D7000 flash problems

[mountainanddesertadventure]

<p>I have a Nikon D7000 which is really great, I have Sb600 flash and a Nissen flash of the same caliber. We have lots of wildlife passing behind our home and I have a motion sensor with soft yellow lights. When the animal passses by the lights come on and the wildlife pay little attention to it. I slip out the back door to take photo of Deer,racoon,opossum etc. but i cannot get my flash to work in the near darkness?? What can I do to force my flash to work. I have tried the P and S click and many of the manual and A and S clicks, but none work. I never had that problem with my D90?? What the heck is going on here. What am I missing? Bill</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Are you getting focus, and is the shutter releasing? Are you using the flash on camera, or off-camera as a slave?</p>

[mountainanddesertadventure]

<p><strong>No focus and no shutter release and flash ON camera not as slave. The focus or illumination light comes on and I can see deer or wahtever in this light, but 0 response by camera. Bill</strong></p>

[Two23]

<p>Put camera into manual focus mode, or Continuous focus mode. I'm thinking you don't have enough contrast or a strong edge for the AF to lock onto.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>That's what I was thinking, too. What lens are you using? If it's a kit lens at f/5.6 on the long end, that's not a lot of light at night for the AF system to chew on. Is the SB600's AF assist coming on?</p>

[studio460]

<p>Is there no focus motor actuated at all, or is the lens simply "hunting" for its focus? If the latter, you may just need a faster-aperture lens and/or much higher ISO. Using a slow lens (e.g., an f/3.5-5.6 DX zoom) for a night exterior with almost no ambient light, often, just isn't a practical application. There simply isn't enough light for the auto-focus to work.</p>

<p>1. Either focus manually, or try changing your shutter release to "release priority," instead of "focus priority." Your focus may be off, but at least you can fire off a shot.</p>

<p>2. Try using a high-powered Streamlight, or similarly bright flashlight as a focus-assist lamp. The tiny incandescent bulb in the D90 puts out very little light, and is only effective for a few feet.</p>

<p>3. Look around Ebay for an old Sony IR illuminator designed for their now-discontinued, "nightshot" capable Handycam camcorders. I've also seen some larger IR illuminators, designed to light areas covered by night-vision security cameras. You may want to try to find one or more of those, and permanently rig them in your backyard in the area you're attempting to shoot.</p>

<p>4. If you have a Nikon Speedlight, some models allow you to turn on the IR illuminator only when auto-focusing (only active in certain focus modes, and typically, only when using the center focus point).</p>

<p>5. Similarly, a Nikon SU-800 remote commander ($249) can also act as an IR focus-assist exclusively, if desired, and I believe its IR output is higher than a Speedlight's (same focus-mode restrictions apply).</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>If it works on your D90 and the same set-up doesn't work on your D7000, that sounds like a camera problem, and nothing but a camera problem!</p>

<p>I guess the '<em>same set-up</em>', is the relavent phrase here! One of the 'won't fire until focus achieved' type I reckon. Briefly popping to AF OFF, should check that one. If it still refuses to fire, I don't know!</p>