I Absolutely HATE my SB-400! « Nikon Rumors Forum

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I Absolutely HATE my SB-400!

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alphanikonrex

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Stupid, stupid me! I should have gotten the SB-600.

I have two questions about my SB-400 today:

1. When set to TTL mode, it never seems to fire at full power. If I don't crank up the ISO to 800-1600, then my images appear to dark. However, I can use the same or better settings at ISO 100 by switching the flash to fire at full power in manual mode through my D300 menus. Is this what to expect?

2. When I switch the SB-400 to manual mode through the menus of my D300, the only way to achieve proper exposure is by switching to manual mode, making a guess at settings, and then taking a test shot. This simply does not work for me—when I need full power from the flash, it's because I need a high shutterspeed, but the test shot only makes this mode unusable in those situations for me. Are all the flashes like this, or is it only the SB-400?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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I have not noticed a difference between the illumination in photos taken with the 400 and with the 800 so long as I am within the range of the 400.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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Thanks soap, but I don't really understand what you're trying to say. Can you please clarify?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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I am saying that I have not seen an illumination difference between my SB-400 and my SB-800 so long as I am not shooting longer distances or against brighter backlight than the SB-400 is spec'd for.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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Ah, I see. But how does that explain why my SB-400 doesn't fire at full power in TTL?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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No idea what you're experiencing. Not sure you've proven that it isn't firing at full power when in TTL mode. Not knowing what/how you're shooting, telling me you need to crank up the ISO to X doesn't really tell me much.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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Let me try and explain better: I switch my flash to TTL, and set the camera to ISO100 in a dark room. I then take a picture, which is very underexposed. Next, I switch the flash to fire at full power in manual mode, and without changing any settings I get a correctly or even overexposed image.

Posted 3 years ago #
RobertD

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Let me jump in here. I'm confused. How do you set your flash to TTL? My SB-400 has no settings at all, just on or off. Am I missing something here?

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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You can do it from the menus. Just attach it and turn it on, then when you go to the flash control for built-in flash in the custom settings menu, you will see it has changed to optional flash. There are only two options: TTL and Manual, Commander and Strobe are not compatible.

When you use flash in a dark room, about what ISO do you normally use if your settings are 1/60 @ ƒ/4?

Posted 3 years ago #
jonnyapple

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Is your flash exposure compensation set to 0EV? If it's not, there's an icon on the top LCD right above the exposure bar with the flash symbol and +/-.
I only ask because I'll sometimes set the flash exposure compensation to -1.7EV for shooting fill flash outside and then forget and get an underexposed image when I forget to change it back before using it inside.

Posted 3 years ago #
RobertD

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I thought I'd do a quick shot for you.

Both photos taken at TTL 1/60 @ f4 ISO 200.
Second photo was with bounce flash.
Lens 35mm f1.8G - Manual program - distance approx 15 ft. - Eveready Lithium in flash
Nikon D90
Totaly dark room except TV

I really have no complaints about the SB400. Just remember, it is NOT a SB600/800/900, and was not designed as such. It's a cheapie and works well for what it is.
I recently shot a wedding receiption, relatives, not for money, and 99% of them were usable.

Posted 3 years ago #
jonnyapple

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One other thing I thought of to test: are you using new batteries? If your batteries are old or cold, you might not be able to charge up for the full flash fast enough after the flash fires the metering preflash in TTL mode.

Posted 3 years ago #
kellenfreeman

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Hey finally someone who doesn't like the SB-400, I thought I was the only one.

Posted 3 years ago #
QuadraPixel

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check your metering mode. I set mine d300 to spot metering all the time and forget to set it back and get really confused some times as to why my photo's are not turning out consistently.

Check all your settings and metering mode.

Posted 3 years ago #
ted2001

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I've been pleased with my SB-400 on D90. I like it's small size, price and simplicity. I almost always bounce off the ceiling and find exposures are excellent (usually with 16-85, 35/1.8 or 10-24).

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Yea, I think Jonnyapple and QuadraPixel are likely barking up the right tree. It sounds to me like a metering/compensation problem that you're avoiding when in manual mode, though the compensation symbol is kinda hard to miss on the D300...
hmm

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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Thanks for the help everyone.

Well it's definitely not flash compensation. I would know. But metering sounds legitimate. Usually I'm shooting at some sort of indoor event with my flash, and the meter indicator shows that the photo's going to be underexposed until I crank the ISO up to something like 3200 or 6400. I usually ignore it and bring the ISO down to 1600, even though it is indicated to be one stop underexposed. I remember one day I got curious, and was messing around with the settings. I switched the flash to full power manual, and BAM—I actually got an overexposed image! I started trouble shooting about why in TTL the flash would not fire, and I thought maybe it's trying to ease the load on itself by telling me I need a higher ISO. So I switched the camera to a low ISO, but the image was simply underexposed.

I actually tried to recreate what happens myself. I was unable to do it. It may be because my subject was simply very close to the camera, or like jonnyapple suggested, because I put in a fresh pair of batteries.

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Still need more details from you for the above to be meaningful, there just are too many variables in play to give a good answer.
For starters:
What mode was your camera set to in the above anecdote about the camera warning you of under-exposure? A / S / P / M ?

Is auto-ISO on? If so what are the constraints on it?

Is AE-Lock set to remain locked until pressed again? This will trip up your exposures easily.

What metering mode were you in when you experienced these problems? If spot there is no need to go on as being centered an inch away changes everything. If center-weighted how large do you have the center meter set at?

If you were in Matrix metering at any other program than manual then we have something to talk about, else the strong likelyhood is bad exposure calculation (if I'm not on crack, someone tell me if I missed something).

Posted 3 years ago #
jjreason

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Step 1: Replace Batteries with KNOWN fresh batteries. i.e. new pack.

Step 2: Put flash on Camera and set camera to AUTO mode.

Step 3: Take picture. If picture is properly exposed and looks good, then it's your settings somewhere that are causing your poor images. If the picture is not properly exposed like before, then there is a hardware error. Either in the Cameras metering system or the actual flash unit.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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I was just out shooting indoors again today. Same problem. I put fresh batteries in the flash, and was using 3D Color Matrix Metering II. The first picture is fine, taken in M at ISO Lo 1 with manual flash control. Then I switched to A and set the flash to TTL and had to use ISO 1600 and a slower shutterspeed to maintain the same aperture! Next, I switched to M but kept the flash in TTL, and set the camera up nearly identical to my first photo, and sure enough, the photo is underexposed.

Also relating to my 2nd question (see the original post): I got a good exposure when in M when I used 1/320 for ƒ/4 at ISO Lo 1. However, when I switched to A, the camera wanted to use 1/60 of a second even though it indicated the photo would be underexposed. So I went into the menus and changed the slowest shutterspeed I would allow while using flash to 1/30. The readout I got in A mode switched to 1/30 too, still with underexposure. I have a hunch that because the camera has a flash attached, it is using all setting that apply to flash (like the slowest shutter allowed by me). However, I think it's looking for TTL pre-flashes which are not occurring because the flash is in manual control. Because of this, it assumes the room is so dark and that the subject is so far away, that we're going to have to use a slow shutterspeed. What do you guys think of this theory?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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1/320th is faster than your sync speed, and the SB-400 can't do high-speed sync.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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What? 1/320 IS my sync speed! And how would that be related?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Is not the official D300 sync speed 1/250th?
Faster than that and the rear curtain is closing before the front curtain is fully open.
Point is that faster than that you're not going to have proper flash exposure - you're comparing apples to oranges.

EDIT - I see the D300 has a tricky-dicky 1/320th mode. Does the SB-400 support that tricky dicky mode? It doesn't support FP, hmm hmm hmm.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

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You're right. But through the menu I've gotten it up to 1/320. So do you think this is the cause of the issue?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Ha ha - you posted as I edited. ;)

Do I think it is the cause? Don't know. I'm just trying to eliminate variables, that's all.

Posted 3 years ago #