New *ist-ds, built in flash problems

Hi everyone,
I just bought a brand new *ist-ds. I'm having problems with the built in flash indoors. When I take a photo using the built in flash, I can see the majority of the light from the flash through the viewfinder before the shutter opens and the pictures are very underexposed. I would estimate that 75% of the flash seems to be being lost through the viewfinder due to either the flash firing too soon or the shutter opening too late. Has anyone else had this problem? Its very frustrating.

Thank you,

Paul

P.S. pictures taken with an external flash on the hot shoe turn out good.

You have two things going on, it seems. One is that you may be seeing the pre-flash for red-eye reductin, see if you can turn it off. But if the on-camera flash is underexposing, make sure you don't have any flash compensation set, then have the camera checked out.

Thanks, I'm definitely sending the camera back on monday. I just tried the low quality settings for the first time and the pictures all looked like this...

href="http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]" rel="nofollow" class="outlink" http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]">target="blank">http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]

also, was experimenting with the built in flash and found that it only underexposes shots that are focused at a close distance, if I stand back and take a picture of the whole room, the shot looks better but if I get close to a particular subject in the room, the camera underexposes. Oh, and the red eye reduction was off.

Sorry to be blunt, but most problems with these cameras are down to operator ignorance, not camera error.

The RTF (built-in flash) on a DSLR operates in P-TTL mode, which means that it fires a rapid succession of "pre-flashes" to enable the camera to assess exposure. This is what you are seeing through the view-finder, and consider to be "wasted" light.

Bear in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect flash exposure system. When using the camera very close to the subject there are all sorts of reasons why the camera may give the wrong exposure. The only sensible approach is to put it on manual, and experiment with aperture settings until the exposure is OK.

Bear in mind, too, that the RTF is very low-powered. It is always better to use a proper flash-gun.

I can't access your link, but I presume the pictures you are showing are of low quality. Guess what? Low quality settings give low quality results. Why somebody would spend a load of cash on an expensive camera and then use low quality mode is a mystery. If you are short of memory, buy another card.

From what you have said, there is is absolutely nothing wrong with your camera, other than its owner's impatience. DSLRs are complicated things, and it will be months before you master yours. If you wanted an idiot-proof camera, you should have bought a point&shoot. So, sell it, or RTFM.

George

Incidentally, DSLRs are not designed to output a "print-ready" image.

You will have to tweak your images in order to optimise them, either for viewing on-screen or for printing.

If you know nothing about digital image editing, I suggest you start very gradually. Download Irfanview and play with the Gamma, Contrast and Saturation settings in the Image menu.

http://www.irfanview.com/ (It's free.)

Once it looks right, resize the picture if you want to view it on screen. 1024*768 is a good choice.

Finally, sharpen it and save it. Don't overwrite your original file.

Always shoot the largest, best-quality JPEGs (until you're ready to graduate to RAW).

G

I understand what you are saying and appreciate the help. Please look at the photo in the album at this link...
href="http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]" rel="nofollow" class="outlink" http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]">target="blank">http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]
This is the photo I attempted to show above.

When I got mine I thought I had a problem. But I decided to give it a fair go and did learn that it underexposed when focusing too closely. Now that I know the camera I have no problem. After a year there are still lots of things that I don't know about it.

How many do their camera inside out??????.

As a last resort, I read the instructions, although sometimes the translation from Japanese can be somewhat mysterious....

Yikes!

Are you getting results like this in sunlight? Your picture looks terrible, though conceivably it could be caused by the camera attempting to compensate for the flash not firing. For this to have this result, you would need to have the camera set to adjust the ISO when there was not enough light.

If all your pictures are like this, take the camera back. If this is a one-off, then, as I said, there may be a rational explanation.

I'm going to send you a private message. Respond to the email address I give you, and attach the original picture. There may be some clues in the EXIF data.

G

If you click on the album under the link I posted, and then click the image then click the download button just above the image, you can download it and see the EXIF data. Incidentally, the flash did fire on that shot, it was taken on the AUTO PICT mode in the 4M size.

Thanks for your time,

Paul

Yes, I see.

Unfortunately the data doesn't show anything unusual.

However, is this how all your pictures are turning out, or just a few, or just this one?

If it's all or several of them, then back to the shop it should go.

If it's just one, then I wonder if some freak circumstance might have caused it. With sensitive electronics, it's conceivable that something like a mobile phone transmitting near to the camera might have been responsible.

Or even a poltergeist. Don't laugh. I lived with a poltergeist once. Anything electrical packed up as soon as she came near. Cost me a fortune.

But I'm sure the explanation for this is more banal, and more easily solveable.

G