Max Shutter Speed

[pbjef]

<p>Last night I had a shoot. Amazing in itself sometimes. </p>

<p>Anyway ...</p>

<p>My max sync speed on my Nikon D50 is 1/500th. I was shooting with a dumb trigger to a Nikon SB-28 (in manual mode). I bumped my shutter speed up to 1/640th on a couple of shots and didn't notice any banding in any of the shots. For this camera on really sunny days I have gone as high as 1/1000th on the shutter and never seen any banding. </p>

<p>Is it possible that max sync speed has something to do with the speed of the flash or some "wiggle" room in the max sync speed? </p>

<p> </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Try the same thing in a dark room and then report back.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>It has *to do* with the Electronic shutter design in the Nikon D50. If you Google search for</p>

<p>D50 Electronic shutter</p>

<p>you may find more information on this subject. [No, other Nikon digital bodies do not synch as high a shutter speed(s) as the D50.]</p>

<p> </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Maximum sync speed is an issue for mechanical focal-plane shutters. The D70, D70S, and D50 actually use an electronic shutter at higher shutter speeds although they also have a mechanical focal-plane shutter built in for the slower speeds. Therefore, in reality, the D50 has no maximum sync speed limits if you use a flash that the camera cannot detect as iTTL compatible.</p>

<p>The electronic shutter has many other drawbacks so that they are no longer used. See <a name="00SubM"></a><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=587835">Joseph Wisniewski</a>'s answer in this thread for more info: <a href="../nikon-camera-forum/00SuYs">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00SuYs</a></p>

[Two23]

<p>Shun is correct. The D50 is one of a few cameras that is not limited by a mechanical shutter when it comes to sync speed. You can do some interesting things with them using high speed sync and massive flash set ups.<br>

Kent in SD</p>

[pbjef]

<p>That's really good news. I need a backup body, maybe I should look into a D70 since it has the same style shutter or should I go with the D90?</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Again, the electronic shutter has many drawbacks; there are very good reasons that niether Canon nor Nikon uses them in their DSLRs any more. Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily consider cameras with an electronic shutter as "good news." However, you do gain in terms of flash sync speed if that is what you want, but you lose in many other areas.</p>

<p>And besides the electronic shutter, the D50 and D70 have among Nikon's worst viewfinders. Their overall designs are very old, thus leading to many other additional drawbacks. E.g. the D50 in not compatible with the now very popular SDHC memory cards.</p>

<p>But it is your choice.</p>

[Two23]

<p>If you want to use massive flash power (8,000ws or more) to overpower the sun for daytime portraits, the D50/70 will do what you want. If you just want a camera for general photography and rarely use more than just a little 4AA battery flash (e.g the dinky powered SB-900) then I would definitely go with the D90. Much better AF, better resolution, better low light performance.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>Other than massive flash power to overpower the sun, there is a FP flash mode, with limitted use to mostly portraits for daytime outdoors. The D50, D70 do not have the FP flash mode, so cannot control any external FP flash for fast shutter speeds, if that matters to you.</p>