Nikon D3300 Flash

Coverage and Range
Weak flash with narrow coverage. Our standard portrait shots required an average amount of compensation.

Coverage and Exposure. Flash coverage was very uneven at wide angle (18mm), with very dark corners. Coverage at telephoto (55mm) was much better, but still somewhat uneven. (Some of the corner shading is due to the lens itself, though.) For our Indoor Portrait scene test, the Nikon D3300's flash required +0.7 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get reasonably bright results in normal Auto flash mode with a 1/60 second shutter speed, which is about average for the DSLRs we've tested. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode at 1/20 second produced bright results without any compensation, though with a stronger pinkish-orange cast from the room lighting.

ISO 200 Range. With the kit lens at wide angle, the Nikon D3300's flash exposures started out dim at 6 feet, and brightness decreased from there. At the telephoto end, flash intensity started out dim at 6 feet but got a little brighter at 7 feet, but then brightness fell from there. Very poor and inconsistent flash performance for a DSLR.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Nikon D3300's built-in flash has a guide number of 12 meters at ISO 100. That works out to about 11.1 feet at f/3.5, and 7 feet at f/5.6, the maximum apertures of the kit lens at wide angle and telephoto respectively. In the shots above, the D3300 appears to underperform relative to Nikon's specification, producing dim exposures at the rated distances. At wide angle, the target was underexposed by almost a full f-stop, but that could be do to metering being fooled by the white ceiling, door and wall. At full telephoto, the target was only slightly underexposed, by about 1/4 f-stop. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.