Hummingbirds & Flash speeds

[kanuski]

I have seen several amazing hummingbird shots but when I try it myself I get blurry wings. Are these guys shooting stuffed birds or what?

I plan on trying this again and am thinking of two options:
#1: 1/4000 sec with high speed sync or
#2: set shutter speed to ambient with normal flash. (tried this and didn't like it)

What will stop motion the best? Is there a third option?
I shoot with: Canon T2i, f2.8 70-200, YN568EX (off camera)

Sorry, I found other articles on the same topic! Still wondering how fast my flash is compared to shutter speeds though.

 

[SCraig]

If you stop the wings then it's really going to look stuffed! I shot some hummingbird photos last summer and my best shots were around 1/1000 second, however I was not trying to stop the wings. I wanted some motion blur in the wings so that they wouldn't look static.

Mine are about halfway down This Page of my web site.

 

[KmH]

The duration of a flash of light from a strobe or speedlight can be way faster than your camera's shutter speed.
The short flash duration can be used to stop motion.

A Nikon SB-900 set to 1/16 power has a flash duration of about 1/10,000 of a second, and at 1/32 power it's about 1/20,000 of a second.