Ron Dial Loc: Cuenca, Ecuador

It is probably what is called a"second curtain flash". In the old film days that meant that instead of going off when the shutter was first full open. In a second curtain flash, the strobe goes off right before the shutter closes. Since we do not have film cameras any more, it is actually the shutter speed.

Pochon53

I have been doing 35MM film since 1954, when I bought my first camera at the small PX at division HQ, 3rd infantry division in the Chorwon valley of Korea. I still have the Kodachrome slides; you just can't kill them. I never sweat dof or backgrounds and I hate the word BOKEH, but at least we don't see that word as much as we did a few years ago. Film forever. Question: If we don't use film, why do we need ISO?

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

the OP writes "nikkon lets it fire". I presume he really means it's a NIKON, eh ?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

A focus assist light is usually a red or infrared light mounted on the camera body. A pre-flash is usually done by the flash itself, whether that is a pop-up or an external flash. They operate independently on most advanced cameras.

There is a third type of flash that yields a very visible stroboscopic effect. That's a "red eye reduction" flash, designed to stop down the irises in your subjects' eyes, so the on-lens-axis flash doesn't bounce off the backs of their retinas, and make them look like "children of the damned."

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

It is almost certainly focus assist causing the delay. You mention seeing "a light" on the camera, which is what's used for focus assist when using the camera's built in, pop up flash. Try turning focus assist off in the menu, and see if that eliminates the delay (but in lower light you may see the autofocus struggle or fail to achieve focus... there may be a delay while the AF "hunts").

It's not "pre-flash". Pre-flash is a very quick, lower-power "pop" of the flash used to determine exposure, after which the main flash fires. This happens so quickly, and that first "pop" is so low powered (usually 1/64), that most people don't realize the flash is firing twice. You would not notice a delay.

Red-eye reduction is another thing.... usually a short, fast, bright strobing of the flash, prior to it firing normally. It will cause a delay, too... but the strobing on most cameras is pretty obvious. From the initial question, it sounded as if the "light" was steady, not strobiing.... which is more likely focus assist than red-eye reduction.

There's no delay with second curtain sync flash. So it can't be that, either. In digital 2nd curtain sync is done the same way it was done with film cameras... by timing the flash firing to the shutter closing, rather than the opening. 2nd curtain sync is used with slower shutter speeds and is primarily done so that "light trails" and "ghosting" end up appearing behind the moving subject. With standard 1st curtain sync those trails end up in front of the moving subject and look odd (subject appears to be going backward). This is an example of 2nd curtain sync (1/30 shutter speed)...


Not all flashes can do it, but High Speed Sync is sort of the opposite of 2nd curtain sync, in that it's used with especially fast shutter speeds. It makes possible to use flash with shutter speeds faster than the camera's flash sync, the flash duration is shortened in order to be completed during the shorter exposure, but this significantly reduces the distance the flash can reach. I would guess a D3200 has a 1/200 flash sync.... in order to use any faster shutter speed than that would require HSS (built-in camera flashes are so weak that it may not even be possible with them... a separate, more powerful auxiliary flash might be needed to do HSS).

Another possible delay while using flash might be noticed after the first flash exposure has made... waiting for the flash to recycle (recharge itself). The camera might prevent the shutter from releasing, until the flash has adequately recycled. Built-in camera flashes are often particularly slow recycling (and they also drain the camera's batteries fairly rapidly). More powerful accessory flashes with their own power supply (and possibly an auxiliary power supply as well) usually recycle a lot faster... Plus, thanks to their much greater light output, may only need to fire partially and not be discharged as fully. Auxiliary flashes also don't draw down the camera's battery.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

ISO uses the same scale as ASA. It's a measure of sensitivity. When digital gear came along, it became the standard for that, as well, since it was familiar to photographers.

On a digital camera, ISO is basically a "gain control" — cranking up the ISO either processes the JPEG in the camera from a lower section of the available sensitivity curve, or it amplifies the signal coming from the sensor, or a combination of both. The penalty for using a higher sensitivity (ISO) is much like it is when using higher speed films. You get less shadow detail, less color depth, less dynamic range or contrast, and more noise. The noise is roughly equivalent to film grain. At some high ISO that varies with the particular camera used, you see so much noise that the image (signal) is difficult to appreciate. The higher the camera's dynamic range, the higher the ISO that can be used acceptably.

Unlike in "Film World," however, with digital photography, you can store thousands of images on a postage-stamp sized card, and set the camera to use any available ISO on any image. You can also post-process raw data to recover shadow and highlight details that would be missing from a slide, and you can use noise reduction software to remove some of the noise in high ISO scenes. A full frame digital camera can produce very usable color images at 6,400 to 12,800 ISO, but 35mm film camera images start to look pretty awful at 1600 ISO.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

On many Nikon camera bodies, the focus assist is done using a continuously illuminated white light. (Red eye reduction is done with a fast strobing of the flash.)

Canon with a built-in flash usually pop that up and rapidly strobe it for focus assist.... also white light (this also serves as "red eye reduction").

Many dedicated auxiliary flash for both can project a much less intrusive and obnoxious "red grid" for focus assist.

I don't know the Nikon flashes... but Canon's 400EX, 500EX and 600EX-series flashes all have this focus assist feature. So do similar third party "clones" of those models. (Smaller 200EX-series and 90EX do not. Not sure about 300EX-series models.)

I don't know if the same is available for Nikon, but Canon's ST-E2 flash controller also can provide this type of focus assist. (The ST-E3-RT "radio trigger" cannot, though the RT flashes themselves can.)

Wmetcalf Loc: Rogersville, Mo

Probably red eye reduction. The exposure preflash is so quick you wouldn’t notice a delay.

fishone0 Loc: Kingman AZ

what setting do you have your flash on--if it is in party then that answers you question--put it on auto flash and if do not want it to fire than turn it off

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

How fast pre-flash for focusing is is dependant on manufacturer and model. Canons are fast, Nikons are slower and noticeable.

If there is red-eye reduction turned on, there will be flashes before the shutter opens and another flash happens.

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

It could be a redeye reduction mechanism.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

On many cameras, this feature can be disabled in Settings or by other means. Check your user manual and menu. >Alan

CO

The pre-flashes happen so quickly that they're practically part of the main flash burst. They're probably equally fast on Canons or Nikons.

CO

Yes, I've been aware of that for years.

bmike101 Loc: Gainesville, Florida

it is focus assist. I have a small problem though..... it will not turn off! I go into the menu.... find the setting... turn it off.... but that does not help any.