Am I missing something? SB600 off camera ?'s

lilmomma

When I've got the sb600 and in commander mode and i'm in ap priority, it doesn't seem to compensate for flash. I am mostly an M kinda girl but I was playing in A and noticed that the shutter speed never changed once the flash was on. Also, when off camera in commander mode, the flash won't zoom in or out when I change zoom length. I thought it used to but don't know where the setting is for that?

bendruckerphoto

The camera sits at your selected aperture at 1/60 second in A mode. Don't know why. I've never had the flash head zoom when using speedlights off camera. I assume that doesn't work, since the info is being transmitted via a light pulse, not a continuous electronic connection necessary to keep shifting the zoom.

Wil Davis

Setting the custom settings for M ZOOM (SB600) is somewhat confusing; also according to the destruction manual the auto-zoom only works when the flash is mounted on the camera either directly or using a cord, although can still be changed manually using the zoom buttons on the flash (even in wireless mode).

I just checked this out on my D300 with both the SB600 and SB800 and there's no auto-zoom when in wireless mode.

HTH -

- Wil

lilmomma

ok thanks, at least I know they aren't broke! So if the shutter stays on 1/60, I guess either you use it at that, change the ISO or switch to M huh? Wierd. I like M better anyway. Thanks for the responses!

JohnBiggs

I know nothing about this nikon stuff so don't shoot me if you are talking about something more specific, however:

Changing the shutter speed doesn't change the exposure effects from the light from the flash, so there really isn't a need for the camera to adjust that simply because you are using a flash.
1/60th of a second is a default speed I try to use when working in dim rooms with flash so perhaps nikon is just trying to help you along.

lilmomma

JohnBiggs wrote:

I know nothing about this nikon stuff so don't shoot me if you are talking about something more specific, however:

Changing the shutter speed doesn't change the exposure effects from the light from the flash, so there really isn't a need for the camera to adjust that simply because you are using a flash.
1/60th of a second is a default speed I try to use when working in dim rooms with flash so perhaps nikon is just trying to help you along.

Ok that makes sense! Using flash in A mode really is limiting in some sense, I guess you can change the exposure of the flash by stopping up or down. but if you want to change the ambient effects you should switch to manual and go from there. I wonder what the camera would do on S priority? I don't think my camera has ever seen that mode, maybe i'll experiment. I was playing around with this last night and it brought up some questions.

Thanks John!

JohnBiggs

The best stuff to read on the topic: http://www.planetneil.com/tangents

time2smile

This is a good tut on Nikons CLS Metering system.

http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/