Unpredictable flash firing

naruse

Senior Member
I found a similar thread "Flash not firing every time" but don't want to hi-jack it and am using a different camera so let me start a new thread. I'd be grateful if anyone can give me any pointers.

I have recently started needing to use flash more often than I have with my D610 in the past. I have been using A mode and closing down the aperture to give more depth of field for close up subjects and without flash light levels are just too low. The problem is that the flash only fires some of the time. I've not been able to work out the difference between the times it fires and the times it doesn't. In all cases it is set to fill-in flash and the internal flash raised (I don't have a working external flash at the moment). When it doesn't fire the shutter speed can be as low as 1/4s. When it does fire I get the predicted 1/60s.

Edit: maybe this should be in the D600/D610 section. If so can a moderator please move it.
 
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Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

I don't work with a D600, but can you set the minimum shutter speed to 60/s?
 

naruse

Senior Member
Thanks Bikerbrent.

It is possible to set the minimum shutter speed but without the flash firing that would result either in significant underexposure or, if I manually control the ISO, noise.

I'd really like to understand why the flash isn't firing. My understanding (which may be incorrect) is that the fill-in flash setting in M, A, S and P modes should force the flash to fire regardless of anything else ... unless it is not charged or is above the maximum safe temperature in which case I wouldn't be able to trigger the shutter.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
@naruse

Just for clarification, when you say the flash isn't firing, do you mean just the flash? Or do you mean the shutter, as well as the flash fails to fire? If the shutter is firing but the flash is NOT, can you post one of those images here with the EXIF data so we can see what settings are actually in effect when this happens?
 

naruse

Senior Member
@FredKingston
It is only the flash which fails to fire.
At the moment I don't have any samples as the photos themselves were all failures so I deleted them all. I should have some examples which can be posted within the next couple of days.
 

naruse

Senior Member
I think I may have discovered the reason for the flash not firing and it's embarrassingly simple; certainly not technical.

Today I noticed that occasionally the peak of my cap was touching the flash. The spring loading is very light and after some careful checking of the flash ready display, I found that I only needed to depress the flash unit by about 1mm to turn it off. It's possible that when the flash didn't fire, my cap was moving the flash just enough for it to lose contact and switch itself off. Certainly for today's short session, after turning my cap around the flash fired when expected. When I got home I checked the EXIF of the files where it did not fire and they showed the flash was turned off.
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
I think I may have discovered the reason for the flash not firing and it's embarrassingly simple; certainly not technical.

Today I noticed that occasionally the peak of my cap was touching the flash. The spring loading is very light and after some careful checking of the flash ready display, I found that I only needed to depress the flash unit by about 1mm to turn it off. It's possible that when the flash didn't fire, my cap was moving the flash just enough for it to lose contact and switch itself off. Certainly for today's short session, after turning my cap around the flash fired when expected. When I got home I checked the EXIF of the files where it did not fire and they showed the flash was turned off.

Thanks for posting, glad you were able to solve it.
 
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Danno

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum @naruse! Glad you found your issue. Sometimes it is those little things. I know I have had my share... At least it is cost affective. :D
 

BeegRhob

Senior Member
I think I may have discovered the reason for the flash not firing and it's embarrassingly simple; certainly not technical.

Today I noticed that occasionally the peak of my cap was touching the flash. The spring loading is very light and after some careful checking of the flash ready display, I found that I only needed to depress the flash unit by about 1mm to turn it off. It's possible that when the flash didn't fire, my cap was moving the flash just enough for it to lose contact and switch itself off. Certainly for today's short session, after turning my cap around the flash fired when expected. When I got home I checked the EXIF of the files where it did not fire and they showed the flash was turned off.

Just wanting to check on this, as I also have a D610. Is that what the issue was, was your cap causing the flash not to fire? Thank you!

Rob
 
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