Problem with SB-700

hallelujajordan

Looking for some help . .

Trying to use an SB-700 on a Nikon D7000 and cannot seem to get a decent picture out of it . . When I put flash on iTTL mode and camera on auto pictures seem to all come out really dark . .

Am I doing something wrong or is it likely to be a problem with my flash . . All help appreciated . . .

vintagecosmos

How do they look on P mode?

hallelujajordan

Exactly the same on P mode . . ? ?

pixbyjohn

For inside use,
try this. set camera to manual> shutter speed to 160 and aperture to f5.6 with flash on ttl try that for starters. Post your results here.
Also try using the bounce mode indoors , by that I mean to have your flash pointing upwards.
Post up one of your previous photos so we can see what you are photographing. Was it outside or inside?

thedarkroom

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Looking for some help . .

Trying to use an SB-700 on a Nikon D7000 and cannot seem to get a decent picture out of it . . When I put flash on iTTL mode and camera on auto pictures seem to all come out really dark . .

Am I doing something wrong or is it likely to be a problem with my flash . . All help appreciated . . .

Have a look in the menu system of the flash and see if there is anything adjusted there. Try using the reset option at the bottom of the list and see if that helps.
On the camera, check the exposure overide option (-/+). There are two, one for the camera exposure and another for the flash. If either of them are showing a minus setting this will cause it.
Have you checked them on a computer or only on the camera. Check your camera LCD screen brightness settin in case it has been turned down. If it was at -2 or -3 it would give the impression that the photos were underexposed but in fact are actually OK.
A final option would be to use the reset option for the camera. I think there are two, one in the camera settings and one in the set-up settings. Doing this will set everything to the camera default, which means you will need to go through the menus again to put in your own preferred shooting settings such as picture quality, ISO, and every other personal preferences you use as your standard.

hallelujajordan

thedarkroom wrote: »

Have a look in the menu system of the flash and see if there is anything adjusted there. Try using the reset option at the bottom of the list and see if that helps.
On the camera, check the exposure overide option (-/+). There are two, one for the camera exposure and another for the flash. If either of them are showing a minus setting this will cause it.
Have you checked them on a computer or only on the camera. Check your camera LCD screen brightness settin in case it has been turned down. If it was at -2 or -3 it would give the impression that the photos were underexposed but in fact are actually OK.
A final option would be to use the reset option for the camera. I think there are two, one in the camera settings and one in the set-up settings. Doing this will set everything to the camera default, which means you will need to go through the menus again to put in your own preferred shooting settings such as picture quality, ISO, and every other personal preferences you use as your standard.

Thank you . . I will post some pics tonight when I get home . . Have checked and tried most of what you suggest above (other than resetting the camera - which I will do tonight) . . and nothing seems to improve . .

When I take a picture in P mode with SB700 connected and take the same picture with the same settings using the on-board flash I see a huge difference in brightness. . which leads me to believe there is a problem with the flash (or my understanding of how it should work ??)

hallelujajordan

So . .

Reset camera and flash as suggested and took 3 pics with manual settings of 160, F5.6 . . indoor @ night..

Without Flash - No picture on screen - completely underexposed
With on-board flash - clear visible picture
With SB700 - No picture on screen - completely underexposed

Attached pic shows the settings on the SB700 . .

Help ? ?

thedarkroom

Could you post a photo of the lcd monitor screen on the back of the camera showing the settings on the camera so that I can see the status of the settings on it? On the attached photo, check No43 and No44 on your camera and see of they are adjusted in any way. If one is set to a minus number then this will cause underexposure.
Check in the Set Up menu and go to the flash options to see if it is set to TTL or Manual exposure. There are three options TTL, Manual and Commander mode, make sure it is on TTL.
When you took the photo with the camera without the flash and it came out dark, what exposure mode were you using?
I'm sorry if some of the questions are overly simplistic but without knowing how much experience you have of all the settings or photography in general, it's hard to know at what level to gauge the questions. If you are using a D7000 I assume that you have a reasonable good knowledge of apertures, shutter speeds, ISO, camera exposure modes, etc. and about using the light meter.
Just for a test, set the camera to Auto (in green on the dial) and the flash to TTL. This will put the camera on complete override mode and lets the camera take control of everything. Set the flash to point forward (not bounce), take a photo and it should be fine. Now take a photo in the same Auto mode without the flash and it should still expose correctly.
Try this and see how you get on, and don't forget to post a picture of the screen. If you still have a problem i might get you to email a picture of a full image and I could take a look at the Metadata to see if anything appears in that.
Good luck.

pixbyjohn

It looks like the flash ZOOM is set at 10mm, could that be right? Can you tilt the flash head up slightly and also see does your flash zoom as your lens zooms

pixbyjohn

Turn off the BL function on your SB700 so as TTL is just showing.
http://www.scantips.com/lights/ttlbl-d.html

Judge

pixbyjohn wrote: »

It looks like the flash ZOOM is set at 10mm, could that be right? Can you tilt the flash head up slightly and also see does your flash zoom as your lens zooms

With the SB-700 the flash will only zoom to 10mm if the wide angle panel has been placed in front of the flash head. Lift up the panel and slide it back into its storage place behind the head and then see of you get any improvement (Page E-14 of the SB-700 manual refers), assuming you aren't shooting with a 10mm lens, of course.

pixbyjohn

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Looking for some help . .

Trying to use an SB-700 on a Nikon D7000 and cannot seem to get a decent picture out of it . . When I put flash on iTTL mode and camera on auto pictures seem to all come out really dark . .

Am I doing something wrong or is it likely to be a problem with my flash . . All help appreciated . . .

Tell us how you get on and what eventually worked please

hallelujajordan

Thanks boardsies for all for your help . . . tried everything to get this working. . reset camera and flash several times and tried on both auto and P,M settings. . still would not work properly..

Eventually, I took it into a camera shop on Saturday . . The guy in the shop couldnt work it out but agreed that everything was underexposed so we took and SB-700 off the shelf, swapped in my batteries and it worked perfectly. .

looks like the SB-700 has to go back to Nikon . . now the biggest pain is that I bought the flash in B&H New York and have just discovered that my warranty is US only :mad::mad::mad:

pixbyjohn

http://www.yelp.ie/biz/nikon-service-centre-rathmolyon
Nikon Service Centre

Category: Photography Shops & Services

Isaacstown
Rathmolyon, Co. Meath

(046) 9557151

vintagecosmos

Just saw this. Might be of help...http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/USGrey.jsp

For film cameras, lenses and speedlights, a product with a US-warranty should be reciprocally warranted by the manufacturer's service centers worldwide. B&H Photo-Video does not sell any "grey market" still-digital cameras at this time.

hallelujajordan

vintagecosmos wrote: »

Just saw this. Might be of help...http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/USGrey.jsp

Spoke to NIKON this morning . . unfortunately they will not honour a US warranty . . so I either bring this to Rathmolyon and pay for service or I return it to the US :mad::mad:

Wabbit Ears

Id be talking to BH photo and not Nikon on this as its never worked and be looking for a replacement.