I have a basic digital camera. and i have taken a few nice underground shots.
I just bought a new flash and my firefly 2 arrived today, Yippi
i set it all up and the camera flash triggers the slave which triggers the flash.
But the picture still comes out dark like i had no flash on at all.
I have iso settings of 100 200 and 400
so i had it on 100 .

the only way i was able to get a picture was to take the camera off flash and use my tv remote control to trigger the flash.
But then it was too bright

Im stumped!!! :x :shock:

Perhaps your digital camera fires a pre-flash which triggers the slave and main flash before the shutter opens?

As Paul says it sounds very likely your camera has a pre-flash.. From what I can gather its not possible to turn it off on a lot of cameras, but it may be worth delving into the depths of menus and options to see if its possible.

If it is that and you can't get rid of pre-flash then theres the pricey firefly3 which learns which flash to fire on and would solve such a problem..

do all digital cameras do the preflash thingey.or is it because mine is about 3 years old?
any recommendations for a sub £200 camera that has the ability to get rid of the pre flash.
I was thinking of getting a new camera anyway .I have just bought the firefly 2 and I think a new camera would be a better investment.
reccomendations please!

do all digital cameras do the preflash thingey.or is it because mine is about 3 years old?

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I have one that is 2-3years old without pre-flash, but the one I use above ground does and I can't turn it of it
A lot seem to have a pre-flash.. Its a case of asking, if asking here doesn't bring results, try emailing the manafacturers - I did that with Pentax with a couple of models and found pre-f couldn't be turned off and I tried out a Nikon in a shop and couldn't switch it off on that either.

I was thinking of changing mine too, but finding one to suit my needs isn't the easiest task. If anyone does know of a cave-suitable 5MP digi-cam without (or turn-off-able) pre-flash I would also be interested to know, cheers!

come on people Dunc and I are waiting to buy new cameras with switch off able preflash!

my sony cyber pix has 5.1mp and you can speccify all sorts on the flashing ie pre flash red eye etc etc. but theres alot of cammeras in this range and mines a few years old now... It seems to survive caving and climbing really well although the lens zoomy bit is a bit sticky now...

I have a Cannon A70 3.2 MPixel camera. By setting this to the manual mode it is possible to stop it preflasing by setting one of the inbuilt colour profiles, which the flash normally flashes to set. I find tungsten H is about right for electronic flashes.

Don't know if it'll work with other brands?

Come on Dunc were going shopping :idea:

Come on Dunc were going shopping

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Ahh, excellent.. Are you paying?

I've not had chance to look into things yet but (hopefully) will soon..

Sewer Rat said:

come on people Dunc and I are waiting to buy new cameras with switch off able preflash!

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I don't have any personal experience, but a number of club members use Fuji digi-cams underground and don't have a problem with a pre-flash.

Don't know about models, but it might be worth looking at the Fuji range and asking them questions to see if something is suitable.

Cheers for the info Mine Explorer..

come on folks! last orders

so far we have recomendations of
fuji cameras from MINE EXPLORER
Canon A70 from BIFFA

any more??

Im going to hassell canon and fujis technical departments tomorrow and see if they know what im on about

CUCC PAUL you never mentioned if you have used the sony cyber pix
with a flash and a slave.
I fancy a sony if it does work, I have played with and been impressed with it!! oi behave.

This is my last weekend before I go underground again

I use a Nikon Coolpix 5700

Cost me a fair chunk quite some time ago but I saw one in a local Camera shop for a little over £200 :? a week or two ago.

The flash (and everything else for that matter) does exactly what you tell it to and has a genuine 5megapixel resoluton, if you look at Fuji, amke sure you are looking at genuine pixels not their digitally enhanced babble

I use mine with upto 5 Metz mecablitz type flashes and the results are not bad.

Toughness is a serious consideration and I've had no problems with the Nikon, I also know tthat Darkplaces uses a Fuji that has withstood several years of hard underground abuse with no ill effects.

It is a SLR type of camera which puts some people off but I'm more than happy with it. The right flashes and tripod are equally as important for good pictures. I also use a remote trigger now which means when you're ready to shoot you don't actually touch the camera, saves you an awful lot of wobbly shots :shock:

cheers Jagman That is a bit bigger than I was hoping for.No actually that looks huge

I Have the small pelican box which will take my flash /slave and a compact digital.
Im a bit of a wus when it comes to hauling anything bigger than will fit im my tackle bag.
cheers for the info.

come on Dark places what have you got?

Not as big and clumsy as it looks
The Fuji Darkplaces uses is about the same physical size :?
Taking pics underground is a compromise between kit and results.
For example on the highest image quality setting I could only fit about 75 images on a 1gig memory card :shock:
The other problem being that about 1 shot in 6 gies you a good result
The biggest difference you can make is choice of lighting, some people go with light painting and the results are excellent but it can be difficult to achieve, multiple flashes are also excellent but you have to lug them about.
The late Mole was arguably the best underground photographer around but the amount of gear required was huge and each shot could take upto an hour to set up and shoot.......
All depends what you are aiming to achieve I guess
Me? I've learnt to accept I can get half way reasonable pics with the right kit and some patience......