Am I Limited in "S" Mode with Flash Photography

Dennis in NH

New member
I apologize if a question like mine or something similar is already somewhere within the thousands of posts on this web site but here goes:

I purchased my D3300 about 3 months ago. Because this is my first D-SLR, I have been using it mostly in "point and shoot" mode. However, I want to be able to branch out and use some of the manual modes on the camera too. In particular, I'd like to be able to take indoor photos with a flash using the shutter priority mode (S) because when taking photos of hockey or basketball games that my grandkids are playing, I want to be able to set the shutter speeds very fast to freeze motion. I know there is also a Sports mode on the camera but I really want to use "S."

I was wondering why every time I take an indoor photo in S mode with the flash, the photo ends up totally black. Then I read that I was limited to a shutter speed of 1/200 when using the flash unit that comes on the camera. I said to myself "great ---I'll just go buy an external flash unit and I should be all set."

Wrong -- I tried taking flash photos with the external flash and setting the shutter speeds faster than 1/200 and I still get no photo. Correction --- I get a "faint" photo the closer to 1/200 I am but I get nothing at very fast shutter speeds.

How can I get indoor flash photos to come out at shutter speeds in the 1/500 or 1/1000 range or higher ?

Sorry if this is a basic question. I'm still learning.

Thanks for your advise.

Dennis in NH
 

WayneF

Senior Member
What flash are you using? What flash mode? What is the approximate subject distance? What is the ISO and f/stop? Are these the pictures in the hockey or basketball games? Where are you situated there (how close)?

We can assume the lens is wide open, if camera S mode in a dim setting.

There are always two exposures involved, the ambient light which you say is black, and the flash exposure which you say is insufficient.

Flash exposure is not affected by shutter speed. The flash is faster than the shutter speed, fast enough to stop motion (maximum power level may be the exception), and the shutter merely has to be open to pass the fast flash. Flash exposure is affected by the aperture and ISO and subject distance (and the flash power level).

If it is the camera internal flash, it is a tiny weak unit. It has a guide number of about 40 at ISO 100, which means maximum power is f/4 at 10 feet, or f/2 at 20 feet, etc. Your sports court is likely farther. ISO 1600 would make guide number be x4 or about GN 160. That means f/4 at 40 feet (which is probably of major help).

The camera shutter is limited to the 1/200 second sync speed, but that is not the problem. The flash is much faster, and the shutter speed is not a factor of flash. The tiny little flash is just a weak unit. You need a bigger hot shoe flash unit, which will have more power (a bigger guide number), which depends on zoom, but at about 70 mm, might be say GN 160 ISO 100, or GN 640 at ISO 1600, which is vastly more range.

Normally we use camera A or M mode for flash, so that we can set the aperture for the flash. The aperture matters to flash exposure, but the shutter speed does not. Shutter speed only matters when the ambient light level becomes strong enough to blur the motion, but when the ambient is black, it simply does not matter.

Sports mode is for outdoor sports, for fast shutter speed in daylight ambient, and it will turn the internal flash off.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Check out the link in Wayne's signature in his post above. Everything you ever wanted to know about flash. But I would not use flash for what you want here. It will just annoy people and the distance is likely too great for it to be effective. Rather, use a higher iso so that you can get a higher shutter speed without flash. I would use auto iso and shutter priority. Or you could use auto iso with aperture priority and set your minimum shutter speed in the auto iso settings to a fairly high value like 1/1000. I prefer shutter priority though with auto iso minimum shutter speed set to 1/focal length. That way you can decide what shutter speed is needed for each shot.
 

Dennis in NH

New member
Thanks, Wayne. I'll have to get back to you with the settings I used because I'm at work now and my stuff is at home. Also, I have not changed any ISO settings or many other settings on the camera from the default "auto" settings so I'm sure my ISO is still set at "Auto."

Dennis
 

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
How can I get indoor flash photos to come out at shutter speeds in the 1/500 or 1/1000 range or higher ?

You can't.

It is a characteristic of focal-plane shutters that at higher speeds, the entire frame is not all exposed at the same time. Electronic flash units have a very short flash duration, so if one were to fire during an exposure by a camera using a focal plane shutter at a high speed, only the portion of the frame that was exposed when the flash went off would be illuminated by the flash.

It's pretty much a standard limitation on all cameras that use focal plane shutters (which includes nearly all SLR-type cameras) that you can only use electronic flash with it up to a certain shutter speed. On your D3300, that top shutter speed is 1/200 of a second. On older, mechanical film cameras, that limit is usually much lower. On my F2, built in 1972, it's only 1/80 of a second.


On the other hand, because the duration of an electronic flash is so short (usually, I think, around 1/500 to 1/2000 of a second), if such a flash is the primary source of illumination for a picture, the effect will end up being about the same as if you were able to use a very fast shutter speed.
 
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