flash/shutter speed question.

point-&-shoot · Nov 10, 2010

i see tons of supper sharp pictures with great color. i cant seem to get the same results. im using a d80 with a sima lens. i shoot mostly in M mode with flash. i just cant seem to get my pictures to turn out as sharp as i would like.
i noticed when using the flash i cant set the shutter speed for any faster than 200.

any way around this? (i want to use the flash with a higher shutter speed)

im also thinking of moving to a speed flash.
any recomendations as for what will work well with a d80?

thanks.
kyle

MohaimenK · Nov 10, 2010

can you post a pic so we can see what you're doing?
From what I read in "understanding exposures" the shutter speed & ISO is used to get the ambient light where the flash will be used for lighting the subject. So you can shoot at 1/50 or at 1/100 the subject will light up about the same but the ambient light will change behind them. Unless of course they're right infront of a wall then the flash would catch that also

JerrfyLube · Nov 10, 2010

MohaimenK said:
can you post a pic so we can see what you're doing?

Seriously, this should be a prerequisite for any "Whats wrong with my photo" threads...

You cant set your shutter speed faster than 1/200th when using flash because thats your flash sync speed of your D80. Any faster than that and you will start to see the shutter curtain in your picture.

When using flash, remember that shutter speed controls your ambient light exposure, not the flash exposure itself. Youll find that your subject lit with a flash will be the same exposure at 1/100 or 1/200 if the aperture and ISO remains constant...the only thing that will change is the ambient(or constant) light exposure. 1/200th is more than plenty to get sharp photos when using flash, so im fairly confident in saying your problems lie elsewhere but without seeing an example, its all just guesses.

Derrel · Nov 10, 2010

1/200 is the top "regular flash" synchronization speed with many d-slr cameras made these days. By regular flash, I mean single-burst flash. Nikon has a system called High Speed Synch...this blog is a good source for information on how it works, and how to actually use High Speed Synch. I like the Nikon SB 800 flash unit, which is now discontinued.

Nikon CLS Practical Guide: 10. Auto FP High Speed Sync Explained

Big Mike · Nov 10, 2010

As the others have mentioned, 1/200 is the max sync speed of your camera. Any faster than that, and the shutter will block part of the photo when the flash is fired, resulting in a dark or black band across your photo. You can get around that with 'Auto FP' mode, as Derrell points out.

any way around this? (i want to use the flash with a higher shutter speed)

My questions is...are you thinking that a faster shutter speed will help with the sharpness of your photos?
It certainly can, but you need to consider the circumstances. If you are standing still, shooting subjects who are standing still and you are shooting at say, 50mm, then it's unlikely that going from 1/200 to 1/500 will improve the sharpness of your photos.
So if your photos aren't sharp, it might be another problem entirely.

As mentioned, post up some examples, along with the EXIF info (shutter speed, ISO, aperture, lens etc.)

point-&-shoot · Nov 10, 2010

D80, sigma 28-300 lens approx 50mm. 100 iso. 200 shutter speed. f 3.5. used flash.
just looking to get crisp photos with minimal noise.

point-&-shoot · Nov 10, 2010

exactly. i really want crisp, sharp, bright photo's. so my thinking is higher shutter speed, more light, less iso.

Big Mike said:
As the others have mentioned, 1/200 is the max sync speed of your camera. Any faster than that, and the shutter will block part of the photo when the flash is fired, resulting in a dark or black band across your photo. You can get around that with 'Auto FP' mode, as Derrell points out.

any way around this? (i want to use the flash with a higher shutter speed)

Click to expand...

My questions is...are you thinking that a faster shutter speed will help with the sharpness of your photos?
It certainly can, but you need to consider the circumstances. If you are standing still, shooting subjects who are standing still and you are shooting at say, 50mm, then it's unlikely that going from 1/200 to 1/500 will improve the sharpness of your photos.
So if your photos aren't sharp, it might be another problem entirely.

As mentioned, post up some examples, along with the EXIF info (shutter speed, ISO, aperture, lens etc.)

JerrfyLube · Nov 10, 2010

point-&-shoot said:
D80, sigma 28-300 lens approx 50mm. 100 iso. 200 shutter speed. f 3.5. used flash.
just looking to get crisp photos with minimal noise.

Looks like a simple case of missed focus to me...focus looks to be about an inch or so further than his eyes. Stopping down a little bit in aperture will afford you more leeway in making focus mistakes. Shoot for something in the F/5.6-8 range.

Put your focus points on the eyes and try again. Anyway you look at it though, your not going to get those "Wow" shots with the built in flash but I dont think the flash or your shutter speeds are the cause of your sharpness issues here.

Did you add the vignette?

point-&-shoot · Nov 10, 2010

yep.. no good?

point-&-shoot · Nov 10, 2010

as for a speedlight. how about an sb-600? any good?

enzodm · Nov 10, 2010

point-&-shoot said:
exactly. i really want crisp, sharp, bright photo's. so my thinking is higher shutter speed, more light, less iso.

higher shutter speed in principle means LESS light, so more ISO (with other parameters identical). If you need more light you need a flash with great guide number (which express power, not speed). However, higher shutter speed could mean sharp pictures because of less movement, but typically flash output is much much shorter, so that it freezes movement well below sync speed. I'm not sure if what I wrote is clear nor if is all 100% correct, but more or less should be

(tired).