Nikon SLR Cameras

How to use Canon Speedlite 200e with Nikon D3000?

Lindy W
Lindy W

I have my moms old film camera and the canon speedlite 200e. I also have a Nikon d3000 and just found out today that the flash fits on the d3000 and when i take a picture it flashes. If i'm on the auto option, the built in flash tries to pop up. So basically, the speedlite just flashes every time, and i want ot no if i can change that to make it work more like the built in flash.

fhotoace
fhotoace

1) Get out of the "auto" mode. Set your camera to manual with the shutter speed at 1/200th second. Page 187 of your user manual
2) set the external flash to ttl and see if it will automatically provide the correct exposure. Some Canon external flash units will work just fine on certain Nikon dSLR's. I have used the Canon Speedlite 430EX just fine on a Nikon D40

All-hat-no-cattle
All-hat-no-cattle

When using an old flash meant for film cameras, it is important to check if the trigger voltage is safe for DSLR's.
According to
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html
the Canon 200E should be safe.
If this model has any electronic coordination with the camera body, it would only be with Canon models. With a Nikon the camera simply triggers a flash, and you would have to use all manual settings.
As seen at http://www.usa.canon.com/...dlite_200e
this model has a guide number at ISO 100 of 20meters or 66 feet. Guide number increases with the square route of the ISO, so double those numbers for ISO 400. Divide the guide number by the distance to calculate your aperture. X-sync on the Nikon D3000 is 1/200 sec, so do not use a faster shutter speed than that with the flash.

Caoedhen
Caoedhen

The flash will fire at full power only, you have no other control at all. Full power is a whopping 20 meter guide number, so only slightly more powerful than your built in flash anyway.

Shoot in manual mode and adjust aperture to control how much light the flash adds to the photo. No other way to do it.

fhotoace… There's no possible way that you got any sort of TTL control with a Canon flash on a Nikon body. It just doesn't work that way. You may have had the flash in auto mode, where it acts like an auto thyristor unit. That would work on any camera with a standard hot shoe. But no TTL.