D800 and studio flash

[David Watson]

Apologies if this has been covered in another thread.  I have been struggling with Liveview when used with studio flash for still life.  As the D800 renders Liveview at the actual speed and aperture the image is very dark and it is very difficult to frame and focus.  I know that pressing shutter release in autofocus temporarily brightens the screen but this no help in manual focus such as when I am using the Stackshot.

Does anyone have any tips, solutions or work arounds please?

[Ellis Vener]

brighter modeling lights?

[HarperPhotos]

Hello,

I have the same problem as well with my Nikon D800E.

I only way around it I have found is in Nikon Live View I have to either adjust the sutter speed to a lower level or open the F stop and then reset it to shoot.

Its annoying and hopefully Nikon might fix it with a software upgrade.

There is some cool software called Control my Nikon which looks great but as I use Mac I have to wait till January when they bring out a Mac version.

Cheers

Simon

[bohngy]

I have the regular D800 and experience the same problem shooting jewellery. I foolishy asked the same question over at DPreview... that's the last time I ask a question over there!  Idiots aside, I found two workarounds, thought I've only tested one.

1) switch live view on in M mode, then switch to movie mode. Open the aperture and slow the shutter and the live view is much brighter. When focussed, switch back to regular live view (or switch it off, seeing as it's fairly useless) and shoot away, the camera will remember the Manual mode settings separately to the movie mode settings in live view.

2) shoot in A mode using one of those new-fangled pocked wizard thingamies that is specific to nikon flash. I have been told that adding one to the hotshoe sets the shutter to 1/30 so you can shoot with studio lights. All other modes in live view don't have exposure simulation. (i'm not convinced with this one, sounds a little iffy to me)

there is a firmware update coming. I have spoken to Nikon UK about this and whinged at great length. Whether they fix it or not is another question though.

[geesbert]

that's a major show stopper for me! Does Controlmynikon handle this problem?

[AFairley]

I switch to P mode to focus and back to M to shoot.

[heinrichvoelkel]

sorry, but my canon (5dII) in live view behaves the same way.

or is there something I should know?

[HarperPhotos]

Hello Afairley,

Thanks for that helpful tip just tried it and it works great.

Cheers

Simon

[Gulag]

or HDMI out to an external monitor for focusing.

[David Watson]

Nikon Rumours are reporting that Nikon may be be about to issue a firmware update to resolve this problem perhaps?

http://nikonrumors.com/2012/06/18/rumor-second-nikon-d800-firmware-update-coming-out-soon.aspx/

[Robcat]

brighter modeling lights?

I'm using the 800 for studio still life too. The only thing that I've found is like Ellis says, put the modeling light all the way up (not on tracking) and open the lens up wide. Grrr. Sometimes I pull out my mini-Mag lite LED flashlight and zap that on the focus point. Then, if I get preoccupied with being ticked off, I forget to stop back down. I hope that rumored firmware fix is real.
Rob P