quick question about flash?

Soldato
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hey all,

could any one tell me what the fastest shutter speed i could have when using my D90 + sb-600 being triggered by the d90's on board flash in comander mode?


Also would i be able to use a faster shutter speed if i used a flash cord? 1/500+ or is it just not possible to go that fast with a flash?

reason i ask, i was using my sb-600 in comander mode being triggered by the on board flash, if i went above a shutter speed of 1/200 the picture would come out black. is this because of a delay between pressing the shutter release and the flash firing? or is it that teh sync is off? or something else

Basically i want to use my sb-600 with shutter speeds of 1/320 and above, is it possible and if so how?

cheers
 
Last edited:
1/200th is the fastest normal flash sync speed. If you need higher than that you need FP mode which is not available if the camera is acting as a commander. This is all explained in the manual - have a look at pages 185-190, 235 & 265-266.
 
cheers snapshot, i did have a look throught the manual and had auto FP turned on.
i think like you say if the camera is acting as the commander it wont allow a shutter speed of more than 1/200.

which leads me to ask, will using a flash cord be able to give me shutter speeds faster than 1/200?
if so what cords do i need to fire Two sb-600's at the same time?
im not worried about TTL as i will set the flashes power manually.
cheers
 
Don't know for sure but I doubt that will work, its the setting the flashes manually which sets my senses tingling as the flash has to be in fast sync mode to do fast syncing (funny that :D)

For fast syncing the flash does something very clever and makes the actual discharge longer so the shutter doesn't miss it, normally the discharge is over in a fraction of a second so shot that the shutter can miss some of it, with syncing it stays on for longer giving more of a chance for the shutter to open whilst the flash fires. If you're off camera with multiple flashes I think you can use CLS and being a Canon user I'm not sure on its limitations.

MB
 
cheers for your reply, its a valid point, im not sure either, can some one confirm this?

Can the sb-600 not be set manually to auto FP or high speed sync.
then i could set the flash power either in camera or on the flash?
 
its not for any one photo as such, im making a macro set up, details of which i'll post later.
its for situations were i want a low ISO and high shutter speed, for insects and the like were a tripod cant be used etc.
 
You don't need a high shutter speed if the flash is the dominant light source as the flash speed is much faster than the shutter speed. I suspect you're just inventing a problem for yourself.
 
I'll be using the flash in daylight, i think i've found what i need now.
the nikon SC-28 Cord should retain Auto FP and has pc outputs for another flash to be connected.
basically want higher shutter speeds to reduce camera shake at high magnification, beyound 1.1
 
That should do it plus an SC-18 or SC-19 cord and an AS-10 if the SB-600 doesn't have a socket for the control cord. But I still think that the daylight can be ignored at greater than 1:1 as you'll be working at an effective aperture of f22 or greater.
 
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