Flash problem has anyone experienced taking a flash picture with the istd and have the onboard flash buzz and strobe fast without focus lock and then could not take a picture. is that a problem with the camera?

That's called an "autofocus assist lamp". When you prepare to take a picture in low light, the autofocus can struggle to lock on to your subject. The lamp you talk about, illuminates the subject for a moment, so that the autofocus can 'see' when correct focus has been achieved.

It is indeed annoying, but this is the price you pay for sharp photos (it's not possible to wait for the flash to go off, and focus in that moment). One 'solution' would be to turn the focus assist lamp off and live with the poor results. Another 'solution' would be to switch to manual focus. Or you could let the camera focus normally once, apologise to your subject, turn the focus to manual without changing it, and then taking more pictures without the annoyance (but you might have got a good picture the first time, anyway).

The answer to your question can be found at...

This website

All but the very best flashes can not recycle atthat flash rate. For burst mode, you probably want to use focus modeAF-C or AF-A.
Morris

Page 73 in the manual; If the flash fires in L or H mode (pg. 65), only one picture will be taken each time the
shutter-release button is pressed. The shutterrelease may be briefly disabled to protect the flash after it has beenused for several consecutive shots. The flash can be used again after ashort pause.
The flash can take several seconds to recharge andduring that time the shutter is disabled. NR will also reduce thenumber of frames per second that you can take, and of course yourshutter speed has to be fast enough to allow for 4.5 fps.
In AF-S the shutter won’t fire unless the camera has achieved an in-focus state and the focus is locked.
In AF-C the camera continually focuses, but that isnot the same thing as being in focus. As you move the camera or yoursubject moves, the in focus state will come and go, but the camera willattempt to continuously re-focus. BUT, the shutter will fire even ifwhen the AF system has lost the in-focus state and the picture is outof focus.
In the D90 manual it indicates that the AF-A modewill only fire when the green in-focus light is on, just like in AF-S.The problem is that you probably won’t get 4.5 fps unless both thecamera and the subject are stationary and no time is lost between shotswhile the camera re-focuses.
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Brooks
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/

have you replaced the lamp?

This camera is not a good fast action camera! The best you can do is use a very fast memory card in it, and lock the focus to be averaged to where you want it.

One thing I found was that locking the focus to the range I want to use helps a little. Some of the delay it has is from finding the proper focus point.

If you want a fast action camera, you should be looking at a digital true SLR type.


Jerry G.

i found this which seems similar

http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/forum/topic/ist-D--HELP-444/p-0#comm_2164

"I know this is late, but the issue sounds to me like the aperture ring is not on A. and if this is a manual lens then you have to set the mode to hyper-program mode and set it to work with "other than A" on aperture."

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this was my issue, i never knew that has i bought the camera 2nd hand without a manual - your issue might be something else but it's worth posting just incase

I have the Olympus e-410 and I cant get the pictures to upload to my PC. I have connected it and have gone into easy print and normally that works. I have even had to turn the camera off and on a few times and then it will kick in but it wont do any of that this time. I cant find the manual and it was my husbands camera before we got married and he only upload once before that. HELP!

use more light:)
its very normal that it does that. it dosent get enough light so it cant focus. the only way it can autofocus is that it stobes the flash to adjust the focus automaticly. use an external flash like 580EX and u will get an focus asisten thru a red grid throne by the flash unit.

ake sure your subject is within the camera's range. You should be at least 20 inches away to take a picture without the flash, and 20 inches to 8 feet away to take a picture with the flash. You can take a picture as close as 8 inches in macro mode. When you take macro close-ups, make sure you have adequate lighting (with the flash disabled). Using a tripod will help you capture sharp pictures. Make sure you hold the camera steady after you press the shutter button (until the red light starts to flash), and your subject isn't moving. If you are shaking the camera when you lock the focus, a warning icon appears in the right corner of the LCD. If you want to photograph a moving subject, you can change the shutter speed while the camera is connected to your computer. Try increasing the shutter speed. See Chapter 4 for more information about how to change the shutter speed from the LCD menus. Make sure your flash is not set to flash off. When you focus on a nearby object, your picture's background may appear blurry. Try changing your focus.

Make sure your subject is within the camera's range. You should be at least 31 inches away to take a picture without the flash, and 31 inches to 8 feet away to take a picture with the flash. You can take a picture as close as 8 inches in macro mode. When you take macro close- ups, make sure you have adequate lighting (with the flash disabled). Using a tripod will help you capture sharp pictures. Make sure you hold the camera steady after you press the shutter button (until the red light starts to flash), and your subject isn't moving. If you are shaking the camera when you lock the focus, a warning icon appears in the right corner of the LCD. If you want to photograph a moving subject, you can change the shutter speed while the camera is connected to your computer. Try increasing the shutter speed. For more information, see Chapter 6. Make sure your flash is not set to flash off. When you focus on a nearby object, your picture's background may appear blurry. Try changing your focus.

Yes. The *istD shutter can only provide X-sync for electronic flash up to 1/150 sec. The *istDS reaches 1/180 sec. "High speed" electronic flash is done by strobing the flash repeatedly during the period that the shutter slit is traveling across the focal plane, at th expense of cutting power output quite a bit.