This is probably a SUPER noob question, but...

[AaronLLockhart]

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about how I wish the sync speed for the external flash would allow faster than 1/250 without the bottom shutter dragging. Then he said something that I don't think is true. I don't own an external flash, or I would test it myself. I'm more of the ambient light type of guy. Anyway, he was saying that if your bottom shutter is dragging at 1/250, you can simply turn the body if the camera upside down and you can get a 1/500 sync speed out of it.

Is this true? Photography urban legend, or just bull?

 

[2WheelPhoto]

hehehehe

 

[2WheelPhoto]

try it

 

[Alex_B]

errr.. shutters should keep their timings independently from the camera orientation.

Hence the speed of both curtains will be the same when you hold your camera upside down. And flash and sensor do not care for gravity -> no difference

 

[Alex_B]

what if you hold it at 45° ? .. or on a warm night at full tide?

 

[AaronLLockhart]

what if you hold it at 45° ? .. or on a warm night at full tide?

See that's exactly what I were thinking. It doesn't make sense even on a basic level of physics. Even if gravity were involved, if the bottom shutter is dragging, then leaving that shutter in bottom would make it fall faster.

Sent from my iPhone 4S

 

[Netskimmer]

There is no top or bottom shutter, there is a front and back curtain and they both move in the same direction, from top to bottom. Your lens inverts the image, which is why the black band appears on the bottom of your image, your camera corrects for this inversion internally.

 

[SCraig]

I can get above 1/2000 with my D7000 and SB-700 when Auto FP is enabled.

 

[Alex_B]

There is no top or bottom shutter, there is a front and back curtain and they both move in the same direction, from top to bottom. Your lens inverts the image, which is why the black band appears on the bottom of your image, your camera corrects for this inversion internally.

exactly.

 

[jwbryson1]

This is exactly why I like to shoot in really cold temperatures. I have found that the colder it is outside, the slower the shutter "response time" and the more flash exposure I can get. It's like your fingers slowing down when they are cold--the dexterity goes and you can't wiggle them quite as fast as when they are hot.

Same thing--the shutter dexterity slows in low temperatures. That's why you see so many snow images overexposed.

So bizarre.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

This is exactly why I like to shoot in really cold temperatures. I have found that the colder it is outside, the slower the shutter "response time" and the more flash exposure I can get. It's like your fingers slowing down when they are cold--the dexterity goes and you can't wiggle them quite as fast as when they are hot.

Same thing--the shutter dexterity slows in low temperatures. That's why you see so many snow images overexposed.

So bizarre.

OP, take your camera to the shoot location in a cooler

 

[jwbryson1]

This is exactly why I like to shoot in really cold temperatures. I have found that the colder it is outside, the slower the shutter "response time" and the more flash exposure I can get. It's like your fingers slowing down when they are cold--the dexterity goes and you can't wiggle them quite as fast as when they are hot.

Same thing--the shutter dexterity slows in low temperatures. That's why you see so many snow images overexposed.

So bizarre.

OP, take your camera to the shoot location in a cooler

It takes years of experience to "learn" these tricks of the trade.

EDIT: I guess I should have said "ambient exposure" and not "flash exposure."

 

[2WheelPhoto]

All good anyway

 

[Chris R]

This is exactly why I like to shoot in really cold temperatures. I have found that the colder it is outside, the slower the shutter "response time" and the more flash exposure I can get. It's like your fingers slowing down when they are cold--the dexterity goes and you can't wiggle them quite as fast as when they are hot.

Same thing--the shutter dexterity slows in low temperatures. That's why you see so many snow images overexposed.

So bizarre.

OP, take your camera to the shoot location in a cooler

That's it, I'm designing a portable liquid cooled system for DSLR's.... Gonna keep that shutter icy.

 

[o hey tyler]

If that were the case, you'd get different shutter speeds depending on the degree you're rotated in relation to the earth's gravitational pull... So exposure wouldn't necessarily be consistent.

So yes, it's a hot steaming pile of freshly produced BS.