but that wasn't the case, and the photos all seemed properly exposed. I even thought maybe the fingerprint on the lens was causing a problem, but cleaning it didn't help. Eventually, I noticed the little "S" with the lightning bolt next to it in the corner of the LCD. Aha! Slow-sync flash!!! Once I found out how to set it back to "auto", everything was fine.
If you somehow accidentally manage to set it to slow-sync, it's definitely not the first thing you think of.
I have a similar problem, when I set my D300 pop-up flash to Commander mode. It fires pre-flashes to trigger an off-camera flash, but not enough the light the scene. So, if I forget to reset the flash mode to normal, the flash goes off, but it takes me a while to figure out why my photos aren't exposed properly. I've had to get attuned to the little "buzz" sound of the trigger flashes, and it reminds me that the flash is set incorrectly.