D7500 and external flash off-camera mode issue

[Mogali]

Hi All,

I have been away from this forum for very long time but was reading some posts sometimes. My D7000 died few months back so recently I purchased used D7500 in excellent condition with very low shutter count (only 2300).. Camera is fine, still getting used to it though. I have external flash Yongnuo YN568ex which worked perfectly fine with my D7000 but not working as expected with D7500.

So I can use this flash fine when its mounted 'on-camera' but its not working as expected when off-camera. When off-camera I can see flash does in fact trigger but photos are coming way too dark as if taken in dark room with very limited light (even when subjet is within 2-3 feets from flash). So I'm not sure if this flash is compatible with D7500 or not for off-camera mode.

Has anyone used this same flash in off-camera mode with D7500? Not sure if there is any setting that I'm missing. In flash I have set it to i-TTL, off-camera, Sn A Group, channel 1. In camera I have enabled 'wireless flash option' under 'Flash control' setting and set 'built-in-flash' to --, Group A to TTL, Channel 1. (It's weird that Nikon changed this setting location for external flash compared to previous models.)

In case this flash is not compatible with D7500 then can purchasing YN-622N Wireless Flash Controller fix this issue in off-camera mode (I'm not even sure if this is controller is compatible with D7500)?

Thanks in advance

 

[David Lal]

So I can use this flash fine when its mounted 'on-camera' but its not working as expected when off-camera. When off-camera I can see flash does in fact trigger but photos are coming way too dark as if taken in dark room

I don't have this flashgun myself, nor a D7500 but think I am reasonably competent with flashguns in general (do I delude myself?!!).

This has to be a timing issue.

I understand the flashgun saves its previous settings so could it be that it has saved the way you set it with your older camera and that is not right for your new one?

As a work-around try putting it in its S2 mode and triggering it optically using the built in flash on the camera or another flashgun in its hot shoe. Be sure to have set shutter speed no higher than the camera's x-sync and be sure not to be using auto-ISO.

 

[Mogali]

So I can use this flash fine when its mounted 'on-camera' but its not working as expected when off-camera. When off-camera I can see flash does in fact trigger but photos are coming way too dark as if taken in dark room

I don't have this flashgun myself, nor a D7500 but think I am reasonably competent with flashguns in general (do I delude myself?!!).

This has to be a timing issue.

I understand the flashgun saves its previous settings so could it be that it has saved the way you set it with your older camera and that is not right for your new one?

As a work-around try putting it in its S2 mode and triggering it optically using the built in flash on the camera or another flashgun in its hot shoe. Be sure to have set shutter speed no higher than the camera's x-sync and be sure not to be using auto-ISO.

Thanks for your reply David. Not sure if it is timing issue or something else. Further tests reveal that exposure is coming ok now if I increase flash exposure compensation to say +1.0 via camera menu setting where you select group and channel. If it was timing issue then I think increasing flash exposure compensation would not have any effect. Issue I'm facing is indoor photos are coming way dark when flash exposure compensation is set to zero. Never needed to increase this value on my D7000, images were perfected exposed with flash in i-TTL mode.

Tried S2 mode as well as you suggested, it worked but I had to manually adjust the flash output. Never used S1/S2 modes before so don't know much about them.

Has anyone used this flash with D7500? If yes, is it working for you in i-TTL mode? Any more suggestions on resolving my above issue?

Thanks

 

[David Lal]

Thanks for your reply David. Not sure if it is timing issue or something else. Further tests reveal that exposure is coming ok now if I increase flash exposure compensation to say +1.0 via camera menu setting where you select group and channel. If it was timing issue then I think increasing flash exposure compensation would not have any effect.

The reason I think it is a timing issue is that you see the remote guns firing but my experience is that they are firing too late because the shutter curtains have opened, the exposure made and then the curtains have closed. Only then do the remote flashguns fire and so are not contributing to the exposure.

If you have the popup or onboard flashgun firing it may be the only contributor to exposure - but not enough. Raising flash EV to +1 then alleviates that problem but is not giving you the effect you want because the remotes are not part of the act.

One way to test is to take a picture of the remote - do you see a blast of light coming from it?

 

[Mogali]

Thanks for your reply David. Not sure if it is timing issue or something else. Further tests reveal that exposure is coming ok now if I increase flash exposure compensation to say +1.0 via camera menu setting where you select group and channel. If it was timing issue then I think increasing flash exposure compensation would not have any effect.

The reason I think it is a timing issue is that you see the remote guns firing but my experience is that they are firing too late because the shutter curtains have opened, the exposure made and then the curtains have closed. Only then do the remote flashguns fire and so are not contributing to the exposure.

If you have the popup or onboard flashgun firing it may be the only contributor to exposure - but not enough. Raising flash EV to +1 then alleviates that problem but is not giving you the effect you want because the remotes are not part of the act.

One way to test is to take a picture of the remote - do you see a blast of light coming from it?

Don't think popup flash is contributing to the exposure in my above case as I have set 'built-in-flash' mode to -- in the camera. For the test just now I took one photo (in A-mode) with off-camera flash turned ON (with +0.7 flash compensation set in camera), it did came back ok (still looks under-exposed but its not dark photo) , then I turned off the ext flash (camera is still set to wireless flash mode), then I took same photo again, this time camera flash did triggered like before but photo was almost black. So camera flash is not contributing to the exposure.

When I take a picture of the remote I can see its just one big flash (not series of flash if thats what you mean). Not sure what the issue it here.

 

[David Lal]

Hmmm ....

Time for a rethink. Beginning to run out of ideas. What you should see is something like this:

Loading…

4.img-dpreview.com

What about doing a factory-reset of the camera and of the flashguns?

 

[Mogali]

Hmmm ....

Time for a rethink. Beginning to run out of ideas. What you should see is something like this:

https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/65762691/c34d314980fa4f1d8de4a6a23ddc3f2e

What about doing a factory-reset of the camera and of the flashguns?

Yes, thats how I also got when I took picture of the remote.. I did reset all settings few days back when I received this used camera.. If I reset again now then I'll have to go through lot of settings again to set the camera properly but if this issue does not get resolved somehow in next few days then I'll do factory reset again... Lets see..