Shutter release priority in all circumstances? Possible?

Canuckphotos · Sep 18, 2014

Hello folks!

I've read the manual. Watched youtube vids and did some google search.

I thought I set up my D7100 to always take picture no matter what and not to do the thinking. I set auto focus to shutter release priority and now when the flash icon is flashing it won't let me take a picture without flash.

I can compensate for flash by adjust aperture and shutter speed if needed to be more creative with photos and not sure why my camera is preventing me from overriding these settings.

I pretty much always shoot in M mode and should be "manual" in my opinion, however, something is getting in the way. Could it be because I have AF on? That shouldn't affect flash and shutter release right?

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MartinCrabtree · Sep 18, 2014

I'd like to hear about this too. One of the reasons I prefer film cameras.

astroNikon · Sep 18, 2014

on my d7000 (the earlier version of your d7100)
there are two autofocus release selections
AF-C & AF-S release priority
If those are set to "Release" then the camera will take a photo anytime you press the release button
If it is set to "Focus" then it requires the camera to get focus first. If it's too dark it may want flash to be added.

what is ISO set for? AUTO ISO or manually set ?

What is the environment in when you are having this issue - is it bright or dark ??
fti .. I used to have the same problem when I first got my d7000 and used AUTO mode. The flash would always want to come up even on bright days.

Canuckphotos · Sep 18, 2014

Hey thanks for the reply! My AF-S and AF-C are both set to take a picture with the shutter release as priority.

The problem occurs when In dark lighting. If I zoom in on something for instance the camera will not have focus and the flash symbol flashes and will not let me take a pic.

Yesterday while taking some photos of my wife the exposure was not right for some of them and the photo turned out way under exposed.

Not sure why the flash is preventing me from taking photos! So confused. I've done night time photography and didn't have an issue setting shutter, ISO and aperture.

My ISO is set to 100 and can only be adjusted manually. I never usually leave 100 ISO and would rather use shutter to control the light and leave less grain in my pictures.

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KmH · Sep 18, 2014

Turn on the AF Assist Illuminator feature.
See pages 233, 301, and 307 of your D7100 User Manual.

I only use shutter release priority when I use AF-C (continuous) auto focus.

dannylightning · Sep 18, 2014

if the camera is not able to focus on something it will usually not let you take the shot. the focus assist light comes in hand for that but even that does not always work for instance i was out shooing at a lake at night, i had to point the focus point of the camera at a light in the distance to get it to focus on something, it would focus on the light and let me take the shot. if i pointed the camera at the dark lake it would not get focus and i could not shoot. if i change the switch on the lens to manual focus than i was able to take the shot but it was so dark i could not tell if it was actually in focus or not.

i notice in my house, say its kind of low light and i point the camera at one of my speakers, well the speaker cover is back and it wont always pic up a focus on that and it wont let me shoot because it does not have focus on a object. but if i point the cameras focus piont at something right next to the speakers it will focus and than i can shoot the pic. now if i raise the ISO or something or change the aperture so it lets more light in it will focus on that object.

my guess it its no the flash but your camera is not getting proper focus on something.

astroNikon · Sep 18, 2014

I can't recall the settings, but I can get my cameras to shoot on continuous high with the lens cap still on (or even no lens at all). I'll check my settings later tonight when I get a chance.

WayneF · Sep 18, 2014

Canuckphotos said:
I thought I set up my D7100 to always take picture no matter what and not to do the thinking. I set auto focus to shutter release priority and now when the flash icon is flashing it won't let me take a picture without flash.

What flash icon is flashing? What do you see? Where is it?

Curious why you would want to take an out of focus picture? Those never work out for me.

I pretty much always shoot in M mode and should be "manual" in my opinion, however, something is getting in the way. Could it be because I have AF on? That shouldn't affect flash and shutter release right?

AF can block shutter operation, but not if Release Priority.

Manual should not care what what you do, it is unconcerned about results. However, if you have Auto ISO on, then Manual is not Manual - only the settings are Manual, but Auto ISO is still trying to make your manual exposure be correctly exposed.

Canuckphotos · Sep 18, 2014

Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the replies and feedback. You guys are awesome!!

The camera ISO is set to manual and restricted to 100 max unless I manually adjust via ISO button and using the dial.

As for the icon it's a lightning bolt that appears bottom right corner and the far left has two arrows pointing towards each other indicating not properly exposed ( >< ) focused and ready ( • ) will appear.

My setting are with auto focus to have shutter release priority (AF-C and AF-S). So in manual mode I would assume that even though I'm in AF mode the shutter should override the AF because within my setting I made sure "shutter priority" was selected and not "focus priority" I'm still confused at all this and will look at my setting LOL.

Like mentioned above. If I'm in manual mode and shutter priority I should theoretically be able to take a picture with lens cap on!

Thanks again!!!!

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WayneF · Sep 18, 2014

Canuckphotos said:
As for the icon it's a lightning bolt that appears bottom right corner

That icon is NOT flash needed. That icon is flash Ready. You have to have opened the internal flash door (or turned on a hot shoe flash) to see it. It should be On if the flash is enabled and Ready. When the flash does flash then, this Ready light goes out a second or so while recycling (not Ready), and then comes Ready again (on). Low power level can be instant, hard to know it went off.

If the exposure demands were greater the flash power could deliver, then it will flash for three seconds immediately after the flash. Maybe that's what you meant? It means flash power was not sufficient for the situation (picture was likely underexposed). If so, to help this flash exposure, you need higher ISO, wider aperture, or closer subject distance ... or a bigger flash.

and the far left has two arrows pointing towards each other indicating not properly exposed ( >< ) focused and ready ( • ) will appear.

That is NOT about exposure. It is only about focus. If it is focused or not.

If you see the green dot, shutter should work regardless of its priority. Same if AF is turned off, shutter should just work.

I agree, if shutter priority, shutter should trigger any time pressed. I don't know why not, but suspect it is not about the flash.

I never consider using shutter priority. My notion is it is only for action, AF-C, with multiple shutter bursts, hoping maybe the 2nd or 3rd frame might be able to find focus. If the shutter bogs down then, it probably is the buffer filled with large Raw frames. For single shots, it seems just asking for trouble, unless you remember to hold half press first until it finds focus.

PaulWog · Sep 18, 2014

I've been shooting in AF-C mode lately, testing that out and seeing how my focus hits turn out.

Your shutter half press normally focuses, and a shutter full press takes the shot. If you're in AF-C mode, the full press will take the shot no matter whether you're in focus or not. But what if you want AF-S mode? What if you want to focus in, and then take the shot without risking having your camera refocus as you recompose? Well, make sure your focus button is your AF-L button, and your shutter purely is used to take the shot (not to focus). That way, you can focus with one button (and you can stop the focus in place when you want it to stop), and you take the shot with the other.