Internal flash pos up but does not fire

praneethp

Hi,
i am using D3100 from 2 years ago with the 18-55mm, 50mm and afs 70-300mm lens. It worked good but as a few days ago my flash is not working in any mode. It pops up but a small light comes out which is not visible unless seen from close up. Should I change the bulb or is it a problem with the hardware?

ohyeahar

First thing I would do is make sure your battery is fully charged. Maybe the flash isn’t firing simply because it’s not getting enough juice.

Are you having battery issues? After 2 years, it could very well be that your battery is giving up the ghost and that’s why it can’t provide enough juice to fire the flash. If possible, try another battery.

Finally, it could just be your flash needs to be replaced. Did you use the pop-up flash heavily over the last 2 years? All flashes have a finite lifespan so that could be it.

My suggestion would be to buy an external flash like the SB-700. I don’t think it would be the best idea to fix the flash since it means you’re investing more money into your 2-year-old entry level camera body. Since you’re using the flash so much that you’ve burned out the flash bulb, you could probably benefit a lot from an external flash. And when you move to another camera body, you can still use the flash with the new body.

praneethp

Thanks. My camera's firmware was updated recently and before that my flash was working properly. Does the update have anything to do with the flash?