Flash, beginner question about setup.

[Billybunter]

I have just bought a YongNuo Yn568EX flash to go with my Nikon D610, and would welcome some advice about setting it all up. At the moment, when I press the shutter button, the flash fires off a series of mini flashes, then after a second or two, takes the picture. Is that the best way to go?. I would like to be able to press the shutter button and take the photo straightaway, but don't know if that is a good idea, or how to set everything up to achieve this. I've noticed that when there is a news item on the tv, and there are professional photographers taking photos of celebs, politicians, etc. they don't seem to get these mini flashes going off, just the main flash that takes the picture. Is that a good way to go?
Any tips or advice very welcome. Thanks.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I think the mini flashes are 'red eye' reduction flashes. You should be able to turn that feature off.

[Saorsa]

If it is a second or so of miniflashes it is redeye reduction. If it is just one brief flicker it is likely the Nikon CLS system sending out control flashes.

[Manfred M]

David - I would suggest reading the flash manual as well as your camera manual with regards to shooting flash first and then start shooting with it.

I would agree with Alan that you have set the "Red Eye Reduction" function on, so disabling it would be a good first step. Red eye is usually more of an issue you are likely to run into with the camera's built in flash. The Yongnuo unit you have bought likely sits high enough up on the camera for it to likely not need this functionality. I believe that the unit you bought is similar to the Nikon Speedlight line and has full integration with your camera, so turning off this functionality is likely done through a camera setting. This is definitely how it works on my Nikon cameras .

[Billybunter]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the replies. The manual that came with the flash is very basic, half in Chinese and half in English, and not easy to follow. I will look into the 'Red Eye' settings on the camera.
Thanks again.

[DanK]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the replies. The manual that came with the flash is very basic, half in Chinese and half in English, and not easy to follow. I will look into the 'Red Eye' settings on the camera.
Thanks again.

I don't shoot Nikon, but the camera controls may not handle this. Some of the camera controls will be for the built-in flash. There might be separate controls for a shoe mounted flash, and if so, the Yongnuo may or may or may not recognize them. If you have difficulty doing it with the camera, try googling. Yongnuo flashes are very common, so I am guessing that lots of people have posted about this.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi David,

To save dredging the menus, a quicker way to change the Flash settings which I use on my D7100 camera is to hold down the Pop-up Flash/Flash EC button (left side of pentaprism housing towards the front, then rotate the Command (rear) dial, this should cycle through the available options (how many options there are depends what mode the camera is in; P, A, S, M or Scene modes, etc.). You can see the Flash modes changing on the top LCD panel, on left hand side of LCD. Anything with an eyeball symbol is a form of Red-eye Reduction which will cause the issue you have, so choose an option that doesn't show that.

I do advise you read the camera's manual for the basics like this (I did when I bought a Godox TT685 recently).

However, I can also thoroughly recommend doing a YouTube search on "YongNuo 568" and watch a few videos of people reviewing them, you'll learn a lot (I did). (you need to watch a few as some are better than others)

Cheers, Dave

[inkista]

I have just bought a YongNuo Yn568EX flash to go with my Nikon D610...

I have the Canon opposite number. I love mine, but YMMV, as YN seems to reverse-engineer their stuff off Canon gear, so it's going to seem a little more alien to you as a Nikon shooter than to a Canon shooter.

At the moment, when I press the shutter button, the flash fires off a series of mini flashes, then after a second or two, takes the picture. Is that the best way to go?

It can be annoying for your subjects. First thing, make sure you're out of MULTI (repeating flashes) mode, and 2nd/rear-curtain sync if you've got that set with a slow shutter speed (this can cause additional weird late firing). Make sure you're out of CLS slave (Sn) mode, and out of red-eye reduction flash. I don't think the YN-568EX has commander capability--the 568EXII has it, but that's Canon-only, iirc.

I would like to be able to press the shutter button and take the photo straightaway, but don't know if that is a good idea, or how to set everything up to achieve this.

If you're using iTTL to automate setting the flash power based on metering, there will always be a delay, but the convenience of having the camera set the power level for you, may be something you want if you're run'n'gun event shooting. You may not have time to dial it in yourself manually. If you're in a studio setting, however, and can take your time, then M mode on the flash, and adjusting the power setting on the back of the flash may be the way to go, so long as you aren't moving, and the light conditions aren't constantly changing.

TTL works by having the camera tell the flash to send out a "preflash" burst of light at a low known level of light. This preflash is metered by the camera, and then the power of the flash is adjusted according to the meter reading. So, you can't avoid having a preflash if you want to have automated flash power setting.

CLS also works via preflashes, only here, they're more like morse code to relay commands from the camera to the remote flash, and you will have multiple preflashes, not just the metering one.

Flash photography takes a while to learn. My recommendation would be to take a cruise through Neil van Niekerk's Tangents website's Flash Photography Techniques section (or the deadtree version) to get the basics of on-camera flash and bouncing under your belt.

[Billybunter]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
Some very helpful advice here.

Thanks again.