Rocky Beech

I just discovered, the hard way, that in Live View with Silent Shutter activated, my flash will not fire. I watched a few YouTube videos and found out that, at least, my camera was NOT broken and according to the authors, even Canon has this feature. Can anyone explain why Nikon would implement this logic into the camera. How do people deal with this for close-up focus stacking using the flash and in Live View? Or are we just relegated to using the eyepiece? Just curious.

rmcgarry331

Early electronic shutters like on the D850 took a long time to move data off the sensor. You may set a shutter speed of 1/250. Each pixel only takes in light for 1/250. However it may take 1/30 or longer for the entire sensor to read. The effect would a black section of picture if the exposure was controlled by flash.

BebuLamar

Silent mode uses electronic shutter and I think the D850 electronic shutter doesn't work with flash.
I download the manual and checked and verify that on page 50.
In silent liveview mode the flash can not be used.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Yep, no flash triggered in silent mode. Alternative, use constant led lighting.

imagextrordinair Loc: Halden, Norway

Same with Canons 1DX MK3, 1st curtain silent, not electronic...

Markag

Yes, the same with my Z7. Found out the hard way as well.

BebuLamar

But if you have the Z8 or Z9 they would work.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

There’s really no reason to use Live View for focus stacking. If you want to use Live View for initial focus that’s fine. But switch off LV before you start the stack.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

Same with Z50

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

https://blog.kasson.com/d850/how-fast-is-the-nikon-850-electronic-shutter/#:~:text=When%20running%20silent%2C%20the%20mechanical%20shutter%20is%20open,how%20long%20it%20takes%20to%20make%20its%20journey%29.

Here is a very good explanation of what is going on with the D850 in both mechanical shutter and silent shutter. In mechanical shutter, this explanation shows that the shutter actually takes about 1/250 sec (or 4 ms) for the exposure. And this is as fast as the mechanical shutter can go. So, this is also the fastest you can set the shutter speed and capture an image with a flash, which is a very quick pulse of light. If you were to use an even faster shutter speed, faster than 4ms, the mechanical shutter is still going to take 4 ms to traverse the sensor, so to accomplish this, the exposure is controlled by moving slot that exposes each point along its travel to the desired shutter speed, while it still takes 4 ms to finish its travel. This effectively limits the upward shutter speed to 1/250 sec if you intend to use a flash.

Now let's go into silent shutter mode. If you look carefully at the second part of the study, you will find that it now takes 64 ms for the entire scene to be captured. This is 16 times slower. There is no mechanical shutter operating. But there is also no way of storing the contents of the entire sensor, so instead, a part of it is exposed and transferred, and then it moves on to the next part to be exposed and transferred and this continues until the entire scene has been exposed and transferred. Because of this, Nikon, and all the other manufacturers decided to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot, and made the camera not even operate in silent shutter mode.

Now it was mentioned that the Nikon Z8 and Z9 don't have this restriction. Fact is, the Z8 and Z9 don't even have a mechanical shutter, and thus do not play by the same rules. I do not have a Z8 or Z9, and haven't spent time digging into flash limitations, if any, on these cameras. Perhaps someone else can fill us in.

Ignoring the Z8 and Z9, the slow capture time when in silent shutter mode should be something you keep in mind when taking pictures, even without using a flash. If your subject is moving, then remember that even though you set a fast shutter speed, the time to capture the entire scene is going to still take 64 ms. And handshake can affect things too. The result is that your pictures make not look that sharp even though you used a fast shutter speed. Keep this in mind. I know I have experienced this problem! And I keep it in mind when I'm shooting.

Markag

Seriously! The z8 will flash in silent mode?

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

The Z8 is always in silent mode, other than the pseudo shutter sound it can generate!

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Well it doesn’t have a mechanical shutter.

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Possibly Nikon thought on average if you need to be silent you wouldn’t want to fire flash accidentally.