I bought a Nikon Z fc. I like it. I think the quick take is that if you want a Z, you probably should buy a full-frame (FX), not a DX, but I like it.

One of the neatest things about the camera is that, without a mirror or shutter to pop out of the way, there's no reason to make a lot of noise. All of these mirrorless bodies can be put into "silent mode" where the only sounds are those of the aperture or focus changing in your lens. For nature photography, where extra noise means your subjects might run for the hill, it's an amazing bonus.

But I couldn't get my flash to fire on my Z fc for a while, though I know it worked when I first got it (and worked great if I changed the white balance to "flash"). I was using an old hotshoe flash and was trying to use its automatic setting, but it didn't so much as fire. Nor did a super cheap Changyin flash, though both worked with my Sprocket Rocket Lomo camera. Weird.

But some googling later I caught this 2017 post over on the dpreview.com forums where someone was asking the same question about another camera:

Flash is disabled for various functions, do you have anything like 'silent shooting' mode enabled?

Weird, and for a different camera, but worth a shot, right? And sure enough, after turning that off, the flash worked again.

I'm not sure why making a (fake?) noise is important for firing a flash, but apparently it is.

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