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Yes, I know that’s a vague title. But it’s one that we’ve discussed many times here on the Phoblographer. We’re talking about Nikon cameras and how they work with flashes and strobes. In several of our tests, we’ve found there to be lots of problems involving the use of flash — which has forever been the standard light source for professional photographers and those of us who lean into the magic of creativity. To further clarify this statement, Nikon has always had a problem with flash since even the days of the DSLR. But unlike Canon, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, etc., they never got it under control.
In several of the Phoblographer’s camera tests, our entire reviews team often uses flash to get some of the images we shoot. We first really started to see how problematic flash can be when using the Nikon Zf. Try doing high speed sync (auto-fp) consistently with that camera at various shutter speeds and you’ll see that it doesn’t work. I typically use Profoto lights — which again, are the industry standard. When we were reviewing the latest lights from the company, we were told about how the Nikon Z8 has problems with their lights.
After hearing about this, I switched to Nikon flashes. And still the same problem occurred. In other tests, our staff has had problems with Nikon cameras and Godox flashes. Sometimes there will be odd banding issues.
Nikon: it’s time to fix the problems.
For years, I’ve been told that it’s up to the flash maker to reach out and work with Nikon. However, this isn’t the case. It’s 2025.
I look at Sony, and I see how easy and happy they are to work with third parties to support their camera system.
And most recently, I look at Panasonic Lumix and see how they work to certify that Godox flashes work with their cameras.
Canon doesn’t do anything like this: but let’s be honest here. I don’t have much faith in Canon to ever do this because Canon will always be who they are.
Nikon, on the other hand, has to change. I hope that you, Nikon, are not abandoning photographers just to enter the cinema market. That would be one of the worst decisions you make.
And if you’re not going to fix it, at least make something as good as the Profoto B30.
