Flashing (+-) signs what does it mean ???

Hi everybody-

I have a situation that I need your help with. I was using my off camera flash and on my Nikon D200 on the top screen, there was a flashing (+-) sign that looks like the same icon of the exposure + and - sign, and when I take a photo, it is kind of like the flash firs and then the shutter goes off and the photo is way dark. I wish I could tell you more, but I have no idea as to what could be happening,,,If you need a teat shot, I could try to re-create it, I was getting frustrated and took a break for a while, so I wanted to post something here and see what you all think.

Thanks- Doug

What mode were you in? The camera might not have been able to recognize the aperture possibly?

It's funny that you ask that because I was in aperture mode. It was like when I aimed, focused, and pressed the shutter release to take the photo, the flash would fire and then the shutter would click and the photo was totally black and you could barley see the subject.

OK...my first question is...what flash are you using? 2nd question.......what setting on the flash? In other words....1/30 1/60 1/240 see what I mean here? It may not be sync'd with the camera. Check the settings of both camera and flash.

I'm with Jack on this. It sounds like your camera and flash are not in sync. Most importantly, which speedlight are you using?

"If you need a teat shot, I could try to re-create it," No thanks on that shot but maybe a test shot. LOL

I had about the same problem and it was really driving me up the wall. I was shooting the girls district championship team after the game with my D200 and the SB800. Couldn't figure out what was happening. When I got checking into it I had set custom menu D5 to on, the default for D5 is off. This menu setting sets the camera to expose about a 1/2 second after the shutter is released. Set D5 to off and all works fine. Also, the flash curtain may not be set to front curtain sync. This is set by pressing the button with the flash on it near the built in flash on the left side, push the button in and use the sub-command dial to set the sync for the flash to front curtain sync.

Hi There- I am using a SB-600 flash and I had it set to about 1/2 power through a Wescott 43" umbrella. I was also using my pop up flash as the commander.