Looking for an explanation on shutter speed.

shefjr

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I am currently using a Nikon D90 and am curious what exactly is needed to use such a high shutter speed (1/4000). Meaning, I believe I understand the iso which is set at 3200, and my fstop is 3.5 (lowest it can go with the lens) and my shutter speed is 1/1000, my action photos are still coming out poorly lit and flat in color. Also I am only using natural light. If I attempt to use the flash on the camera it adjusts the shutter speed to 200 and will not go any higher.Why have a fast shutter speed like that if the photos are going to turn out flat, dark, and have a lot of noise? And again what is needed to use such a fast speed?Thanks for any input :)
 
You have a D90 and you know nothing about shutter speed?

You need to use Shutter Priority mode, probably shown as S or SP on your camera and move the wheel to 1/4000 manually.
 
shefjr said:
I am currently using a Nikon D90 and am curious what exactly is needed to use such a high shutter speed (1/4000). Meaning, I believe I understand the iso which is set at 3200, and my fstop is 3.5 (lowest it can go with the lens) and my shutter speed is 1/1000, my action photos are still coming out poorly lit and flat in color. Also I am only using natural light. If I attempt to use the flash on the camera it adjusts the shutter speed to 200 and will not go any higher.Why have a fast shutter speed like that if the photos are going to turn out flat, dark, and have a lot of noise? And again what is needed to use such a fast speed?Thanks for any input :)

You need light

Flash stops motion so you don't need a fast shutter speed of 1/4000.

High ISO and under exposure causes noise. What type of setting are you in - outside/daytime/gym?
 
I know about shutter speed and how to change it. How to change the speed was not the question.
 
Mtvision, I'm in doors using just room lighting to capture pets playing. I'm not actually using a 1/4000 speed. I'm just curious to know what would be needed for that speed setting.
 
Your images are flat, dark, and have alot of noise because your ISO is jacked up and you are under exposing. If you did not understand FTV's response, google "flash sync and focal plane shutters".
 
you shouldn't need 1/1000 for some pets playing
 
In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open.
 
Pro, thanks for the google search info. I understand why my photos looked like junk. I was simply attempting to not use a flash and adjust my shots using the aperture, iso, and shutter speed.
 
I'm just curious to know what would be needed for that speed setting.

MTVision said:
You need light

That about says it all.

The shutter speed may be 200th of a second, but a flash of light that overpowers ambient light is equivalent of up to 60,000th of a second. If you increase your shutter speed past 1/250 you will literally see the shutter closing in your image.

In order to use 1/4000th of a second, you would need a lot of light.
 
That about says it all.

The shutter speed may be 200th of a second, but a flash of light that overpowers ambient light is equivalent of up to 60,000th of a second. If you increase your shutter speed past 1/250 you will literally see the shutter closing in your image.

In order to use 1/4000th of a second, you would need a lot of light.
I agree that what is needed is light, nothing more and nothing less, however just to clarify a D90 can use a much higher shutter speed for flash **IF** the flash unit will support it. I've shot with my D90 at 1/2000 second using flash before I started having problems.

... Flash stops motion so you don't need a fast shutter speed of 1/4000.

High ISO and under exposure causes noise. What type of setting are you in - outside/daytime/gym?
True that using a flash will stop motion, but only up to a point. If the shutter speed is 1/60 and the aperture wide open, with enough ambient light some motion blur can still be visible. The shutter IS still open for 1/60 of a second and the aperture IS still wide open so if there is enough light to get some exposure you will see it on the image. If the ambient light is very low or the aperture closed down there probably won't be enough light on the sensor for anything to be visible.

As to the high ISO, I completely agree. Using ISO 3200 on a D90 is an emergency setting in my opinion. The D90 doesn't have the best low-light / high ISO performance and shooting with the ISO that high in low light is a bad choice.
 
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Here is the way I handle this...

1. Start with your focal length... F=focal lenth. Let's say F-200.
2. Multiply your focal length by 1.5-2 as a starting point, and that is your shutter time. Let's use 2x. S=2*F=400.
3. Now set your ISO so it exposes properly.

You're done!

Now if you have fast motion going on or you are in a herky-jerky situation, I would change the multiplier in #2, but really never more than 3-4x in almost any situation I can imagine. Others might know better (I don't shoot a lot of action, but when I do I generally stick around 2x unless I'm finding it's not enough.

High ISO reduces your dynamic range. You want to pretty much always use the lowest ISO possible.

IF you find yourself in higher ISOs I recommend also deliberately over-exposing (2 stops max) and using RAW... then back it down in post processing. This reduces noise.

Think of a camera as a bunch of sliders with ropes tied between them. Everytime you move a slider, you unavoidably move another one. Each slider has compromises, and every slider has extreme compromises when pushed to an upper bound.
 
I supposed you have not read your manual. As harsh as it might sound, I learnt from the pros that the first thing you do when you buy a new equipment is to read and understand the manual because this is the fundamental basic. Then if you still do not understand, google it up or search youtube videos online. There is a reason for companies like Nikon to enable such high shutter speed settings.

Your photos turned out to be dark, flat and has lots of noise is not because of Nikon's problem having high shutter speed settings. A "perfect" photo is about balance between shutter speed, aperture, ISO and other elements. I am not some DSLR guru or something but I hope you can start by shooting semi-auto(P)mode first, and then when you are better, switch to Aperture(A) mode...then to shutter(S) mode, and finally to manual(M) mode.

Photography is about trial and error. Good luck and all the best =)
 

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