D70s - Fill Flash - How to do correctly? SOLVED!

[PhotoByMark]

"I posted on Nikon Cafe Forum but, it is still unresolved. So I will try here maybe we have a few Nikon Experts here?"

My main question is : How do you get fill-flash to always fire on the D70s? I know it does not always fire in Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority. Keep reading for my original post.

<---Post Starts Here--->

Well, I am baffled and confused - What is new?

Here is the deal.

I went down to our little dance halle to take some pics of the band. I used aperture priority, ttl mode and spot metering, min flash sync at 1/60, and pop the flash up for fill flash using front curtain sync.

It is a dance halle so it is lit but not real well and needed a little boost. I went to take a pic and the flash would not fire. Instead I got this horribly long shutter speed - 30 seconds or so -seemed like it anyway. I did this repeatedly and still no flash and very long shutter speed. So, obviously I am not understanding how to use fill flash on D70s correctly.

I then switch to manual mode flash and same thing. Hmmmm. I then tried to increase f-stop and still the same thing-I kind of expected that. My reasoning was decrease the light and surely flash will fire now and I was freaking out as I was missing the shots I wanted to take. No flash, long very long shutter speed. I then went the other way with the f-stop and opened it up as much as possible. Meter still said "low". ok. But shouldn't the flash at least fire and shutter speed at the minimum which I had set at 1/60s. So I am a flash dummy right now and my logic does not sync up with the camera logic at all.

On my other digital camera Olympus 2100 (5 years old now). When I wanted to use fill flash I would set the flash mode from automatic to force mode I guess you call it. And flash would fire for every shot.

So my real question here is - What is the proper setup so that I know the flash is going to fire? Even if the pic is going to be underexposed wouldn't the flash still fire?

I really do not understand this and I know someone out there can get me on the right track.

I am bummed out cause the best part of the show that I wanted to shoot and I did not get at all.

ok here is a sample pic:



And Exif Data:
Camera: Nikon D70s
Exposure: 0.25 sec (1/4) Why???? Shouldn't have been 1/60 s?
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 28 mm
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
ISO Speed: 1600

Orientation: Normal
X-Resolution: 300 dpi
Y-Resolution: 300 dpi
Software: Nikon Capture Editor 4.3.0 W
Date and Time: 2005:07:10 02:09:52
YCbCr Positioning: Centered
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Date and Time (Original): 2005:07:10 00:08:23
Date and Time (Digitized): 2005:07:10 00:08:23
Maximum Lens Aperture: 38/10
Metering Mode: Spot
Light Source: Flash
User Comment: Copyright 2005 PhotoByMark
Sub-Second Time: 90
Sub-Second Time (Original): 90
Sub-Second Time (Digitized): 90
Color Space: sRGB
Sensing Method: One-chip colour area sensor
CFA Pattern: BLUE GREEN GREEN RED
Compression: JPEG
Quality: RAW
White Balance: FLASH
Sharpening: MED.H
Focus Mode: AF-S
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0011: 5002
ISO Speed Requested: 200 (May be different to Speed Used when Auto ISO is on)
AE Bracket Compensation Applied: 0/1
Tone Compensation (Contrast): CS
Lens Type: 14
Lens Min/Max Focal Length, Min/Max Aperture: 24/1, 120/1, 35/10, 56/10
Bracketing & Shooting Mode: Shooting Mode: Single Frame AE/Flash Bracketing Off White Balance Bracketing Off
Colour Mode: MODE2
Lighting Type: NATURAL
Hue Adjustment: 3
Noise Reduction: OFF
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0099: 1520, 1008
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x009A: 78/10, 78/10
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x00A0: NO= 100423d2
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x00A2: 680158
Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera: 2002
Image optimisation: CUSTOM
Saturation: NORMAL
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0E08: 1
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0E09: Nikon Capture Editor 4.3.0 W
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0E10: 5096
Image Width: 3008 pixels
Image Length: 2000 pixels

Some possibilities: 1) Fill-Flash will not always fire using Aperture Priority Mode. 2)

[Badge]

I shoot a d70 - all you have to do is push the little button on the left side of the built in flash, it has a little lighting bolt identifing it, the built in flash pops up and you are in business

[ndsimm]

Hmmmmmmmmm, I'm curious, when I want fill flash I shoot in either A mode or Manual and it always fires for me. the only thing I can see based on your EXIF is maybe the high ISO won't allow fill, but this one has me....

[jeffkohn]

I agree, flash should fire if you manually pop it up in A,S,M mode. Has your flash _ever_ fired? Maybe it's a defective camera?

[PhotoByMark]

Flash does fire but in certain cases it does not fire. I had flash up, tried iso's from 200 to 1600. Some of the pics it did fire but, some did not. I get it to fire all day long in low light and other things I have tested at my house but at the hall I could not. I am wondering if the red stage lights confuse the metering? Far fetched and I have not yet solved this mystery yet.

Thanks for the comments.

[jeffkohn]

In my experience the only time the flash will refuse to fire is if your shutter speed is faster than 1/500 which is obviously not the case for the image you posted. Looking at your shot's EXIF it says that flash was off which should not happen if it was popped up. I would consider returning the camera if it's new or sending it in for service if it's not.

[Badge]

Mark
Will be interested on what you find out or what the answer is.
I bought the sb800 and seldom use the built in flash. I know about 10% of what this flash will do but for fill flash you can turn down the power and really fine tune the amt of light you want.
Badge

[PhotoByMark]

I still have yet to come to a conclusion or totally solve this issue.

I did receive some info that perhaps that Aperture Priority mode the flash may not fire. I am not sure whether this is true or if it is why this is so. I simply cannot duplicate at home. Flash always seems to fire in a dark room or well lit room. Hmmmm. - What do you think that perhaps the bright red lighting at the dance halle could perhaps throw the metering off? Still none the less I would expect the flash to fire. I will eventually do both resets (basci and hard) of the camera but, not yet. I am still experimenting to duplicate the problem. I want to understand the problem if I can so it does not happen to me again. Thanks for all the comment/suggestions.

[evil4blue]

This maybe a stupid observation, but I too have had the flash not fire, but it was becasuse my battery was running low and wasn't charging the flash as quickly. I normally use my sb-800, but sometimes when I want to travel light I use the on board flash.

Make sure you've got a full charge, and if you're taking photos in rapid fire, you may not be giving the flash enough time to recycle.

[PhotoByMark]

Hmmm, good points. But the batteries were fresh and not taking pictures rapidly either.

[PhotoByMark]

Long story short.

I wear a hat and turns out occasionally hat moves flash approx. 1/4 to 1/2 inch & flash does not fire.

Thanks for all the replies.

Mark.

[Detonate]

Ha, I've had the same problem before.

[evil4blue]

Good to hear! From here on in, do as I do, turn that hat around .