Max shutter speed reduces when flash turned on

[k.udhay]

Hi,

I am a beginner in using a DSLR. I just bought a Nikon D3200 few days back. Naturally, i was trying to take photos with manual mode. I wanted to shoot a water stream in the intention of freezing it. I just dialed my shutter to 1/4000. Since I shot this inside my home, I preferred to set flash on. Once i turned the flash on, the shutter speed went to 1/200 by its own. Why does this happen this way? With a low shutter speed I am unable to freeze the bubbles. On the other hand, with high shutter speed, flash off and widest possible aperture, I get a very dark image that is of no use. As I tried high ISO, like you have guessed now, I get grains. What do you suggest? Thanks.

 

[Kolia]

Your popup flash does not support "High Speed Sync", just like all popup flashes. Mine limits my camera to 1/160th.

You'll need a dedicated flash that can support that function to take faster pictures.

 

[Kolia]

Technically speaking, at 1/200th and slower your flash will fire while the whole sensor is exposed, for the brief moment after the first shutter is fully open and before the second starts to close.

At higher speed, the second shutter starts closing before the first is done opening. So they basically travel together, exposing a slit of light only. The high speed sync feature of the flash will strobe the flash to expose the slit at the proper interval so it covers the sensor evenly. Not leaving any area under or over exposed.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sooooo, to use the flash to freeze the water, shut your aperture so that at 1/200 and the aperture chosen there is not much ambient light.
Then use the flash.

 

[cgipson1]

Sooooo, to use the flash to freeze the water, shut your aperture so that at 1/200 and the aperture chosen there is not much ambient light.
Then use the flash.

^THIS! Flash is going to be faster than the fastest shutter speed you have. And please read, and re-read your manual! You would know this if you had read your manual!

 

[Big Mike]

I just found this, lighting-practice: Sync-speed explained

 

[KmH]

Nikon calls them the front and rear shutter curtains.
1/200 is the fastest shutter speed that has both shutter curtains fully opened. at faster speeds the rear curtain starts closing before the front curtain has fully opened and the image sensor is partly covered by one or both of the shutter curtains..
In other words, the 2 curtains form a slit. The fastere the shutter speed set, the narrower the slit becomes.

To make an image using a shutter speed faster than 1/200 with flash, the flash unit has to fire multiple times during that single exposure. However, the built-in flash unit can only fire at full power once every few seconds, and would overheat if fired multiple times in what Nikon calls Auto-FP sync mode (which your D3200 doesn't have).

 

[jwbryson1]

1/200 is your maximum flash sync speed. You cannot shoot at a faster shutter speed than that while using flash or you will get portions of your image blacked out.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

PW allows one to calibrate warp speed shutter sync MANUALLY with MANUAL flash (no TTL gadgetry and drawbacks)

 

[Bush]

Maybe someone covered this, but the reason your camera doesn't allow the shutter to get over 200 is because to put it simple, your shutter would be to fast for your flash. Most speedlight flashes will only let you go to 1/250. But you can over ride that when you do you either have a black image or half black half regular.

 

[k.udhay]

Thank you very much all of you. I am happy that I wrote here, as I got to know now that there are two shutters in my camera.

 

[dutcheagle]

Thank you very much all of you. I am happy that I wrote here, as I got to know now that there are two shutters in my camera.

You are almost right. There is actually ONE shutter in your camera but it is made out of two curtains. (See the video above) When you get more advanced in flash photography you will learn "second curtain sync". (If you are really curious do a search on the internet.) :study:

 

[Derrel]

Your popup flash does not support "High Speed Sync", just like all popup flashes. Mine limits my camera to 1/160th.

You'll need a dedicated flash that can support that function to take faster pictures.

High Speed Synchronization or Focal Plane Synchronization as it is also called, is very bad at stopping rapidly-moving subjects. HSS or FPS (both) use a series of very rapidly-fired, small flashes tripped in rapid sequence, and these sequential flashes fire for a long enough period to allow the moving focal plane shutter blades to make a flash exposure over the duration of the blade travel. Those unfortunate souls who have tried to use HSS or FPSD to "freeze" neat subjects like cherries being dropped into martini glasses filled with clear liuqor...have been treated to smeary, blurred flash shots!!!

I realize that Kolia did not suggest using High Speed Sync to stop the water motion, but I thought it worthwhile to bring up the fact that it is **NOT** designed for motion-stopping, but rather to allow users to fire fill-in flash at fast shutter speeds when using wide aperture values in brighter lighting condition. HSS or FPS CAN, however, lead to subtle blurring when shooting flash-fill-in shots in bright ambient lighting conditions, when the ambient exposure and the flash exposure are relatively close to one another.This is much more obvious now that we have 24 to 36 MP captures; I shot some fill-in flash using high speed sync at the beach last August with a 200mm lens and 24 MP camera...I was amazed to see the subtle blurring that resulted!