My D3100 and external flash,..a question

[faeriegodess612]

So, the photographer that I work for put a flash on my camera. When we'd press the shutter release to take a photo, the built in flash would pop up. The external would still fire. He said the built in isnt supposed to do that. So we tried to figure out why it was doing it,... I was going to look it up and kept forgetting to. There's more story behind this question,...but it;s too much to go into at the moment.

I've looked online and the only conclusion that I can come up with is that my camera did that because the flash wasnt an SB series flash unit. It was made for Canon cameras,..not Nikons and thats why my camera didnt recognize it and auto switch off the built in flash.

He shoots Canon, btw,...just to make sure that was clear.

So my question: Is my assumption right? That it wont recognize it because it isnt an SB series, or is there some setting that I couldnt find?

[sk66]

Probably it's because the flash was for a Canon. Only one (I think) of the connections on the shoe needs to be made to fire the flash, the others are there to communicate other information (iTTL etc). I'm kind of surprised it even fired....

[candleman]

Canon + Nikon = funny business

[OsmosisStudios]

Yeeeah, dont do that. Only bad things can ensue.

And I'm not referring to the universe imploding, but its a possibility.

[SwissJon]

Same as above.. You need a Nikon Flash for a Nikon camera otherwise the built in flash pops up - ah, you already know that The signal is sent so that the Nikon works with Canon stuff, just not quite as well.

The annoying thing about this is that you also need a remote flash sender from Nikon to do off camera flash.

As a temporary fix, tape the on camera flash in place.

[phaither]

hmmm....i'm not so surte it was a nikon/canon issue. i shoot with a D3100 also and have a Nikon SB 900. on occasion, my built-in pops up too. i'd love to know why. maybe this is a question for ken rockwell.....
faith

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by phaither

... ken rockwell.....

Get out. *points to door*

[Dennismc]

What mode is the camera in?

If its in Auto mode I have found the pop will always pop up then, never have the issue on my d3100 unless I accidentally pop the dial to auto...

[faeriegodess612]

Thanks guys.

[faeriegodess612]

Even if its in Manual, it did it. I'm pretty sure its because it was a Canon flash on a Nikon camera. I asked him if the flash was an SB 600, 900 or what? He said "huh?" *sigh* I want to scream at him sometimes.

" Canon is NOT the only maker of camera gear!!! " Photoshop is not a tool to be used to crop down the photos, and not everyone starts out as a portrait photographer,.. I only showed you the best pictures from my Nikon because I felt they were the only ones relevant. But now you seem to be holding it against me!!!"

Like I said,...long story behind the question. I'll explain later.