D90 - why won't it shoot? - now with added video!

martsharm

martsharm

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I shot a fashion show last night, using my D90 and an off-camera SB-600.

I haven't had time to sort out the results as yet, but I was deeply irritated by one thing - the D90 will simply refuse to shoot on pressing the shutter button at regular intervals, and I'm wanting some advice on why this is. My best guess is that the SB-600 hadn't had a enough time to recharge, but I want the shot, and if it's a choice between on-camera flash only or getting no shot at all, I want the shot! The models were posing at the camera and there's me squishing the shutter button and nothing's happening! Incredibly frustrating.

The other possibility is that it doesn't shoot if it thinks it's out of focus, but other times it does (I have some out of focus shots to prove it!). The D40 seems to do this from time to time - using back focus button to focus and then recompose, sometimes the D40 refuses to shoot because it thinks it's gone out of focus. So I have to back-button autofocus, switch to manual focus but not adjust focus, and shoot.

Anyone got any explanation for the above behaviour, and any tips on how to avoid it? Cheers.

Edit:

Here's a little video of the principle of what's going on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martsharm/4313717318/
 
Are you using manual or auto focus? If auto, then that could well be the issue if it was in low light.
 
Back button auto. I used the focus assist when necessary, it seemed to do ok, especially the central cross-type focus point. Surely the whole point of back-button auto is complete control, I can focus on what I like, recompose, and then shoot even when the camera think it's out of focus? Frankly I don't care for the camera's opinion on whether it's out of focus or not, I'm ready to take that responsibility!:p And there are a few out of focus shots, so I just don't know if it's a focus issue or a flash issue.
 
sb600 takes about one and half seconds to recharge, after a full flash burst .depending on how far away from the models you were i would,nt have thought it would have fired full power, so should,nt be a recharging issue .

to increase recharge time use less power or a larger aperture (wider)
did you have your camera in (c) continuos auto focus as this will not let the shutter fire if no focus light bottom left of your view finder you can change this in the menus you can fire the sb600 at six frames a second if you set it up right :eek: hth mike could you give me all the details of any shot so i can see how you were set up :thumbs:
 
martsharm said:
Back button auto. I used the focus assist when necessary, it seemed to do ok, especially the central cross-type focus point. Surely the whole point of back-button auto is complete control, I can focus on what I like, recompose, and then shoot even when the camera think it's out of focus? Frankly I don't care for the camera's opinion on whether it's out of focus or not, I'm ready to take that responsibility!:p And there are a few out of focus shots, so I just don't know if it's a focus issue or a flash issue.
Click to expand...

thats OK - but you still need to tell your camera that. Set it to release priority rather than focus priority in the menus to get this

Hugh
 
dinorock said:
to increase recharge time use less power or a larger aperture (wider)
did you have your camera in (c) continuos auto focus as this will not let the shutter fire if no focus light bottom left of your view finder you can change this in the menus you can fire the sb600 at six frames a second if you set it up right :eek: hth mike could you give me all the details of any shot so i can see how you were set up :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Ultimately, if this is the problem, consider an SB800 and use the additional battery adapter. Helps a lot although it may seem like a drastic thing to do (buy another piece of equipment)
 
Continuous auto - tick

That could be why. Although I was holding the back button, had the green focus light - maybe it just wasn't confident enough I was in focus.

This reminds me of when I was trying to find out why the focus assist light wasn't working (donsn't work in AF-C and only for central focus point).

As far as the SB is concerned, it could have been using a lot of power for some shots as the models kept moving around (as models do!) I couldn't hear the beeps as the show progressed due to the music, but practice shots beforehand worked fine below full power.

Cheers for the tips so far.
 
martsharm said:
Is that definitely the D90? Must have searched that menu loads of times. Will check when I get home. Cheers for the tip.
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no thats the d300 but it was the same on my d50 so i should think its still there on the 90 hth mike
 
martsharm said:
Is that definitely the D90? Must have searched that menu loads of times. Will check when I get home. Cheers for the tip.
Click to expand...

just googled the menus on the D90 and its NOT there sorry for misleading you oops just another reason you should have got the 300 :bang:
 
dinorock said:
just googled the menus on the D90 and its NOT there sorry for misleading you oops just another reason you should have got the 300 :bang:
Click to expand...

Ha ha... actually it's becoming more clear that I'm exploring the D90 to the limits as I progress with "work" rather than "hobby" (I'm not a pro by any means but I feel I've taken the first few steps in that direction). So of course the little missing menu options and AF system foibles start to loom ever larger in practice. Very interesting - the last thing I should be thinking about is another camera... :eek:
 
martsharm said:
Ha ha... actually it's becoming more clear that I'm exploring the D90 to the limits as I progress with "work" rather than "hobby" (I'm not a pro by any means but I feel I've taken the first few steps in that direction). So of course the little missing menu options and AF system foibles start to loom ever larger in practice. Very interesting - the last thing I should be thinking about is another camera... :eek:
Click to expand...

the D3 calls to me but my credit card starts crying :lol::lol::lol:
 
dinorock said:
did you have your camera in (c) continuos auto focus as this will not let the shutter fire if no focus light bottom left of your view finder you can change this in the menus
Click to expand...

Sorry Mike but after a bit of playing I'm afraid for the benefit of everyone reading this - you are dead wrong on both counts :shrug:

On the D90, AF-C is the only mode which will shoot when out of focus. Neither AF-S or AF-A will shoot when out of focus. And focus/shutter priority can not be set on the D90.

Moreover, the D40 won't shoot out of focus at all, in any of the focus modes, without switching the lens to manual first. What a bummer. I can't believe I've just realised this - the power of back button focusing.

I had to clear this up to prevent any confusion, sorry... :)
 
I made a little video to demonstrate what's happening:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martsharm/4313717318/

For the record, I think the problem here is the length of time it takes the D90's on board commander flash to recharge. After a full charge, it can make a maximum of 14 flashes at minimum power until what seems like a long period (about 6 seconds) of recharge. Then it can manage only a couple of shots before recharging again. I'm going to have to shoot sparingly to avoid maxing-out the on-board flash buffer.

I don't think it's directly related to the use of the SB-600 - the reason I've noticed this right now is because CLS puts a lot of stick through the on-board flash, which I've never done before (previously using an SB-400 for on-camera).

There we go. Not much to do about it apart from buying an SB-800 or 900 to act as on-board commander. Ho-hum.
 
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