Hi all -

3rd time writing this entire message. My head hurts. Hopefully I won't lose it again.

I am new to the world of interchangeable-lens photography. I recently bought a Nikon auto-focus SLR with several lenses, included a nice wide-angle (I forget the manufacturer, but I looked them up and they appear to be reputable).

I've taken successful photographs with this lens before, including flash photos. However, I shot some rolls with it this weekend, and every picture that used the flash came out like this:

http://www.wrds.net/images/lens_problem_1.jpg

http://www.wrds.net/images/lens_problem_2.jpg

The lower, oh, 60% is perfect; the upper 40% looks as if the flash never hit it. The same arrangement with a different lens worked just fine.

Anyone seen this effect before? Anyone know what causes it?

It's possible that when I've used the lens w/flash before, I used the built-in flash; this time I was using an external flash (mounted on the camera, but one of those tall ones).

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you -

Michael

Hi.

You're shooting at a faster shutter speed than the camera is capable of while syncing with the flash. They call this the "flash sync speed". On many camera's it's around 1/200 of a second or so.I don't know what flash you have or how it interfaces with the camera but you'll need to look at the instruction manuals for both to see how to properly deal with max flash sync speed.

It's most definetely not your lens causing the problem.

Hi.

You're shooting at a faster shutter speed than the camera is capable of while syncing with the flash. They call this the "flash sync speed". On many camera's it's around 1/200 of a second or so.I don't know what flash you have or how it interfaces with the camera but you'll need to look at the instruction manuals for both to see how to properly deal with max flash sync speed.

It's most definetely not your lens causing the problem.

Trevor -

Thank you. This makes perfect sense, and it's exactly what appears to be happening in the images - I can imaging the shutter heading down before the flash has finished flashing. Or something like that.

I'll play with it & see what fits. Thank you!

Michael

Yup - flash sync speed. Your camera will have at least a 1/60 sync speed so you can set it on that and you'll be safe, or faster if the manual says so.

Keep in mind that this is the fastest sync speed available. You can go longer, just not shorter (you can use 1/30 but not 1/500). Since flash exposure is determined by aperture, a little slower shutter speed can help boost the ambient light in the background.