Shutter Priority

F

flyboy

New member
Hi,

First time on here and thought I'd ask a question.

I have been trying to use Shutter Priority, I understood this to be semi-automatic mode i.e the user selects the shutter speed and the camera selects all the other settings in order to get a good exposure.

However I was trying to use this to catch a blue tit going in and out of a bird house in my garden. I set the setting to S and adjusted the shutter speed to 1/1000. (take into account that this was outdoors on a sunny day)

Immediately I got he message 'subject too dark' I adjusted my shutter speed down and the warming dod not go away until my shutter speed was 1/60... when I was using sport setting I was getting 1/500!!!!!

My question is how does this work???? If it not semi-automatic how do I need to set up the camera for it to fire off shots with a cracking shutter speed to capture birds etc moving at speed yet still expose the shot correctly.....

Any help or guidance would be great.... every book I read says (and I paraphrase) "adjust the shutter speed and the camera sets everything else up" and this is not my experience.....

Any help or advice gladly received.

​Thanks
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
First off Welcome to the forum

If you fill out your profile we can better answer any questions that you might have.
You can do that at http://nikonites.com/profile.php?do=editprofile

Some useful links
Nikon Product Manuals available for download
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


What you were doing sounds like it should have worked but there are several other factors. What lens were you using? What was the ISO set to? It may have been a bright sunny day but was the area where you were shooting in a shady area?

It might help if you were to post a picture of the scene to help us see what you were seeing.
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum,your shutter speed is based on more than one thing,aperture,iso,and prevailing light all go together to determine the shutter speed,the setting you used is semi automatic but there needs to be enough light,wide enough aperture or a high enough iso to obtain the shutter speed you want.you can prove this by raising your iso and then your shutter speed will rise just as a test take the iso from the lowest to the highest and see the different shutter speed at the same aperture.
This isnt all there is to it as at the highest iso the pictures would be too grainy but it may start you thinking.

mike
 
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F

flyboy

New member
Thanks for the replies - here is picture of the scene... This was taken in sport mode and was at 1/500

It was a bright sunny day

I am using a Nikon D5100 with a Nikkor 18-105 vr lens

ISO was set at 1100 - (but it was an automatic mode)


DSC_0498.jpg
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
For that scene with the 18-105mm I'd use whatever ISO was needed to keep my aperture in the f/5.6 to f/8 range at a shutter speed of 1/250th or better. I might compromise on the aperture, going one stop faster, if it meant keeping either my ISO down or my shutter speed up. Judicious use of Active D-Lighting might help here, too. I'm not a huge fan of ADL but used correctly it can be a very effective tool.

EXIF data would be most helpful.
 
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