Flash won't fire on Silent Live View

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
Just FYI, I was frustrated last night trying some new lighting set ups and using Live View with focus peaking (which is pretty cool!).

First I plugged in an old fashioned sync cord to the D850's connector, but the strobe would not fire. I reckoned the D850 connector must be something new, so I got out the Phottix, but the strobe still would not fire.

The flash symbol on the info screen had the "no flash" symbol, and I tried everything to change that setting in the camera menus, but nothing would work. Finally hit Google, and a short video explained it all:

Your flash will not fire if you have activated Silent Live View shooting. So, turn that off, or just turn off Live View before shooting. Turns out that old sync cord works just fine on a D850.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Just FYI, I was frustrated last night trying some new lighting set ups and using Live View with focus peaking (which is pretty cool!).

First I plugged in an old fashioned sync cord to the D850's connector, but the strobe would not fire. I reckoned the D850 connector must be something new, so I got out the Phottix, but the strobe still would not fire.

The flash symbol on the info screen had the "no flash" symbol, and I tried everything to change that setting in the camera menus, but nothing would work. Finally hit Google, and a short video explained it all:

Your flash will not fire if you have activated Silent Live View shooting. So, turn that off, or just turn off Live View before shooting. Turns out that old sync cord works just fine on a D850.

That's good to know. Have you ever tried this same set up with a different body? Since I've never tried it, I'm wondering if all Nikon bodies are the same or just the D850. :confused:
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
I think the D850 is the first to offer Silent Live View. It's not a feature on my D800.

It makes sense, I guess. If you are trying to be completely silent when shooting animals, let's say, the last thing you want is a flash going off.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
If silent is an electronic shutter then i think the way it exposes the sensor will not allow it to use flash.

Ok this is Olympus but it explains the difference

 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
Ah, hah! Yes, electronic shutter because you are in Live View mode, which means the shutter is already open, and in Silent Live View the mirror does not activate. I wonder why it cannot sync a flash in that mode?
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
I guess another workaround would be to set my shutter speed to 1 second and fire the strobe manually!

Still may not work, from my understanding E shutters expose and stop exposing the sensor in rows so its an exposure build on the sensor in rows, this is why the holy grail is a global shutter,
Its the same reason E shutters are no good for action shots, the image below was E shutter and you can see what it did with the wings.

View attachment 303644
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
It can give some frustrating results

P6120056.jpg
 
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