is there a certain thing with red eye more likely in certain eye colors?

[bribrius]

eight feet away with the 7100 red eye. And for the record the 7100 gave me more red eye than the bridge camera. im guessing brighter flash...

Was that the popup internal flash, or a speedlight? Internal flash is probably near two inches separation. Which just isn't enough. There are ifs and buts though, slight head/eye angles can affect it. Also smaller eye pupil diameter (in a very bright room) can help.

Nikon DSLR have a Red Eye Reduction in the menu for flash sync. Turning it on spends about one second before the shutter flashing the flash a few times, trying to cause the subjects pupil to contract, to be smaller and maybe not reflect as much light back. The delay and flashing is generally not liked.

i didn't see a option for redeye with back curtain or fill on the 7100. i know the bridge just gives me a choice of one. if i pick red eye i cant to fill or rear curtain or anything. ill look again at the 7100 just to be sure. i wanted something not so harsh. But looks like im working around that anyway with tinfoil and a home made diffuser.

 

[pdq5oh]

If you're trying to bounce the flash and it's underexposed, bump the flash output by a stop or so.

 

[bribrius]

If you're trying to bounce the flash and it's underexposed, bump the flash output by a stop or so.

Thanks. This is actually a lot harder than i thought. well, at least to have them come out really good is harder than i thought. i put it away for the night. lost the natural light coming in the windows, kids were getting antsy. wasn't really impressed with what was going on. This is just for easter cards. My wife made this easter backdrop, bought flowers, etc. she put a lot of work into the setup. i feel kind of bad about it but it wasn't working out too well. i tried lowering the flash and raising the exposure too. i guess some are okay, none really that great. The light just isn't working. Maybe we will be doing easter photos outside again this year (or maybe i need to break down and buy a cheap studio kit or at least off camera flashes). im going to try it again with what i got, see what happens..
last year i would have just said "good enough" but im trying to raise the bar a little on my photos and i really need to learn portraiture a little at least.

 

[astroNikon]

just hold a white business card at an angle in front of the popup flash to bounce up.
See how that goes ... cheap but quick solution.

 

[Derrel]

Redeye avoidance, as per Herbert Keppler 30-some years ago. He basically stated that each one inch of height of a flash above camera lens axis gives 72 inches of freedom from redeye. So...1" flash height = 72 inches (6 feet, or apprx. 2 meters) of freedom from redeye.

A 4-inch height of the flash gives 24 feet free from redeye.

I remember Keppler, but that sounds like wishful thinking. Situations differ, but it is certainly not a bet that I would take (if I reasonably wanted to prevent it).

Wikipedia says a separation of 1/20, or that 4 inches gives six feet.

A SB-800 on a DSLR is 7 inches on centers, or 5 inches absolute minimum separation, and a bet on 24 feet seems no sure thing.

Wikipedia says? LOL!

"4 inches gives six feet"???? Utter bullsh!+. That's flat-out...wrong.

"wikipedia"...you mean the source that ANYBODY can edit?

 

[WayneF]

i didn't see a option for redeye with back curtain or fill on the 7100. i know the bridge just gives me a choice of one. if i pick red eye i cant to fill or rear curtain or anything.

I am not defending it, I think Red Eye Reduction is a dumb option anyway, counterproductive, unbearable, and likely ineffective. The only thing we ever hear about it is questions: "Why is my camera doing all this delay and flashing when I use my flash". Answer is to turn Red Eye Reduction off.

The only answer to red eye is to not flash the flash directly into the eye, by instead separating the flash farther from the lens axis. Or to edit it out later.

But... there is a little more to the sync menu options offered.

(Except for Spot metering) the Nikon internal flash is TTL BL mode, which is ALWAYS fill flash mode anyway. The Nikon flash system is balanced fill flash. This is less meaningful indoors when there is no bright ambient to fill. But for the internal flash (and the SB-400 or SB-700 flash), TTL BL is default, and this sync Fill flash menu simply just means "default - excluding all of these other choices". But the other choices do not exclude TTL BL mode, which is default (however Spot Metering mode does).

Why would you want Rear Curtain for portraits? Rear Curtain is only useful for (only does anything when) too-slow shutter speeds will blur ambient continuous lights which the fast flash otherwise stops. This makes the ambient blur trail follow the sharp flash subject, instead of leading it. See D7100 menu E2 for slowest shutter speed allowed with flash if camera modes A or P. Rear Sync also overrides that menu, basically enabling Slow Sync with flash (because Rear Curtain also needs slow shutter to see a blur trail). But if flash is the major light present (if ambient is far underexposed), there will be no blur trails visible, making rear curtain be a moot point. Rear Curtain is for when you WANT TO SEE those blur trails, by using an intentionally slow shutter. An artsy thing, probably not applicable to portraits. There can be border line cases, but Fill flash is really NOT applicable to Rear Curtain blur trails.

 

[bribrius]

i didn't see a option for redeye with back curtain or fill on the 7100. i know the bridge just gives me a choice of one. if i pick red eye i cant to fill or rear curtain or anything.

I am not defending it, I think Red Eye Reduction is a dumb option anyway, counterproductive, unbearable, and likely ineffective. The only thing we ever hear about it is questions: "Why is my camera doing all this delay and flashing when I use my flash". Answer is to turn Red Eye Reduction off.

The only answer to red eye is to not flash the flash directly into the eye, by instead separating the flash farther from the lens axis. Or to edit it out later.

But... there is a little more to the sync menu options offered.

(Except for Spot metering) the Nikon internal flash is TTL BL mode, which is ALWAYS fill flash mode anyway. The Nikon flash system is balanced fill flash. This is less meaningful indoors when there is no bright ambient to fill. But for the internal flash (and the SB-400 or SB-700 flash), TTL BL is default, and this sync Fill flash menu simply just means "default - excluding all of these other choices". But the other choices do not exclude TTL BL mode, which is default (however Spot Metering mode does).

Why would you want Rear Curtain for portraits? Rear Curtain is only useful for (only does anything when) too-slow shutter speeds will blur ambient continuous lights which the fast flash otherwise stops. This makes the ambient blur trail follow the sharp flash subject, instead of leading it. See D7100 menu E2 for slowest shutter speed allowed with flash if camera modes A or P. Rear Sync also overrides that menu, basically enabling Slow Sync with flash (because Rear Curtain also needs slow shutter to see a blur trail). But if flash is the major light present (if ambient is far underexposed), there will be no blur trails visible, making rear curtain be a moot point. Rear Curtain is for when you WANT TO SEE those blur trails, by using an intentionally slow shutter. An artsy thing, probably not applicable to portraits. There can be border line cases, but Fill flash is really NOT applicable to Rear Curtain blur trails.

Honestly. Grasping at straws, trying anything and everything to make a on camera flash give the results of a real light set up..

 

[WayneF]

Wikipedia says? LOL!

"4 inches gives six feet"???? Utter bullsh!+. That's flat-out...wrong.

"wikipedia"...you mean the source that ANYBODY can edit?

I mean Wikipedia which anyone can correct. It is very good on technical subjects (much less so for political subjects, when opinions are involved).

Note the original complaint here was when Bribrius just said (post #12 this thread) that the D7100 two inches caused objectionable red eye at eight feet. That implies 1 inch at 6 feet is of course extremely unbelievable. There might be some case it works, but it is a crummy general rule of thumb.

 

[Skelrad]

Just to answer the question about why some people have more issues with red eye than others - It doesn't have anything to do with eye color. As someone stated, the red eye is due to the light reflecting off the back of the eye. How much of that red reflection you see is directly related to how dilated the person's pupils are. People who have large pupils (either normally or due to light levels or other circumstances) will nearly always have an issue with red eye when proper avoidance techniques aren't used. The pupil dilation is the whole premise behind red eye flash on the camera. By flashing a bright light ahead of the picture, the pupils constrict, making the amount of light reflecting off the retina a little less noticeable.

 

[WayneF]

Honestly. Grasping at straws, trying anything and everything to make a on camera flash give the results of a real light set up..

Understand, but it is considered an impossible job. The flat lighting on camera flash gives is a bigger problem than the red eye. Pictures of the kids are very important, so you simply need to buy a better flash... Just a hot shoe bounce flash alone will solve red eye and give much better lighting. This is why these flashes are so extremely popular, it is simply the way it is done. Also alternately, umbrellas are inexpensive, and give a very soft light from an off camera camera source, and can be even better. Simply the way it is done. And such flash use is a bigger part of the fun of photography too.

An SB-700 flash would do a decent job. If cost is a concern (to a D7100 user? ). a Yongnuo YN565EX will do what it does, with higher power (good for bounce and umbrellas), for maybe 1/3 that SB-700 price. See Review of the Yongnuo YN565EX Speedlight

Either of these is relatively high power (Yongnuo is higher power) (meaning higher than SB-300 0r SB-400). Both do bounce, both have swivel heads and pull out bounce cards, both can be a remote manual flash, or both can be a Nikon AWL Remote wireless flash controlled by the D7100 commander.

Either one would be highly recommended for your goal.

 

[bribrius]

Honestly. Grasping at straws, trying anything and everything to make a on camera flash give the results of a real light set up..

Understand, but it is considered an impossible job. The flat lighting on camera flash gives is a bigger problem than the red eye. Pictures of the kids are very important, so you simply need to buy a better flash... Just a hot shoe bounce flash alone will solve red eye and give much better lighting. This is why these flashes are so extremely popular, it is simply the way it is done. Also alternately, umbrellas are inexpensive, and give a very soft light from an off camera camera source, and can be even better. Simply the way it is done. And such flash use is a bigger part of the fun of photography too.

An SB-700 flash would do a decent job. If cost is a concern (to a D7100 user? ). a Yongnuo YN565EX will do what it does, with higher power (good for bounce and umbrellas), for maybe 1/3 that SB-700 price. See Review of the Yongnuo YN565EX Speedlight

Either of these is relatively high power (Yongnuo is higher power) (meaning higher than SB-300 0r SB-400). Both do bounce, both have swivel heads and pull out bounce cards, both can be a remote manual flash, or both can be a Nikon AWL Remote wireless flash controlled by the D7100 commander.

Either one would be highly recommended for your goal.

kind of. cost is even more a concern the more you spend the less money you have. For example it means i have 2500 less than i did before i bought a 7100 and lenses.

 

[vintagesnaps]

If you're going to try to do indoor portraits using flash you need to get in some practice shooting indoors with a flash. Before you get the kids set up try some test shots (plunk something on a chair or whatever as a stand in...). You need to learn the equipment to know how to use it better.

Try having her tip her head slightly or look at something other than directly at your eyes and the camera since at her height she seems to be looking directly into the camera and the flash. Or just wait til you can get outdoors for this and get in more practice using the flash.

 

[Braineack]

kind of. cost is even more a concern the more you spend the less money you have. For example it means i have 2500 less than i did before i bought a 7100 and lenses.

You simply traded dollars for goods. You have the same amount of money except it's now in a different form--minus depreciation/inflation.


Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[table1349]

i didn't see a option for redeye with back curtain or fill on the 7100. i know the bridge just gives me a choice of one. if i pick red eye i cant to fill or rear curtain or anything.

I am not defending it, I think Red Eye Reduction is a dumb option anyway, counterproductive, unbearable, and likely ineffective. The only thing we ever hear about it is questions: "Why is my camera doing all this delay and flashing when I use my flash". Answer is to turn Red Eye Reduction off.

The only answer to red eye is to not flash the flash directly into the eye, by instead separating the flash farther from the lens axis. Or to edit it out later.

But... there is a little more to the sync menu options offered.

(Except for Spot metering) the Nikon internal flash is TTL BL mode, which is ALWAYS fill flash mode anyway. The Nikon flash system is balanced fill flash. This is less meaningful indoors when there is no bright ambient to fill. But for the internal flash (and the SB-400 or SB-700 flash), TTL BL is default, and this sync Fill flash menu simply just means "default - excluding all of these other choices". But the other choices do not exclude TTL BL mode, which is default (however Spot Metering mode does).

Why would you want Rear Curtain for portraits? Rear Curtain is only useful for (only does anything when) too-slow shutter speeds will blur ambient continuous lights which the fast flash otherwise stops. This makes the ambient blur trail follow the sharp flash subject, instead of leading it. See D7100 menu E2 for slowest shutter speed allowed with flash if camera modes A or P. Rear Sync also overrides that menu, basically enabling Slow Sync with flash (because Rear Curtain also needs slow shutter to see a blur trail). But if flash is the major light present (if ambient is far underexposed), there will be no blur trails visible, making rear curtain be a moot point. Rear Curtain is for when you WANT TO SEE those blur trails, by using an intentionally slow shutter. An artsy thing, probably not applicable to portraits. There can be border line cases, but Fill flash is really NOT applicable to Rear Curtain blur trails.

Honestly. Grasping at straws, trying anything and everything to make a on camera flash give the results of a real light set up..

Sorry, but that is like trying to use a Ford Focus to compete in the Indy 500. You can try some of the suggestions already given, try these suggestions, buy the gear to resolve the problem, or fix it in post.