Hi,
I recently got myself a Nikon D5300, my first DSLR, as part of a kit with a couple of lenses, filters and an external flash (Vivitar SF-3000). I'm aware that this is an off-brand, cheap flash and i wasn't expecting wonders from it, but i'm having an issue where it won't fire every time.
I have the camera set to Programmed Auto - P mode, and the flash will usually fire the first time, I wait for the LED to light back up telling me it's recharged and take another photo... The flash doesn't fire... Note that the flash is set to "normal" mode and not "slave" mode.
I'm using it on the camera's hot shoe connector, and have a brand new set of fully charged Sanyo Eneloops inside the flash unit itself, so i'm confident that it's not battery problems. I can also "test" the flash whenever i want to by pushing the "test" button. The flash fires every time i press this, but then won't fire on taking a photo.
One thing to note - when looking through the viewfinder with the flash attached and after focussing there is a question mark in a box next to the flash lightning-style symbol (looks similar to this - ?/ ). Does this mean that there's a setting somewhere that i need to change in order for it to properly recognise the flash?
It wouldn't surprise me if it was just because it's a cheap flash and not Nikon brand, but the fact that it was sold as part of a kit (and still works on occasional photos!) makes me think that it's something that i'm not doing...
Thanks for your help!