Equipment problems! Advice needed

Hello!

Last night at a wedding I was shooting the formals I was using a nikon d300, sb800flash, and a stroboframe bracket

and I had two main issues with it.

1) a few times whenever i would try to take the picture, it just would not do it. I would press down the button and it

would not do it.

2) other times when i would try to take the photo and the flash would not go off and I would not get an image on my

screen it would just be dark.

 

I don't know why I had these two issues, first I thought that maybe the flash was not communicating with the camera

because of the bracket cord but I don't think that's what it was because I made sure everything was screwed

down nice and tight and it that was the problem, it probably would not have worked at all right?

I would appreciate any suggestions on these two issues. Thanks.

Patty.

I've had the same problem.

 

Tuy the fflash cord with the sensor bouit in. SOlved my problem. Seeme to be that the focus assist could not get a lock, so it would lot fire the shutter.

<p>The default setting on a Nikon is focus-priority, which means the camera won't take a shot unless focus is

confirmed. While that's great for studios it's not helpful for weddings. You can override it using the custom settings

menu to use release-priority instead - and then it will take a shot without confirming focus. See the manual - read

section on custom settings. (Changing this setting is often the first thing many Nikon owners do ...)</p>

 

<p>In respect of flash, you need to check what shutter speed you're using. If it's faster than flash-synch (1/250) then the flash

won't fire, even if you've got it turned on. This will happen if you're using AV mode in bright light. So use manual

exposure rather than AV and make sure shutter speed is not higher than synch speed.</p>

 

<p>Alternatively read up on custom settings again, and select the custom setting 'Auto FP High Speed Synch'. This will make the

camera give you flash synch at all speeds by switching to HSS at speeds above 1/250.</p>

AF was looking for a lock would be the most likely reason for no shutter release, IMO.

 

As for the dark shots, that sounds like your flash did not fire. I would say that your communication between flash and body is intermittent. In that case it probably is your cord.

I would recommend leaving FP High Speed Synch on all the time.

 

Using AF-C also seems to solve focus lock problems- on my D80 using AF-S I will sometimes see the camera focus but not lock.

 

If you aren't comfortable changing focus points you will benefit from practicing it because you will probably need to use it with AF-C.

 

Frankly, I think current Nikon autofocus is not as good as the old AF in some situations.

Steve make's a good point. AF, IMO, should be disabled during any shooting from a tripod, using a remote.

 

I switch to M by the lens mount as soon as my camera hits the QR plate. It has become second nature to set it that way for me. If are concerned about your focus being "on" target, you can use the AF-on button on the back as you manual focus. What that does is provide you with a dot which tells you when it think you are in focus. I use this method if I cannot see when I am in focus by just looking through the VF. Remotes don't fire the shutter unless the camera thinks its in focus in any other AF mode.

FP High Speed Sync drastically reduces the output from the flash I would not leave it on as a default.

Stephen I looked for the cord with the sensor built in but i could not find it, the only one I found was this one but I don't think is the one you told me.

**Nikon SC-29 TTL Remote Cord With AF Illuminator**

Paul - Have you measured the difference?

Here's a blog on Auto FP:

 

http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/2008/03/10-auto-fp-high-speed-sync-explained.html

Paul, in my experience of the use of this feature, it only effectively makes a reduction in power (effectively, as said) when the conditions that up your SS (shooting in AV if full sun with iso 200 and an aperture of say f4 or wider) are present. If you SS remains below the 250th range, the apparent flash effect is the same as not having used it. In theory you can leave it parked in Auto FP and get what is needed most of the time.

 

I don't know what this will do with rear curtain, so I won't comment on that part.

 

Thought's/observations?

I did some testing and found that at my highest normal sync speed, 1/200, turning on FP resulted in a slight increase in exposure. When I went up to 1/400 the histograms were about the same as 1/200 with no FP. At 1/800 the histograms were lower than 1/200 and no FP.

 

Exposure comp doesn't seem to change this on my D80.

 

I went outside on a partly cloudy day and found that flash intensity was also reduced and exposure was less as I increased shutter speed.

 

I tried the trick of plussing the flash 1 stop and minusing the camera body 1 stop to get a better result. It seemed to help.

 

The case where this matters the most to me is outside on sunny days- to reduce harsh shadows. I'm still searching for a reliable way to handle that. What do you folks think- higher shutter, lower ISO, flash on manual if you have the time?

The only thing that helps to fight the sun is sync speed. And that's real sync speed, not the fancy FP. If it's

sunny and you want to fill, set to your max sync and that's all you can do. ISO doesn't get you anything

because it effects both the flash and the sun.

I had similar problem with my setup. But if the camera fired and did not flash, it most likely will be a bad cord, assuming everything else was fine. We went nuts trying to solve the problem, I took the flash to Nikon, came back ok with no problems. It happened again and I went back to nikon with the problem still showing. They put on another flash and it was still eratic. They replaced the cable and everything was fine. The SC29 is the problem. Try an SC17. Good luck!

it sounds like poor flash connection. maybe your wire or one of the shoes is wearing out.

This is a chronic issue there are a bunch of other threads on this.

In most cases it is a heat issue!

Yes changing the cord seems to work but in my opinion by the time you get around to doing that the flash has cooled down and it would have worked anyway.

 

It mostly is from doing rapid flash.