zoom flash

[Tom Raffelt]

I seem to be unable to get the flash to zoom in and out as my lens does. This is with the s2 and sb 80 dx. What am I doing wrong...or is this option just n/a with this combo.

[Tom V]

Tom,

Your flash should zoom within its range. I am not sure what that range is, but it probably is something like 24mm ~ 85mm. It probably won't zoom if you have the flip-down wide angle diffuser flipped down, in which case the flash would zoom out to its widest settting. It is possible to manually change the flash's zoom position, and it may be stuck on a manually set position. Removing the batteries for a few minutes would reset everything to defaults I would think.

It may be possible that you camera does not know the lens is zooming. Perhaps a lens/camera contact is bad or dirty. You can tell if the camera can tell if the lens is zooming using the Program Exposure Mode. The camera will pick higher shutter speeds as you zoom to longer focal lengths (without a flash attached). There is a chart in the S2's manual that shows this (page 47 in my English manual). Make sure your subject matter has an even tone so that your exposure doesn't change while you test this. IE: at ISO 100, EV 16 (brightness of scene), a 50mm lens will give you ƒ11 @ 1/500. Zoom to 300mm and the exposure settings will change to ƒ5.6 @ 1/2000. If you don't zoom, you could just change lenses to see the Program Mode compensating for longer focal length lenses.

All this might not work with old, manual focus, cheap, or broken lenses. I am sure for this to work, the lens has to have some sort of electronic contact on it to give the focal length setting to the camera.

My Nikon SB-28 occasionally gets a brain-fart and goes into Manual Zoom Mode, where the only way to change the flash zoom setting is with the button on the flash. To fix it, I have to turn the flash off then on.

When people ask me why I use fill-flash on a sunny day, I tell them they aren't bright enough.

[Mike Flood]

Tom;
If the SB-80 is like the SB-28 and SB-28DX I believe that the zoom can be disabled. I haven't had "hands-on" (or even "eyes-on) an SB-80 but the '28's have a little card that slides out with clues on how to turn on and off the various "features"

My S2 works with the '28's just fine so I gotta believe the SB-80 would as well

Best;
Mike Flood

[Mike Flood]

> When people ask me why I use fill-flash on a sunny day, I tell
> them they aren't bright enough.

LOL

I gotta remember THAT ONE!

Mike

[X-Sync]

Tom,

Like many things electronic the SB-80DX can get a little confused at times. Try pressing the mode and the on/off buttons at the same time for about two seconds, whilst the unit is turned on. This sets everything back to the default settings.

Hope this is of help

Tom V- Like the fill flash comment.

[Mike Flood]

Tom;
Tonite I decided to see how my SB-28 behaves in turning the zoom on and off.
If the display say M Zoom then it's not going to track with the lens. I was surprised to find that the control to turn on zooming only works when the flash is mounted on the camera. Just holding it in my hands without being on the camera pressing the proper combination (zoom and + button) didn't change the display but then when I mounted the flash on the camera it changed the display and the zoom worked.

I can't find my manual for the SB-28 so I couldn't see if they mention that in the manual.

[memobug]

Which lens(es)?

Originally posted by Tom Raffelt
I seem to be unable to get the flash to zoom in and out as my lens does. This is with the s2 and sb 80 dx. What am I doing wrong...or is this option just n/a with this combo.