Red eye reduction flash

andergar

Senior Member
Okay, I have been working my way through my owner's manual and a thought occurred. Why wouldn't I always want my red eye reduction flash on, compared to regular flash? What say Nikonites?

​Steve
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
O wow. I haven't worried about that issue since I started using a Nikon speedlight. The redeye reduction provides a preflash (I think) and it drains your camera battery much faster. There is no right or wrong answer. It's your camera and you can set it however you wish.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
I agree with Glenn, we never want red eye reduction. For one thing, when you press the shutter, it delays a second while it flashes 2 or 3 times. That one second is extreme shutter lag, you won't like it.

And red eye is very rarely a problem on speedlights anyway, just not a concern. Esp not if using the proper bounce flash.. Have the red eye problem first before solving it.
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But bounce flash is the technique you want to learn, not red eye.
Bounce flash is some of the best lighting, direct flash is some of the worst lighting.

Red eye happens often on little compact cameras, which are always direct flash, and the flash is only about 1/2 inch from the little lens. This tiny angle tends to reflect back from the eyes, causing red eye. It is a huge problem on compacts.

But even direct flash on the speedlight is maybe 5 inches from lens (10x farther, minimum). (The SB-700 is bigger and better in this regard than the SB-400). Red eye is not impossible at greater distances (like 12 feet), but it is rare. And for bounce flash, red eye is pretty much out of the question altogether. And also not a problem for off camera flash.
 

andergar

Senior Member
Sorry I wasn't clear, I meant the built in flash on the D3200. But that brings up another question, when would I need to buy a third party flash unit? So what I'm reading is that, for now, I should set my built in flash to "regular" flash. So another question, when would I use the "red eye reduction" flash? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for all responds.

​Steve
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Sorry, I guess I had ruled out the internal flash from all consideration. :) I was not thinking of all possibilities. Yes, the internal flash is only a couple of inches from the lens, still farther and better than compact cameras, but yes, it can cause red eye.

The Red Eye Reduction tool delays a second while flashing the flash, attempting to cause the subjects eyes pupils to reduce in size, lessening the chance of red eye reflection (questionable if better). To eliminate red eye, move the flash farther from the lens, so the reflection angle coming back is larger, less likely to be seen.

There are good software tools to remove red eye in post processing, and they are good and easy.

Direct flash (like the internal flash) is very flat lighting, a deer in the headlights look (but proper exposure can help it). Off camera lighting, including bounce, is vastly higher quality light, more pleasing. The internal flash is very low power, and won't bounce.

It is something that you have to feel the need for first, but to improve your flash pictures, the answer for on-camera flash is bounce flash, which is a bigger flash, say like the SB-700.
 
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