shuter speed at 1/60?

olympusmagic · Jan 17, 2005

hey guys, i was thinking of attempting the drip photos people were doing a while ago, but my flash will only work properly if i have the shutter speed at 1/60 (or so i was told).

i was just wandering, if i did have the shutter speed at 1/60, would i be able to capture the drips/splashes sharply, or would there be movement due to the shutter being to slow.

it is a film camera (olympus OM40)

also, would it really matter if i had the shutter speed at 250 or so with my flash? thanks

Jovian · Jan 17, 2005

you should still be alright with it at a 60th. If you shoot at 250, then you won't expose the whole frame evenly. half of the picture will be dark and the other half properly exposed. Just play around with it, and see what you get! (and post the results so we can see em too!) have fun!

Big Mike · Jan 17, 2005

Try adding enough light so that you don't need to use your flash.

olympusmagic · Jan 17, 2005

i tried that, i had 2 spot lighte either side (one halogen and one 60W or 100W bulb) but they came out quite dark. i can only shoot in BW at the mo because i cnt afford to develope them at a shop and thats all my school darkroom do.

ill try it at a 60th and hopefully tomorow when i develope them they will be in focus!

ksmattfish · Jan 17, 2005

Flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed in which your focal plane shutter opens 100%. You can use the flash with that speed, and slower. To create the higher shutter speeds the focal plane actually only opens partially, and moves across the image frame opening.

If you use the flash at these higher speeds you'll find that only part of your pic gets the flash. One stop over the sync speed and approx half the photo will be flashed. As you increase shutter speed the amount of the image that gets the flash gets smaller and smaller, until only a thin sliver is getting the flash.

olympusmagic · Jan 17, 2005

ive decided to put a light behind a piece of paper, behind the drip, so hopefully that will provide enough light!! thanks guys!!

will965 · Jan 17, 2005

Your brave attempting this with film. I would also just advise using desk lights or something similar cos then u can see the effect it will have before you take the photo, whereas, with a flash you don't know how it will come out, especially with film.

walter23 · Jan 17, 2005

Even though your shutter only syncs with flash at 1/60th the actual burst of light from the flash is much much shorter (a few milliseconds or microseconds or something). This means that you'll be able to freeze the motion with your flash, just make sure you're doing it in a setting where the only source of illumination is your flash, or make sure you're not using some kind of slow synch where everything is still being exposed for ambient lighting.

The reason you might ever find 1/60th maximum synch would be a problem would be for using fill flash outside where you need a fast shutter speed to expose the background properly.