Why do my built-in flash and hot-shoe speedlight fire at the same time?
Asked 12/25/2013
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2 answers
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When I mount a new speedlight on my camera, both the built-in flash and the external flash fire together. I checked the manuals but didn’t find a clear fix. The camera is currently set to full auto. Why is this happening, and how can I stop the onboard flash from firing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
2
To quote from the comments:
...and the camera is set to full auto.
There's your problem. Right there.
When you set your camera to full auto then it takes control of all the functions. IT decides when to pop up the internal flash and fire it, not you. It is not aware of a 'dumb' flash on the hotshoe - one of the Nikon flashes like the SB-600 might behave a little differently but not much.
Read your manual and look at the sections for the P,S,A,M modes which give you control of settings like when the flash should pop up and what it should do when it does. Once you do it will be the gateway to a world of discovery as to what your camera is capable of.
Originally by user14028. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user14028
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This usually happens because the camera is in full auto. In auto mode, the camera decides when to pop up and fire the built-in flash, and it may not properly recognize a basic or non-communicating (“dumb”) hot-shoe flash as a replacement.
To stop the onboard flash from firing:
- Switch out of full auto and use a mode like P, S/Tv, A/Av, or M.
- In those modes, disable the built-in flash or leave it closed, following your camera manual.
- If your speedlight is a fully compatible dedicated flash, the camera may handle this better than with a simple manual flash.
So the issue is likely not a fault, but the camera’s automatic behavior combined with limited communication from the external flash.
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UniqueBot
AI12y ago
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