How to stop recovering flash from preventing shutter release.

Hi.

It's been a while since I've used my D810, so I forgot how to achieve this pretty simple setting:

I would like the camera to take a picture every time I press the shutter release, whether the flash is ready or not.

I seem to remember one same setting works with both the pop-up and external flashes, but I can't find it anymore...

Ca n anyone refresh my memory please ?

Thanks

Never seen an 'Override Flash Ready' setting, but then I rarely use TTL flash.

My old SB-25 and SB-28 speedlights are totally ignored by any modern Nikon DSLR, and fire away merrily. So I just put the speedlights into AA mode and get perfectly consistent exposures - much more consistent than i-TTL exposures from my SB-800.

Incidentally, my old D700 would recognise an SB-25 and automatically set the X synch speed and show flash-ready. That facility was rudely disabled by Nikon in the D800 and onwards.

An afterthought.

Does forcing TTL-BL instead of plain TTL override the flash-ready lock?

I'm not sure what you mean. Although I have a fancy camera, treat me like a noob please.

I know what TTL means, but TTL-BL is beyond my knowledge... of abreviations, at least.

"TTL-BL" - The BL stands for Balanced Lighting, or fill-flash in words the average user would understand. I believe it's the default mode for Nikon CLS flash, and should allow pictures to be taken even if the flash isn't ready.

Plain TTL would imply that flash is the only, or main, source of lighting and therefore the camera might freeze until the flash is ready to fire.

As I said, I rarely use i-TTL, but I believe the flash mode is linked to the camera's metering, and only matrix metering supports TTL-BL. I think the flash reverts to plain TTL if spot or centre-weighted metering is selected.

I found that AA mode gives more consistent exposure than TTL too but why?

I really can't answer that Bebu. Basically it just does!

I suspect that i-TTL, like Nikon's ambient matrix metering, tries to be too clever for its own good - and in too short a time. The metering pre-flash is only separated from the main flash by about 1/10th of a second, and if (according to Nikon) the matrix algorithm has to search a database of several thousand 'typical' scenarios to find a match, it might struggle to do so. And lens distance data has to be thrown into the mix as well. That's basically the camera doing a Guide Number calculation (we all know how accurate those are!) and mixing it in with the reflective data from its metering matrix. All too bloody complicated! Especially for a dumb silicon chip to work out in a few milliseconds.

The acronym KISS wasn't invented for nothing, and the very simple use of a real-time reflective metering sensor, as used by AA mode, just seems to work far more reliably and consistently.

If you use Nikon speedlight on a Nikon body, the shutter should fire irrespective of flash capacitor charge status. However, if you use the built-in pop-up flash, the flash can prevent shutter release, if I recall correctly (I don't currently own any body with built-in flash). The flash will just dump whatever it can when the shot is taken, even if it cannot quite provide the requested amount of light in a rushed situation.

When using some studio flashes (e.g. Elinchrom), the flash won't fire at all if the capacitor is not charged sufficiently to allow the requested amount of light to be delivered. However, it doesn't prevent the shutter from firing. The shots just won't have any flash light if the flash isn't ready.

I'm sure the camera doesn't actually compare the scene to thousands of images but uses an algorithm which was trained to improve exposures by considering thousands of example images and their relevant exposure data, and "correct" exposure as set by a human observer. The algorithm is likely extremely fast. The distance information is only used when the flash is on camera and pointed directly forwards (basically never in the way I use flash).

I don't have much to complain about in terms of TTL flash exposure results, I typically only have to compensate +-1/3 stops to get to the result I want. I wonder sometimes what people are doing to have problems with it. I do think that if using multi-flash setups, things get a lot more complicated and I would normally set the remotes to manual flash and only use TTL on the main flash (which I use to bounce from where I want the light to come from).

That's typical for what I do in an indoor situation with white walls / ceiling. In the studio I use manual flash only. Outdoors I use both TTL and manual flash depending on what equipment I am carrying. More often manual, probably than automatic.

"TTL-BL" - The BL stands for Balanced Lighting, or fill-flash in words the average user would understand. I believe it's the default mode for Nikon CLS flash, and should allow pictures to be taken even if the flash isn't ready.

 

Plain TTL would imply that flash is the only, or main, source of lighting and therefore the camera might freeze until the flash is ready to fire.

 

As I said, I rarely use i-TTL, but I believe the flash mode is linked to the camera's metering, and only matrix metering supports TTL-BL. I think the flash reverts to plain TTL if spot or centre-weighted metering is selected.

 

 

I really can't answer that Bebu. Basically it just does!

 

I suspect that i-TTL, like Nikon's ambient matrix metering, tries to be too clever for its own good - and in too short a time. The metering pre-flash is only separated from the main flash by about 1/10th of a second, and if (according to Nikon) the matrix algorithm has to search a database of several thousand 'typical' scenarios to find a match, it might struggle to do so. And lens distance data has to be thrown into the mix as well. That's basically the camera doing a Guide Number calculation (we all know how accurate those are!) and mixing it in with the reflective data from its metering matrix. All too bloody complicated! Especially for a dumb silicon chip to work out in a few milliseconds.

 

The acronym KISS wasn't invented for nothing, and the very simple use of a real-time reflective metering sensor, as used by AA mode, just seems to work far more reliably and consistently.

I think by using a weak preflash and measure that and then set the power level needed for the correct exposure and with all that there is the error. AA mode or good old film TTL measure the actual flash intensity which is stronger and more reliable.

I'm sure the camera doesn't actually compare the scene to thousands of images but uses an algorithm which was trained to improve exposures by considering thousands of example images and their relevant exposure data, and "correct" exposure as set by a human observer. The algorithm is likely extremely fast. The distance information is only used when the flash is on camera and pointed directly forwards (basically never in the way I use flash).

 

I don't have much to complain about in terms of TTL flash exposure results, I typically only have to compensate +-1/3 stops to get to the result I want. I wonder sometimes what people are doing to have problems with it. I do think that if using multi-flash setups, things get a lot more complicated and I would normally set the remotes to manual flash and only use TTL on the main flash (which I use to bounce from where I want the light to come from).

That's typical for what I do in an indoor situation with white walls / ceiling. In the studio I use manual flash only. Outdoors I use both TTL and manual flash depending on what equipment I am carrying. More often manual, probably than automatic.

I found TTL exposure would vary from shot to shot that is one scene may need + compensation and another may need - compensation. That doesn't work for me as I use TTL or AA flash only when I have no time to take test shot. If I have time to take test shot or setting thing up manual is much simpler.

The preflash isn't a single flash but a series of flashes of different flash energies, allowing the camera to analyze how each flash group influences the brightness of the image.

Are you sure about that?

There are multiple pre-flashes when using AWL, but that's the 'morse code' that signals power settings etc. from master flash to slave(s).

It's all just a waste of flash energy and battery power to me. You're either mobile and need to use on-camera flash - bounced or otherwise - or you have a fixed off camera setup that can have an equally fixed output 'power'.

Have you seen those Joe McNally videos where he just gives up on CLS speedlights and uses proper strobes... or uses an assistant or two to point the flashes for him?

Are you sure about that?

There are multiple pre-flashes when using AWL, but that's the 'morse code' that signals power settings etc. from master flash to slave(s).

My understanding is that preflashes are in plural and fired at multiple different flash energy levels and this way the camera can deduce which parts of the scene or subject receive light from different groups of flashes, and how much light is needed to balance the scene properly using the light from different flashes. When there is more than one group, the process takes a longer time, which is a drawback of the technique, but it's still reasonably fast.

In this article

https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000005072&lang=en_GB

"i-TTL flash control

A camera sensor meters reflected light from subjects via monitor preflashes before the main flash, then analyzes the information and adjusts the flash output. The number of monitor pre-flash and its amount are optimized for more precise flash output adjustment. "

It's all just a waste of flash energy and battery power to me. You're either mobile and need to use on-camera flash - bounced or otherwise - or you have a fixed off camera setup that can have an equally fixed output 'power'.

There is also intermediate area where the setup may be fixed in position but the subjects may move across the lit area, in which case TTL may work better than manual flash, depending on a number of factors. Let's imagine that a subject is coming from inside a building and outside, you may need to adapt quickly to a wildly different lighting scenario. When photographing the Lucia procession where the subjects come out from the church to the steps and then walk across the passageway through the crowds, the press photographers often use flash + softbox on a boom arm or monopod and have set it up so that the light comes from a bit higher angle and not directly from the camera direction as it would be if the flash were off camera. The boom arm allows better angle for the light and avoidance of red eye when the subject is at a further distance, and TTL allows the light to automatically adopt to the subject approaching from (say) tens of meters to a couple of meters away. I often see newspaper photographers using such a setup. I remember having quite a bit of difficulty when shooting the arrival of the bride and groom (separately) outdoors at night in an Indian wedding. There is no light except the street lights and it's really dark. By shooting in available light I would be at ISO 25600 or some such ridiculous ISO. When using an on-camera flash there is no useable surface to bounce from, and so the result is red-eye when the subject is a bit further away and then just poor quality lighting (instead of horrendous) when the subject is a bit closer. If I use an on-camera softbox the latter situation can be handled, but the earlier moments where the subjects are further away, the softbox prevents sufficient light from being delivered on the subject and doesn't really solve the red-eye problem. I cannot move along with the subject easily because of the large crowds of people. This type of a situation is sometimes encountered in night time photography of various events. And it is reasonably well solved by using a boom arm (assistant) or a monopod to hold the flash, either with direct flash or using a small soft box. The extension arm allows the light to be positioned sufficiently far off the optical axis that red-eye is avoided and the quality of the light is better. And no, use of a TTL cord doesn't make it any easier, radio remote flash is much nicer with receiver built into the flash, because fewer components and no cables are needed that one could get tangled up in the dark. And if you use an assistant, you can have a voice or experience activated light stand to hold a second flash again for better quality of light in a difficult outdoor situation where things are moving. If the assistant is able to hold the light at a fixed distance from the subject, manual might work, but it's difficult to communicate that the flash is overexposing the subject if there is some distance between the photographer and the assistant. By having advanced control of flash output in the hands of the camera operator, such things can be managed either using manual flash or TTL, but if the distances change, in some cases TTL flash may work better than manual. These processions may only last seconds so there is not so much time to do test shots.

In some wedding portrait situations, I ask the subjects to move about, dance, or chase each other (for fun shots). In such situations, if I want to provide fill light, TTL may work better than manual flash when the distance between subjects and flash changes.

Have you seen those Joe McNally videos where he just gives up on CLS speedlights and uses proper strobes... or uses an assistant or two to point the flashes for him?

A while ago McNally switched from Elinchrom to Profoto. I assume it is because Profoto supports TTL flash and Elinchrom does not. Certainly he often reports using TTL on the Profoto units (as well as the Nikon units he also uses). While individual cases manual flash may be a better choice, McNally often seems to use TTL, at least according to the reports he makes in his books and blog.

Are you sure about that?

There are multiple pre-flashes when using AWL, but that's the 'morse code' that signals power settings etc. from master flash to slave(s).

 

It's all just a waste of flash energy and battery power to me. You're either mobile and need to use on-camera flash - bounced or otherwise - or you have a fixed off camera setup that can have an equally fixed output 'power'.

 

Have you seen those Joe McNally videos where he just gives up on CLS speedlights and uses proper strobes... or uses an assistant or two to point the flashes for him?

I wouldn't use CLS. If I do a multiple flash setup i would simply use manual. I watched an old 2 hr. video by Joe McNally demonstrated the CLS and he kept making test shots and adjusting. Didn't save any time vs manual with incompatible flashes.

My recollection (I've not watched much of his stuff) is that McNally tends to distribute a large number of flashes all over the place. Automated or not, being able to control relative (and absolute) output from a central location ought to save a lot of time. I do tend to use default automated flash when I use flash (which is rarely), occasionally with exposure fine tuning, but not having to wander around is quite important to me.

I suspect my problems are less to do with flash than with the camera's meter - I'm forever fighting the "highlight metering" to try to get it to do proper ETTR. (No, when I said don't blow the highlights, I meant don't blow the highlights.) If everything held still I'd just give up and spot meter everything, but I usually have some negative exposure compensation dialled in out of paranoia.

My recollection (I've not watched much of his stuff) is that McNally tends to distribute a large number of flashes all over the place. Automated or not, being able to control relative (and absolute) output from a central location ought to save a lot of time. I do tend to use default automated flash when I use flash (which is rarely), occasionally with exposure fine tuning, but not having to wander around is quite important to me.

 

I suspect my problems are less to do with flash than with the camera's meter - I'm forever fighting the "highlight metering" to try to get it to do proper ETTR. (No, when I said don't blow the highlights, I meant don't blow the highlights.) If everything held still I'd just give up and spot meter everything, but I usually have some negative exposure compensation dialled in out of paranoia.

I think the Elinchrom system has remote controls for their flashes but for me walking around my set up is never a problem. You may have to change the reflector, move the angle of the flash a bit any way. With multiple flashes it's not so much about the one exposure but about the relative brightness and where all those flashes light.