V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 601
flash exposure calculations slightly more subject to error than
the during-exposure re-measurement the film bodies do.
The more likely problem of preflash on the D300 is that it
triggers “early blinkers.” There’s just enough time between the
preflash and the actual flash that some fast-responding
individuals will start to or already have blinked their eyes in
response to the preflash by the time the actual flash goes
off
145
. That almost never happened with the old film TTL
system. The problem is especially noticeable on a D300 if
you set the camera to 14-bit NEF recording, where there’s an
extra delay between shutter press and shutter opening.
A few paragraphs back you’ll note that I wrote that the D300
“normally attempts to balance the flash with the ambient
light” when in Balanced Fill-Flash mode (
TTL BL
). That
“normally” is an intentional qualifier that needs some
discussion. Nikon DSLRs previous to the D200 tended to
continue to try to balance ambient and subject light, even in
dark conditions. Ones since then—including the D300—don’t
do that, as they recognize low light conditions and change the
strategy of
TTL BL
. Unlike, for example, the D70 or D100,
the D300 seems to do a better job of lighting the subject
independently of the background exposure when you’re using
flash. Thus, the old “background dim means subject will be
dim” result that some earlier Nikon DSLRs produced seems to
be gone. That removes one of my objections to using
TTL BL
as the default.
One other slight change that will only be of interest to
seasoned Nikon flash users: there is no longer any indicator of
the
type
of Balanced Fill-Flash that the camera performs if you
use an older autofocus lens (the ones that didn’t provide
distance information to the camera). On some older Nikon
bodies, subtle differences snuck into Balanced Fill-Flash
levels, usually due to the metering system and lens being
145
Hint
: use
FV Lock
to control when the preflash is done. See CSM #F4 on page
<576>.
