When Canon and Olympus were experimenting with live view on their cameras in the mid-2000s, it seems almost comical now that they didn’t think to record video with the feature that already existed on their cameras. History is repeating itself, but this time with the lowly pop-up flash.
It’s a humble feature on many cameras that can do so much more.
In the rush to eliminate built-in flashes on many bodies for seemingly no reason (come on, the Nikon D700 was a full frame camera that seemed to handle this just fine, but most newer cameras can't?), it seems like many manufacturers are forgetting why they are there in the first place. It’s not to light your subject, at least in most cases. Instead, the pop-up flash exists to trigger other flashes, be it through proprietary technology such as Nikon’s Creative Lighting System or through simple optical triggering on an external flash, either way requiring a direct line of site rather than more flexible radio signals. I can appreciate that this might be news to some.
But despite the sporadic appearance of pop-up flashes on new camera models, none of the major manufacturers have taken this to the next logical level: The inclusion of built-in radio flash capabilities. It seems like many took initial steps to include optical triggering options into their cameras, but radio flash still seems to be MIA within a camera body.
Certainly, manufacturers have built out robust flash systems, such as Canon’s RT series of Speedlites or Nikon’s SB-5000. However, to use each of these systems requires a trigger of some sort (such as the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter, which sits in the hot shoe) to attach to your camera. How awesome would it be to save the batteries (and the extra point of failure) to have to use a separate unit? This would also lead to less confusion about whether to use the menus on the camera or the unit as well.
It’s possible that to build this feature in could cause compliance headaches with different communications regulations in different countries, but that doesn’t necessarily make sense, since this is already an issue with wireless and GPS functionality in cameras. In the case of Canon, for instance, the manufacturer handles this by shipping Wi-Fi and non Wi-Fi versions based on region, and the same approach could be applied with this technology. It’s also possible that it’s a money maker for companies to sell triggers as separate units rather than building it into the camera, but I know that I’d certainly pay a little extra if it meant I didn’t have to lug around something extra. If nothing else, building in this kind of support would be an even more compelling reason to purchase first-party flash units instead of exploring third party radio systems. I’ve ended up using Pocket Wizards, Yongnuos and Cactus to accomplish the same thing that could easily be built into the camera by the manufacturer to keep me from straying.
Having built-in radio flash triggers means one less thing to carry on a location shoot to be able to achieve off-camera flash, as in this photo here where the Speedlight was placed in a softbox to the right of the camera.
If not built-in radio flash, how about at least a flash that can flip up to bounce of a ceiling? Panasonic seems to have unintentionally done this in some cameras like the Lumix GX85, where you can hold the flash upwards with a finger, but it’s something that’s still left out of the DSLR world. Anything to make the pop-up flash a little more useful, right?
It seems like manufacturers are not really interested in showing the pop-up flash any love, as it has remained neglected as radio technology moves on.
Do you shoot with wireless flash? Is this something you’d like to see in a camera?
No. Optical slaves are stupid in an era of wireless triggers and a pop-up flash is just another point of egress for moisture, another component that can fail, and something that always seems to have a release button in a stupid position that can easily be bumped to open it which just makes it a constant annoyance. For those reasons, I'm glad that pop-up flashes are relegated to cheaper models.
Better solution? In-body wireless triggering...
If they gave me in-body radio wireless triggering, to hell with a pop-up flash.
Buy a Phase One XF and you get a Profoto In-body radio wireless trigger.. :-]
I think we will see this feature and more as manufacturers increase in-camera processing power and memory. But I also think the current generation of senior managers will need to retire before it happens.
No, no, no. Either bring a flash or use a wireless trigger.
Its a good idea and something that would in theory be so easy to implement. As a canon shooter however my fear would be that it would be some super secret protocol that works only with $$$$ canon speedlites although I would assume that Godox et al would fairly quickly be able to work around it. But right now a $50 godox trigger is pretty good solution.
I just hate having to carry the extra batteries for a trigger and having the extra point of failure potentially happen.
What kind of work do you do, that you can't be bothered to carry an external trigger and some batteries?
I think many of the Nikon Pro level cameras don't have On-Board flash's, like the D850 and some other models, is because it helps to keep there weather proofing to be more reliable, where a pop-up flash has a high potential area for leaks. Also I never use the hot-shoe for flash I use all flash Off camera with a Dedicated transmitter mounted on the hot-shoe.
My D700 has been soaked in a couple of thunderstorms and just keeps going! No problems with the pop-up flash. Though I've heard of some who have had failures in the same situation, but no way to tell if the flash was the culprit.
I shot film on a Canon back in the 90's, then bought a 4MP Olympus E-10 in 2000. When I bought my first Canon DSLR I was shocked that there was no wireless remote capability built-in, no wireless remote for the flash, no touch screen. It was quite a shock to me that the Camera tech hadn't kept pace with the phone tech and other tech out there.
Hmmmm, it may be that a pop up flash doesn't look as "professional" to the manufacturers as a stand alone unit. The phrase "pop up flash" conjures up images of old point and shoot ads for me. Maybe come up with a new futuristic term for it, like "on demand light system" lol.
Thanks Wasim. Good discussion. I like the idea of an in-camera radio transceiver. I'd rather carry extra camera batteries than extra radio trigger batteries. The radio transceiver circuitry itself should not create much extra weight in the camera.
I prefer camera's that do NOT have a pop-up flash and would not buy a camera that had one ever again. I had a D700 years ago and didn't like the pop-up flash. Reliable flash triggers can now be had for $35 and I would prefer a better build quality and weather sealed camera. Take the D850 for example, compared to a D800 or D810. The D850 is definitely stronger and better sealed. Also not that it matters and it's kinda silly, but I think pop-up flash camera's look more amateur or not as esthetically pleasing, but I know cameras are tools. I love the way the D4/D4s look and how strong they are, I still own and use my D4S almost daily and I'm so happy it lacks the stupid pop-up flash.