*The following is written as I went back and forth troubleshooting my equipment.
In the process of taking example photos to demonstrate the zoom and powers of my speedlite, I ran into an issue.
I set my camera to Manual mode and set my exposure to 1/80th, ISO400, and aperture f/4. This got just under a neutral exposure. I didn't care about balancing for ambient light yet, since all I wanted to do was test the flash settings.
In the process of taking example photos to demonstrate the zoom and powers of my speedlite, I ran into an issue.
I set my camera to Manual mode and set my exposure to 1/80th, ISO400, and aperture f/4. This got just under a neutral exposure. I didn't care about balancing for ambient light yet, since all I wanted to do was test the flash settings.
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/3/0/25303424/4051978.jpg?218)
For the first photo, I set the flash to 1/128th power and zoom to 24mm. This ended up with a wide spread and relatively dim power.
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/3/0/25303424/2588356.jpg?220)
I kept the same flash power, but zoomed the flash to 105mm. This creates a narrow beam of light.
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/3/0/25303424/5442335.jpg?274)
Then I set the flash to 1/1 full power and 24mm to show how bright the flash can be. However, I ended up with this image. You can see the reflection of the pop-up "commander flash" to set off the optical trigger, and the speedlite did fire, but it's not showing up in the photo.
I tried changing my shutter speed and the flash's zoom setting, but nothing changes.
I even tried different flash powers, and found that this failure begins at 1/8th power. The flash shows up at 1/16th power and using the fine tune controls to +0.7 (whatever unit that is), which is the closest you can get to 1/8th power. One-eighth power seems to be the cutoff point.
--
After trying as many different settings I could think of and unsuccessfully perusing internet forums to find solutions, I tried mounting the flash directly to the camera. When I took a shot, the speedlite fired at full power! And all other powers, for that matter. This means that the issue is with the pop-up commander flash.
To see if this is just the optical sensor's fault, I tried using the slave hotshoe I got from Kenmore Camera. I set the flash on it and took test shots. Unfortunately, I received worse results--it only seems to work at 1/128th power. I can see the flash fire no matter what power it's set to, but it only shows up at the lowest power.
Other issues with the hotshoe are that the flash freezes up until you remove it from the hotshoe, and then misfires when you remount it. I'll ask Tom about this when I go back to Kenmore Camera.
For now, I can't think of a way to fire the flash above 1/8th power.
I tried changing my shutter speed and the flash's zoom setting, but nothing changes.
I even tried different flash powers, and found that this failure begins at 1/8th power. The flash shows up at 1/16th power and using the fine tune controls to +0.7 (whatever unit that is), which is the closest you can get to 1/8th power. One-eighth power seems to be the cutoff point.
--
After trying as many different settings I could think of and unsuccessfully perusing internet forums to find solutions, I tried mounting the flash directly to the camera. When I took a shot, the speedlite fired at full power! And all other powers, for that matter. This means that the issue is with the pop-up commander flash.
To see if this is just the optical sensor's fault, I tried using the slave hotshoe I got from Kenmore Camera. I set the flash on it and took test shots. Unfortunately, I received worse results--it only seems to work at 1/128th power. I can see the flash fire no matter what power it's set to, but it only shows up at the lowest power.
Other issues with the hotshoe are that the flash freezes up until you remove it from the hotshoe, and then misfires when you remount it. I'll ask Tom about this when I go back to Kenmore Camera.
For now, I can't think of a way to fire the flash above 1/8th power.