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SF-20 flash on M8, occasionally not firing?


dpattinson

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I tried using my SF-20 flash on the M8 to shoot a work event. I noticed that occasionally the flash would not fire, generally on the first exposure after not shooting for a period of time. Is it supposed to be possible to use the SF-20?

 

The flash was definitely powered up, and would fire on the immediate subsequent shot.

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Are you sure it was powered up? The SF24D has an auto-shutoff that seems to be linked to with the camera power-off, but needs a second more to power up the flash than the camera. I don't know how this feature would affect the SF20 flash, which was obviously not conceived to function on the sophisticated electronic controls of a digital camera.

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Are you sure it was powered up? The SF24D has an auto-shutoff that seems to be linked to with the camera power-off, but needs a second more to power up the flash than the camera. I don't know how this feature would affect the SF20 flash, which was obviously not conceived to function on the sophisticated electronic controls of a digital camera.

 

Hmmm, it's possible that the flash had gone to sleep I guess. I'll try some test shots with it and check. I don't think my camera was powering off, since the shutter tripped immediately.

 

<edit>

I was using auto, with a manually set shutter speed of 1/250

</edit>

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I have noticed what could be similar erratic behaviour with Nikon SB80 flash on M8. On auto exposure it will not flash if it wants shutter speed above 250, but after I got past that one, I have noticed an occasional case where it wont fire. It may have to do with the wakeup procedure, and, if so, lets hope it will be fixed with the new upgrade this Friday.

 

Bob Pierce

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Same for me with a Nikon flash. The flash will not fire of course if the available light meter is asking for faster than 1/250 as Bob says. The M8 does not appear to be able to wake the flash from standby so it's best do disable that function on the flash.

 

Haven't seen it on the SF-24D, don't have a '20.

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I tried using my SF-20 flash on the M8 to shoot a work event. I noticed that occasionally the flash would not fire, generally on the first exposure after not shooting for a period of time. Is it supposed to be possible to use the SF-20?

 

The flash was definitely powered up, and would fire on the immediate subsequent shot.

 

I've experienced the same problem with my M8 and SF20. Can't make it happen on demand though.

 

Bruce

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Another thing: The M8 will not trigger a flash if a shutter speed shorter than 1/250th is set.

 

Not a concern when I was using the flash. I either had the shutter speed set to Auto or 1/250th or slower. I could understand if the flash didn't fire at all; in these instances the flash just doesn't fire, but the next time the shutter is pressed it does. I've never been able to determine any kind of pattern.

 

Bruce

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