Nikon D60 Technical Flash Question

dEARlEADER · Apr 11, 2008

Hey Everyone,

I have a D60 and the SB400 and my question(s) are:

1. Does the D60 calibrate the power of the flash depending on current shooting conditions?

and if so,

2. Does the D60 realize when I'm bouncing the flash and make necessary power adjustments for flash bounce?

I am aware that the D60 recognizes that I am bouncing... as the ? mark annoyingly flashes to inform my flash is not pointing forward. I just don't know if it makes the adjustment for bounce. I've had some recent pictures turn out a little underexposed and not sure if the ceiling is too high, or D60 not throttling up the flash to max.

tks

Village Idiot · Apr 11, 2008

dEARlEADER said:
Hey Everyone,

I have a D60 and the SB400 and my question(s) are:

1. Does the D60 calibrate the power of the flash depending on current shooting conditions?

and if so,

2. Does the D60 realize when I'm bouncing the flash and make necessary power adjustments for flash bounce?

I am aware that the D60 recognizes that I am bouncing... as the ? mark annoyingly flashes to inform my flash is not pointing forward. I just don't know if it makes the adjustment for bounce. I've had some recent pictures turn out a little underexposed and not sure if the ceiling is too high, or D60 not throttling up the flash to max.

tks

No. But that's why there's FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation). I don't know if your flash can adjust 1/3 stops or just full but I usually boost my flash to fire +2/3 - +1 stop higher when I'm bouncing it off of a standard 8'-10' ceiling.

Garbz · Apr 12, 2008

You sure about that Village, it appears as though the Nikon D60 is fully iTTL compatible (as it should be), and thus would TTL meter regardless if the flash is in the bounce position or not.

TTL means through the lens, and it adjusts the output of the flash based on a pre-measurement flash. So yes it adjusts to shooting conditions, but that said like every camera meter the camera does not know what it is looking at, so it may get the intensity wrong.

Socrates · Apr 12, 2008

Garbz said:
You sure about that Village, it appears as though the Nikon D60 is fully iTTL compatible (as it should be), and thus would TTL meter regardless if the flash is in the bounce position or not.

TTL means through the lens, and it adjusts the output of the flash based on a pre-measurement flash. So yes it adjusts to shooting conditions, but that said like every camera meter the camera does not know what it is looking at, so it may get the intensity wrong.

I was about to say the same thing. My hunch is that it's a metering issue. My D80 meters ambient light perfectly but I have the flash permanently set to provide 0.7 stop more intensity. This adjustment works for direct and bounce flash.