Shutter speeds faster than 1/60th of a second when using flash

I've a Nikon F100 and want to shoot low light and/or night shots using
flash. The action I am shooting may require faster than 1/60th of a second.
Is it possible to use a higher shutter speed ? Feel free to point me to the
Nikon F100 manual if it is in there, as I've tried looking there and haven't
found anything. If it is not there, what's the basic setup to do so ?

Thanks

 

Im not a Nikon owner, but normally, these type of SLR camera's have a flash
sync speed of at least 1/125th of a second, if you attach a TTL/E-TTL flash
or use any built-in flash, the shutter speed should automatically set to the
flash sync speed, there are variations of the flash sync speed, depending on
the camera, and some can even sync at any shutter speed, but in manual mode
it should be possible to use the flash and set a slower/faster shutter
speed.
Check you F100 manual agian, and look for "flash sync", im pretty sure it
will have a section on it.

Brian..........

 

The flash sync speed of the F100 is 1/250 sec according to the specs. It will
work if you attach a suitable TTL Nikon flash.

Specs:
http://www.nikonusa.com/specs/1796NAS.pdf

D.R.

 

What kind of subjects are you talking about? As you're in low light,
then I presume the subject will be lit mainly/totally by the flash, at
which point the shutter speed becomes somewhat moot providing you don't
choose anything shorter than the top sync speed (which, as someone else
has pointed out, is 1/250th). Also, it's sometimes effective to use a
fairly low shutter speed to allow some ambient light to register (albeit
blurred) while the flash freezes the main subject.

@+
srm

 

Why sure you can. You can use pretty much any speed you want with FP (focal
plane) bulbs. Or by "flash" did you mean speedlight?

--
dadiOH
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Depending on the ambient light, you may have no need for a faster shutter
speed. If, for example, you are shooting outside at night and there is no
artificial light then *any* shutter speed will be sufficient to stop any
action as long as the speedlight duration is sufficiently brief to stop it.
In this or similar situation the shutter speed is immaterial.

OTOH, if there is sufficient ambient light to render an image at the chosen
shutter speed/aperture, you will have a sharp, action-stopped image from the
speedlight AND an action-blurred one from the ambient light. That isn't
necessarily bad, can be quite effective.

--
dadiOH
_____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.0...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
____________________________

 

Skateboarders, so I believe 1/250th would/should be plenty fast

 

Another question, I have an SB50 DX and an SB-28, I'd like to use the SB-28
as the primary with the SB50 serving as an off camera, remote soft-fill. Is
it possible to do this using BOTH flashes in TTL mode on my F100

 

Yes, but if flash is the main source of light, the effective speed will
be much shorter than that - it's the duration of the flash, which can be
very brief indeed (depending on the unit, but even big, slow studio
units typically manage 1/700th and portable units can be 1/15,000 or
even much briefer). So the shutter speed you set - so long as it's no
briefer than 1/250 (to avoid sync problems) is largely irrelevant to the
main exposure. The flash will freeze the main subject. However, with a
subject like that, you might get some excellent effects using a slow
shutter speed - personally, I'd experiment with 1/8, 1/15 and 1/30 (and
also maybe even slower speeds). Any ambient light might then be enough
to create some of the exposure and this element of the image is likely
to be blurred, giving a sense of movement. But the areas lit mainly by
the flash will still be sharp. It was also allow some of the background
to register, giving a sense of place and atmosphere. If you shoot at
1/250, you're likely to find that only the flash-lit subjects will
appear and the effect is likely to be stark and a little dull.

For this type of subject, my preference would be for a reasonable speed
film - 200 or 400, using slowish shutter speeds and using the flash to
add sharpness and clean up colours.

@+
srm

 

I freeze skateboarders at 1/125 no problemo mid air on half pipes and ramps.
1/250 should be fine, but you might get little detail in background.

 

In low light, faster shutter speeds are irrelevant. Flash occurs in the
1/thousandth's of a second, and it, regardless of the shutter speed, freezes
action, so why worry about shutter speed?


Now, if you want to bring up background ambient light, you can drag the
shutter, with some effect.



Patrick

 

"If you use a suitable TTL Nikon flash... " is good advice. Just be warned
that some studio, high-powered stobe gear at maximum output, will be slower
than 1/250th sec. Nearly all on-camera units are far faster than the big
studio stuff, and if the ambient light is low enough, the flash will stop much
of the action. On-axis motion is most easily stopped, while cross-axis can
still show some blur, even with short duration strobes.

Hunt