Why ISO is so high when using flash on Nikon d7200

Dmeehan

New member
I recently bought the Nikon d7200 and have been frustrated by the high ISO when using the built in flash. I was taking pictures inside the house during the day with a flash and there was also light coming in from the windows and my ISO varied from 2500 to 20000! I do have it in auto ISO but why is the ISO going so high? The images are not sharp because of it. This happened in both Program. Mode and Aperture Priority. I have been unable to find anyone to give me an answer/help.
Thank you,
Debbie
 

Dmeehan

New member
Thank you for your reply. I don't understand why it happens. I've been using the d90 for 8 years and this never happened. I wish I didn't have to take any e try steps to prevent it from happening. I thought cameras were supposed to get better��
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I recently bought the Nikon d7200 and have been frustrated by the high ISO when using the built in flash. I was taking pictures inside the house during the day with a flash and there was also light coming in from the windows and my ISO varied from 2500 to 20000! I do have it in auto ISO but why is the ISO going so high? The images are not sharp because of it. This happened in both Program. Mode and Aperture Priority. I have been unable to find anyone to give me an answer/help.
At some point in time Nikon changed the way Auto ISO works with flash.

What you are seeing is how the new Auto-ISO calculates exposure based on the current ambient lighting only.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Thank you for your reply. How do you compensate for this?
Well, as has already been said, I would suggest you not use Auto-ISO with flash, or if you feel you have to use Auto-ISO for some reason, I'd suggest you limit the scope the Auto-ISO function has to work within; say ISO 100 to 800 or thereabouts. That, combined with a fairly wide aperture, say f/4 for instance, should give you plenty of flexibility in your shooting. This assumes you have a certain degree of ambient light in the room to begin with, enough light to comfortably read a book at least. Bear in mind, though, the pop-up flash is not a lot to work with.
 

aroy

Senior Member
The flash behaves differently in different Exposure modes at least in my D3300 (and I think it will do so in most current bodies)
. When using Auto ISO, in Matrix mode, as the camera uses flash as a "Fill Flash" (default setting), the body calculates the exposure for ambient light hence high ISO. At fixed ISO this is not the problem, as the flash will output enough power to light the scene.
. In Spot mode the flash works as a TTL flash, its power depends on the distance and reflectance.

In my experience if the flash is powerful enough for the subject distance then use
. ISO 100
. Spot Meter
. Single point AF

That will give consistent flash exposure irrespective of the ambient. In case the ambient light is more, you can use Matrix metering and the flash will fill the shadows.
 
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