Nikon D700 VR + Flash behavior

Pindy

I can't figure out something, maybe you know. On my D700, if I'm shooting with a VR lens (105VR or 70-300VR) and I have the pop-up flash in commander-only mode, two things happen:

1. When I fire the shutter, the VR mechanism stops, even though I'm keeping my finger on the release held down half way and I have to re-engage the VR. I don't believe the VR disengages like this when not using the flash, though I should confirm.

2. I sometimes cannot quickly pop off a few shots with flash within 5 seconds. It's as though the pop-up is waiting to recharge and won't let me fire the shutter until it is satisfied. I don't know of any communication between the flash and the camera unless it's in the hot shoe, right? The commander flash is only being used as that—it's not firing for the exposure so it's not as though I'm firing the flash at 1/1 power or anything.

This is under TTL mode and on CH. Perhaps turning on the SB-900's chime will tell me when it's happy to fire next, so I should turn it back on.

Pindy

I've confirmed the following: VR works fine as long as the pop-up flash is down. When it's up, VR clicks off after every exposure, whether in S, CL or CH mode. Why is it doing this? With the pop-up, you are forbidden from taking any sort of continuous shots. CH is as good as S.

ziggy53

I have never heard of this behavior. Most interesting. I do suggest you report this to Nikon to see if this is a know trait on the D700 or any other camera.

Pindy

ziggy53 wrote:

I have never heard of this behavior. Most interesting. I do suggest you report this to Nikon to see if this is a know trait on the D700 or any other camera.

I was just told that there's a note about it in the manuals for certain VR lenses, that the VR disengages when the built-in flash is recycling. Must be the camera equivalent of chewing gum and patting your head at the same time. Weird huh?