DD8 always closes eyes / Camera suggestions

[KitKate]

My DD8 finds my camera flash very sensitive to her eyes. Its a Canon 85. I cannot take any indoor pictures without having all of them with her eyes closed. They slam shut as soon as the flash goes. Can anyone recommned either a method to use this camera or recommendations for a new, relatively inexpensive camera that might prevent this problem. It seems the shutter does not go fast enough? When I happen to get a picture she is so photogenic, and I miss so many wonderful shots. Thanks.

 

[Furgus]

Tell them to blink then snap your shutter, or if you do the whole, "one, two, three..." Hit the shutter on two. Both of these methods have helped with my wife who it a big blinker

 

[fitzperry]

My 8yo dd is also a big blinker, as is my mom. Trying to get a decent flash picture of the two of them is next to impossible. The shooting on two thing seemed like a great idea, but it didn't work well for me because dd just got irritated that I'd tricked her and thereafter was fairly uncooperative (she's not the most patient of photography subjects to begin with; it was just the excuse she needed to bail on me ). I've gotten slightly better results with a trick I learned from my wedding photographer--have her close her eyes and open them on three at which point you snap the picture.

ETA: Also if you're using one of the red eye reduction features that sets off a series of small flashes before the real flash, you might try turning it off; maybe she's blinking when the lights start, and you can always remove red eye later. Or if you're not using that, maybe try turning it on and she'll get the blinking done before the picture (just trying to cover all the bases ).

 

[extreme8]

The problem with digital cameras and flashes is the "pre-flash". The camera sends a low power flash just fractions of a second before the shutter opens so it can calculate the proper exposure.
Film cameras don't have this issue because the film is reflective and the metering system can read the reflection off of the film surface in "real time".
Digital cameras have not been able to duplicate this process yet.

It's the timing between the pre-flash and the shutter opening that causes some people to blink. If the time between the pre-flash and flash is short enough the person doesn't have time to blink.

It all comes down to the persons reaction time.
With my last camera I would get my daughter blinking about 75% of the time. My son was never blinking.
With my new body I never get any blinkers because it has a much shorter pre-flash delay and people don't have time to blink.

Some digitals have the option of forcing a pre-flash - you pop the preflash, the camera does the calculations, and when you're ready you take the picture.
You can also avoid the pre-flash issues by using the self timer on some cameras.
I used to set mine to a 2 second delay. The pre-flash would happen when I pressed the shutter release, and then seconds later the shutter would open. Worked fine for portraits and things but wasn't very practical.

Here are some sample pre-flash times as examples

Times are in seconds.
.190 - KM A2 w/5600HS ext flash
.130 - .150 Konica Minolta 5D/7D, Sony A100
.130 - KM A2 w/internal flash
.119 - Nikon D50
.116 - Nikon Coolpix 4100
.115 - Nikon D70
.106 - Olympus C7070
.100 - Epson 3000Z
.084 - Sony Cybershot dsc-p93a
.080 - Nikon D80 (lag timing)
.068 - .070 Rebel 300D
.063 - .065 Canon SD200
.052 - Canon SD500
.052 - Canon S2 IS
.050 - Nikon D200 (lag timing)
.037 - Nikon D2HS/D2XS (lag timing)

As far as blink speeds;

.100 seconds - Time from preflash fire until there is definitely a slight change in the eyelid indicating the beginning of the blink, yet not quite a lazy eye look.
.117 seconds - Eyelid starting to droop more noticably / Lazy eyes
.133 seconds - Eyes mostly closed
.150 seconds - Eyes completely closed

It also takes a while for the eye to reopen, so an even slower preflash will still catch closed or lazy eyes.

I'm afraid I don't have any specific recommendations for you, but if you're looking to replace your camera see if you can find a pre-flash measurement in the specs or on a camera review site.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Bouncing the flash off the ceiling is much easier on the subjects eyes but sometimes will mae dark shadows. It is easy to do when your camera accepts an external flash. Otherwise you can (possibly) tape a piece of white paper in front of the flash at about a 45 degree angle so the light bounces up towards the ceiling. Some will also go through the paper but not as much.

I find it sooooo mean to flash kids and pets. Noone wants to be blinded by the light.

Mikeeee