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Nikon SB-400
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<blockquote data-quote="WayneF" data-source="post: 192418" data-attributes="member: 12496"><p>Oops! An unintended result. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2.html" target="_blank">The flash could not care less what shutter speed it was</a>. The flash is a very fast pulse of light (called a speedlight). The flash, in the specification chart in rear of manual, shows the flash durations. For example, SB-900, page F-15, 1/10,000 second duration at 1/16 power. </p><p></p><p>This is faster than any shutter. It is the shutter that cannot 'sync" flash faster than <a href="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2c.html" target="_blank">maximum sync speed</a>, which is 1/250 second for your D3 shutter. But the flash can be duration 1/10,000 (or 1/30,000 second) in a dim room with say, a 2 second shutter speed. If the flash duration is only illuminating the subject for such a short time (subject is dark otherwise), that is the same thing a 1/10,000 second shutter would have done.</p><p></p><p>The speedlight name is because it can capture extremely fast action (of the speeding bullet variety), called High Speed Flash Photography. It does this up close at low flash power levels (the duration chart), faster than any possible shutter speed (speaking of regular flash mode, shutter speed not exceeding maximum sync speed). But this needs to done in dim ambient, so that the brighter ambient will not provide enough light for the ambient to blur what the fast flash already stopped.</p><p></p><p>For dogs or sports outdoors in sun, we can underexpose the ambient at least two stops to make it be dim (but this is at the cost of the distant background in the picture).</p><p></p><p>That is speaking of regular speedlight flash mode, shutter speeds not exceeding maximum sync.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2b.html" target="_blank">Auto FP is something entirely different</a>.. No longer a speedlight. The "flash" becomes continuous light, same as the sun is continuous (FP flash is on from before shutter opens, until after shutter closes, no different than continuous). This does allow any fast shutter speed, since it is not flash, and continuous light has no sync requirement. It is called HSS (High Speed Sync), but it is anything but fast flash... It cannot stop motion, it simply has no sync limitation. Its motion stopping ability depends only on the shutter speed now, which is something less than speedlight duration could have been.</p><p></p><p>This FP mode has a cost. Due to its heroic efforts to remain illuminated continuously, we only have about 20% of the flash power remaining. This can work at close distances, a little less than half of normal flash range. Maybe as fill flash up to about 3 meters, maybe, in a good case. But it falls off fast after that distance. Serious users can combine 2 or 4 FP flashes, ganged to act as one, but providing 2 or 4 times more power (which is 1 or 2 stops more).</p><p></p><p></p><p>The SB-400 cannot do any of this FP business. </p><p></p><p>And one major property of FP flash (other than the limited power range) is that once we establish a proper exposure with it (FP flash is affected by BOTH shutter speed and aperture, just like sun light), but once we have a proper exposure, then ANY Equivalent Exposure also works. Same as it works for sunlight. So this is what allows combinations like f/1.8 at 1/8000 second, or f/9 at 1/320 second. Any Equivalent Exposure works, for both FP flash and ambient.</p><p></p><p>Regular flash mode does not work that way. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WayneF, post: 192418, member: 12496"] Oops! An unintended result. :) I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it. :) [URL="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2.html"]The flash could not care less what shutter speed it was[/URL]. The flash is a very fast pulse of light (called a speedlight). The flash, in the specification chart in rear of manual, shows the flash durations. For example, SB-900, page F-15, 1/10,000 second duration at 1/16 power. This is faster than any shutter. It is the shutter that cannot 'sync" flash faster than [URL="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2c.html"]maximum sync speed[/URL], which is 1/250 second for your D3 shutter. But the flash can be duration 1/10,000 (or 1/30,000 second) in a dim room with say, a 2 second shutter speed. If the flash duration is only illuminating the subject for such a short time (subject is dark otherwise), that is the same thing a 1/10,000 second shutter would have done. The speedlight name is because it can capture extremely fast action (of the speeding bullet variety), called High Speed Flash Photography. It does this up close at low flash power levels (the duration chart), faster than any possible shutter speed (speaking of regular flash mode, shutter speed not exceeding maximum sync speed). But this needs to done in dim ambient, so that the brighter ambient will not provide enough light for the ambient to blur what the fast flash already stopped. For dogs or sports outdoors in sun, we can underexpose the ambient at least two stops to make it be dim (but this is at the cost of the distant background in the picture). That is speaking of regular speedlight flash mode, shutter speeds not exceeding maximum sync. [URL="http://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics2b.html"]Auto FP is something entirely different[/URL].. No longer a speedlight. The "flash" becomes continuous light, same as the sun is continuous (FP flash is on from before shutter opens, until after shutter closes, no different than continuous). This does allow any fast shutter speed, since it is not flash, and continuous light has no sync requirement. It is called HSS (High Speed Sync), but it is anything but fast flash... It cannot stop motion, it simply has no sync limitation. Its motion stopping ability depends only on the shutter speed now, which is something less than speedlight duration could have been. This FP mode has a cost. Due to its heroic efforts to remain illuminated continuously, we only have about 20% of the flash power remaining. This can work at close distances, a little less than half of normal flash range. Maybe as fill flash up to about 3 meters, maybe, in a good case. But it falls off fast after that distance. Serious users can combine 2 or 4 FP flashes, ganged to act as one, but providing 2 or 4 times more power (which is 1 or 2 stops more). The SB-400 cannot do any of this FP business. And one major property of FP flash (other than the limited power range) is that once we establish a proper exposure with it (FP flash is affected by BOTH shutter speed and aperture, just like sun light), but once we have a proper exposure, then ANY Equivalent Exposure also works. Same as it works for sunlight. So this is what allows combinations like f/1.8 at 1/8000 second, or f/9 at 1/320 second. Any Equivalent Exposure works, for both FP flash and ambient. Regular flash mode does not work that way. :) [/QUOTE]
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