Shadows

kmckenzi09

When I take pictures with the flash, it casts a black shadow on top of my pictures. I read elsewhere that the lens (18-55mm) may be too long? Is this true or is something wrong with my refurbished camera?

bruto

If you are using any lens shade, this will cast a shadow, especially when you shoot vertically. It's also possible to get flash shading when you go to macro mode, as the lens is in the way of the flash. However, that will tend to shade the bottom, not the top, of your pictures.

The 18-55mm lens is not too long, and the flash should work fine with it.

If you are getting a clearly defined black shadow on the top of your pictures, it's possible that the shutter is firing faster than "sync" speed. This can happen with an external flash, but should not happen with the built in flash, which should force the shutter speed to stay below 1/200.

Check the settings on a picture that has gone wrong, and see what your shutter speed is. If you're getting a black topped image with a shutter speed lower than 1/200, it might be a shutter problem.

Edit to add: I was mistaken on where the shadow from a sync error occurs. If the shutter is above the 1/200 sync speed, it will be dark at the bottom, not the top!

You can only make this happen with an external flash, as far as I know. The internal flash will always force a speed of 1/200 or slower, even when everything is set to manual, including the flash itself.

If you are getting a dark shadow on the top of a picture, I would suspect a problem with the flash itself. Make sure that it is opening all the way and that there is nothing in its way.

Try manually setting the shutter slower than the maximum of 1/200 and see if that makes any difference.