D60 flash problems

[sbkearne]

Received my D60 last week and the day light pictures it makes are great. However getting a good exposure with either built-in or external flash (420ex) in low light still eludes me. I read some of the earlier posts that had problems with the external flash creating dark images but it seemed they had good pictures with the built-in flash. My problem is with both flashes. Using a flash exposure compensation of 1 or 1.5 does help. Is this a common issue with all D60? If this is a common issue then maybe I will have to live with it but maybe it is just my D60 and hopefully I can exchange it for a working model.

I have provided a few sample pictures of the problem. I have tried different settings but they all seem to produce pretty much the same dark images without using the compensation.

First pic is using program mode without compensation.
http://www.knology.net/~sbkearne/images/normal.JPG

This is program mode with compensation set to 1
http://www.knology.net/~sbkearne/images/comp1.JPG

This is from my old Nikon 950
http://www.knology.net/~sbkearne/images/nikon1.JPG

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.
Steve

[roine]

Hello

Try to read this:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/D30FAQpage/letter.html

and this:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/D30FAQpage/index.html#3

Those links are from an old question tree regarding flash on D30.

Roine

[sbkearne]

Thanks for your reply. After reading the article I found using the Flash Exposure Lock did help some. The pictures are still a little underexposed but not as bad when not using it. Also using a Flash compensation of 1.5 or 2 helped. But this has to be redone/checked each time I move positions, really the same issue with FE lock. I'm still not sure if I have camera problems or if this is normal.

[wdmacg]

My experience (5 months)with the D60 has been +2/3 to 1 stop for an external flash (550EX). I don't find much utilization for the internal flash but I'm sure it would also reguire + compensation. It may have something to do with the ETTL system but most of my exposure compensations tend to be +2/3 with this camera - which I think produces exceptional results. Bill

[NICOVISION©]

It seems to me that your D60 does not have a problem. The culpret seems to be your flash exposure. It always seems to be the case that just when you purchase the most sophisticated piece of equipment....you have to retreat to the basics. If your speedlight has manual settings...(ie....550EX) "use them!" I find that manually setting the flash exposure based on my distance and f-stop, is the only way to achieve consistent flash exposures. As sad as it sounds, I have trashed several sophisticated flashes for manual ones that do the job right. ETTL and other flash exposure technologies make rocket science out of a pretty basic concept..... :-)

Have fun....and if you test with a manual flash....you will certainly know if you have a problem with your camera.

Adios.

Nick

[David Miller]

My partner and I have over 60 digital weddings to our credit. Most of these weddings were done with the FujiS1 with SB-28 flash. The Fuji was suppose to be TTL but the TTL did not work correctly, we got many under-exposed files. We finally set the SB-28 to Auto instead of TTL and got better candid digital files.
The first week of June we both got CanonD60's with 550EX flashes, thinking that this would make our candid wedding pictures much easier to photograph. Unfortunately we both found out that the 550EX is not a very good fix for the Fuji. Canon sent us their three page techinal fix for the candid flash problem. Unfortunately the FEL system of setting the flash is not practical for candid wedding coverage, where the file must be right on the first time. Sometimes it's not practical to put one of the three focusing spots on the subject. The truth of the matter is that the Canon ETTL system is not good for candid wedding coverage and needs to be fixed. We have great results with the Canon D60 for studio portraits, outdoor senior photograph where we can experiment with the FEL system. Seniors don't mind if I take a "trial shot" before I do a complete sequence of shots but you can't do this at a wedding. I have contacted Bob Malish, a senior Vice President ant Canon,USA hoping to get Canon on the stick to do something other that sending out a "paper fix" that really doesn't work.
Respectfully yours,
David Miller

[bsmedipix]

I have a D30 and a D60 and have experienced inconsistent bounce and direct flash exposures under a variety of lighting situations.

I have had to resort to switching to the manual mode on the DSLR's and the the 550EX. There are no problems with either of the DSLR's when studio or natural lighting are used.

I will persue the inconsistent flash problems with Canon USA. Sounds like a hardware fix is a must.