What is my Nikon (D7000) telling me?

[sk66]

Whenever I put a flash (SB800/600) on the D7000 (hotshoe/cable) it shows huge underexposure. But when I take the picture it's fine and pretty much as expected. When in Aperture priority with an auto ISO range the settings it shows prior to taking the picture are not the settings actually used (ISO/SS).

Can the camera use the external flash in FP even if the external is not in FP mode?

I don't recall this behavior in my D3. My D3 would show sync speed or the set SS for the aperture (ambient exposure) and the flash would be TTL fill....Similar results, but what was going to happen was obvious before taking the picture.

Maybe I'm nuts. I don't do a lot of flash work and I don't have the D3 anymore so I can't compare. The camera seems to be telling me what will happen if the flash should fail to fire. I haven't found anything in the manual to explain this.

[OsmosisStudios]

If im understanding you correctly, you're saying the meter is showing that the shot will be underexposed, but it's not. And this isnt as what you used to get from your D3.

[TheMoons678]

I'm used to that from my d90. The meter will read underexposed at say 1/60 in the viewfinder with my sb600 mounted, but expose well according to how I have dialed in the sb600.

Also it will keep metering and tell different exposures on the top LCD, even though it will remain fixed at 1/60 in the viewfinder.

[sk66]

Yep, that's the gist of it.
So how do you know what the exposure will be? Obviously I could go into manual and lock it all down, but that's not the point.

[TheMoons678]

I guess i dont rely on the meter too much while in Aperture priority. I just set the aperture, the ISO, and the flash output +/- I set on the sb600 itself, checking the histogram after shots. Exposure is going to be whatever the flash shutter speed is set to (1/60) unless I have auto fp on and go in Manual.

[sk66]

But my camera doesn't show me the SS it's going to use (This matters to me usually). I'm not so concerned about it saying underexposure but rather what settings will be used. In aperture priority auto ISO the only thing I *know* will be applied is the aperture..everything else seems somewhat random.

I do have the camera set to auto FP Sync and the pop-up set to commander, but the external being used isn't set to FP nor indicating FP.

[JFSanders]

It is telling you to upgrade your ancient flash unit to a SB-900/910 so that you get metering on the flash display and a much easier unit to change settings on.

Jim

[sk66]

Really??? That sucks.
Don't think I'll be doing that for how little I use flash and the ~$600 cost.
It's not like I'm "lost" just because the camera is stupid.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

It is telling you to upgrade your ancient flash unit to a SB-900/910 so that you get metering on the flash display and a much easier unit to change settings on.

Jim

I think you forgot the "/s" bit to that

[JFSanders]

Originally Posted by sk66

Really??? That sucks.
Don't think I'll be doing that for how little I use flash and the ~$600 cost.
It's not like I'm "lost" just because the camera is stupid.

Yeh, I forgot my snark icon... But I know you weren't lost, just aggravated that your ancient flash bulb thingy was causing your bleeding edge camera to give you erroneous output.

Even though you hardly ever use it the flash would be something to add to your arsenal when shooting fowl in the wild. Add a Better Beamer and get great separation from the back ground and the ability to up the shutter speed too!