jerl said:

A few ways around this: use a camera without a focal plane shutter. Cameras like the D40 or D70 use an electronic shutter, and so have no problem syncing up to 1/8000. Alternatively, you can get a camera with a leaf shutter in the lens. No Nikon or Canon DSLR will let you do this: only some compacts and some MF cameras.

This is interesting. I thought both of these had focal plane shutter. And if they do not, where are the shutters? And NIKON suggests 1/500 sec is the fastest synch speed with an external flash. Maybe someone can enlighten me on all this.

Thanks

Also, for jfh:

- Get the flash as close to the subject as possible.

- Consider getting a Better Beamer.

- If you want a more powerful flashgun, have a look at the Nissin Di-866 Mark II. It's more powerful than the SB-900/910, costs a bit less than an SB-700, and works great with wireless high-speed sync. I've got one and love it. If you get one make sure it's a Mark II though, the Mark I doesn't do wireless high-speed sync. And obviously make sure it's a Nikon version.

Mike Gunter said:
Adamz's suggestion is likely more fruitful if you can afford it, assuming it offers full output - I don't know if it does or not.

It does and it doesn't... well I'd say it doesn't, but it's better than plain FP sync.

Pocketwizards have two high-speed modes (that I know of):

- "HSS" mode. In normal (non-pocketwizard) high-speed sync mode, the flash starts firing some time before the shutter opens, and stops some time after it closes (at least on Canons anyway). The pocketwizard guys figured out how to get the timing more accurate to stop wasting this flash power, so you can get more power for the actual exposure (they claim some significant improvements). But it's still pulsing the flash, so it's not "full output".

- "Hypersync" mode. This mode fires a single flash pulse, so the flash can fire at full power. BUT the shutter opening is delayed until the brightest part of the flash pulse has passed, and the exposure is made with the light as the flash is fading. (The bright part is just too short.) So it's not really "full output" either, though presumably it's better than FP mode (otherwise what would be the point of doing it?).

I need to be mobile for wildlife.

Hi,

The Creative Lighting System (CLS) does allow for flash faster than the normal synchronization speed, but at a dramatic drop in flash output, as you increase shutter speed, which may not be very useful, depending upon your setup. I have several speedlights in order to use CLS for this reason.

Adamz's suggestion is likely more fruitful if you can afford it, assuming it offers full output - I don't know if it does or not.

A wired output, if you can manage it, might work, too.

My best,

Mike

The pop-up flash on the D300 does clearly limit the shutter speed to a max of 1/320 (e1 flash sync speed setting). Not sure what i was doing wrong before with the SU-800 commander, which i just started using last week. May have been low batteries in the SB-600. With the 600mm lens and wimberley head however, i don't seem to be getting that much light from the SB-600 flash with 16.5 feet min focus distance. perhaps the sb-910 would get more reach (throw a little more light onto the subject).

@adamz - I should clarify I was talking about FP Sync, which I assume is what the OP was trying to use.

jfh said:
I appreciate the input and I'm now back in business. Rechecked the SU800 commander and camera settings, and the SB600 fires wireless with the D300 at any shutter speed selected. thx.

I knew it was possible. What did you do wrong?

@cold - that's not completely true, PW in hysync mode coordinates the shutter and flash and allows for proper exposure - was using this many times

I appreciate the input and I'm now back in business. Rechecked the SU800 commander and camera settings, and the SB600 fires wireless with the D300 at any shutter speed selected. thx.

1/250 is the fastest you can get with your camera- it is the physical design of the focal plane shutter itself and not the sync or flash unit that gives you this limitation. If you force it to sync faster (like with a PW or another wireless device), you will get dark lines at the top and bottom. Shooting in ambient light with fill flash, this might be a big problem (the top and bottom will just be the background with no flash.

A few ways around this: use a camera without a focal plane shutter. Cameras like the D40 or D70 use an electronic shutter, and so have no problem syncing up to 1/8000. Alternatively, you can get a camera with a leaf shutter in the lens. No Nikon or Canon DSLR will let you do this: only some compacts and some MF cameras.

You could use a fast sync speed with a Nikon flash. This lets you use a faster shutter speed by adding more light pulses when the shutter is travelling. This is easy, but cuts down on power really fast.

Finally, you could just rely on flash units alone and rely on the flash pulse duration to control your shutter speed. If all of the light is coming from the flash and the pulse only lasts 1/1000 of a second, then it doesn't matter if your shutter speed is 1s or 1/200s- the rest of the time outside your flash pulse won't add anything. Typically you would do this by using your flashes at a lower power (1/8th power or below) and stopping down heavily to cut down on your ambient. Then you need to add as many flashes as necessary to get the right exposure. Your shutter speed is irrelevant then, but you need to properly sync the flashes to make sure they all go off at the same time: the su-800 or PW should be ok for this.

I haven't really got all this stuff figured out, but a couple of things anyway:

- While the pop-up flash won't sync faster than 1/320, in commander mode it will happily trigger external flashes to sync faster. No need for a pocket wizard just for fast sync speeds (though they're useful for other reasons).

- If your problem is that you can't /select/ faster shutter speeds, you might need to use S or M exposure mode instead of P or A.

easy solution - get pocket wizard and You'll be able to get very fast sync speed up to 1/8000

the pop up flash wont fire faster than 1/320. the su-800 does, but I don't have one to tell you how. search for fp mode.

other flashes like the sb700,800,900 and 910 have no issues either.

I am only able to get a maximum shutter speed of 1/250 or 1/320 in high speed flash sync FP mode with the D300 and SB600. Same limitation with the SU800 commander. Any ideas on how to crank up the shutter speed with wireless flash?

This anna's hummingbird was recently taken in natural light but would like to use wireless flash in rainforest conditions. My best to all Nikonians for having the patience of Job. see anna's photo at: