need help to stop pre-flash

[evilenglishman]

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[Yance]

The preflash can usually be disabled by disabling the red-eye reduction. Or disable the on-camera flash altogether. You may be able to find a simple flash for cheap to trigger the slave if the above solutions don't work.

[fredlord]

Well, I don't know if it's typical or not but my D60 doesn't do a preflash on manual if I'm using my 420EX. I bought a digital slave flash from SR Electronics to use in bird photography and discovered that it couldn't be triggered properly with the D60 set on M because there was no preflash. I had experimented with nondigital slaves and could get none of them to work with the D60 but I don't remember if I tried manual settings. If that doesn't work, I would suggest getting a slave expressly made for digital use. There are lots of them available. eBay is full of them for not much money. SR Electronics at has some nice ones for $100 USD and up.

Good luck

[Dans_D60]

Use manual mode. Any mode where E-TTL is enabled will fire a pre-flash and automatically adjust the camera and flash settings. If you are firing additional flash units the auto exposure mode will not work anyway. Only E-TTL Canon slave flashes can synchronize with E-TTL. So, just switch to manual, set shutter speed to something around 1/60 and adjust the aperture based on your histogram.
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[evilenglishman]

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[slin100]

evilenglishman wrote:
I am in the UK and can only find wein products at the link below, could anyone tell me which products on that page would help me with my problem.

http://www.jacobs-digital.co.uk/content.php?categoryId=439

None of the Wein products on that page will ignore a preflash. You need the digital version of those products, like the Wein Digital Peanut (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=263022&is=REG).

[evilenglishman]

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[Dans_D60]

evilenglishman wrote:
Thanks for the ideas so far, but i have found the pre-flash always fires in manual - I have tried all settings and custom functions and it has nothing to do with redeye or the AF assist light (neither of which fire the slave anyway)

my previous post is here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19101

I dont want to spend money on another flash as I just got one.




OOPS. Very rarely do I use the built-in flash. Not that it’s a bad onboard flash for the D60, it’s just that the 550EX is up an over the lens barrels. But, it appears the built-in flash always fires a pre-flash. The 550 in manual mode does not.
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[w10d]

evilenglishman wrote:
thanks for that info. I can't find anyone in the UK that stocks the digital peanut :(

Have you tried Calumet?

http://www.calumetphoto.com/syrinx/ctl?PAGE=Controller&ns=1&ac.ui.pn=home.Home&sc=UK

[evilenglishman]

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[jcsorensen]

This is an awkward solution, but it will work if you are wanting to use the built-in flash to fire your optical slave flashes.

First, there is no way to turn off the internal pre-flash.

With that said, there is a way around the pre-flash delimma. Set up you slave flashes (make sure they have fresh batteries), compose your shot, make sure your internal flash is up and on, and fire the pre-flash using the flash exposure lock. This will set the exposure and will fire your slaves.

There should be enough time for your slaves to recharge while the camera holds the flash exposure settings. When your slaves have recharged, take the acutal photo. This time, the internal flash will not fire a pre-flash since it has already done so when you set the flash exposure lock. When you take the picture, the internal flash will fire the slave flashes in synch with the shutter.

If you are not sure this will work, set up your slave flashes so you can actually see the flash heads in the picture. If everything is working, you should see bright white coming from the slave heads in the photo. If it is not working, you will simply see a picture of your slave flashes as if they were not even turned on.

Hope this is not too confusing and helps out.

[evilenglishman]

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[jcsorensen]

I agree--this is only a good solution for 2-3 shots at a time. I used my 12 year old and her girl friends the first time I tried it out. Their attention span lasted about 3 shots.