Panning shots?

What sort of shutter speed should i use ? I have a Nikon D40 so it shows my shutter speeds 1,2,2" ect how do they relate to like 1/1000 could someone explain shutter speeds ? and how they are shown on my camera and how that relates to how people talk about them.

Thanks,
Callum

When I pan, I simply match the speed of the object moving with my shutter speed.

IE: 1/20 for 20mph, 1/40 for 40mph. etc. This works for me at close range, I dont know how this strategy would work for boats travelling at 200mph 1/4 mile away.

the " indicates seconds ' indicates minutes. 0.5" would be half a second.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistayuck/505175478/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/218/505175478_46ab0ff61d.jpg" width="500" height="313" alt="Mustang Mach 1" /></a>
This car was travelling at about 20mph, shutter speed used was either 1/20 or 1/25

I can't really answer specific questions about your camera, because I am not familiar with it, so I'll just keep my answers to shutter speeds for panning.
For panning, the slower the moving object is the slower the shutter speed you'll want to use, and the opposite is true too.
For example, say you are photographing a car that is traveling 30 MPH, I would probably use a shutter speed on 1/20th of a second.
Now say you are photographing a race car of some kind that is going 100 + MPH, I'd use a shutter speed of say 1/60th of a second.
When panning, especially in the beginning of your photographic experience I'd recommend using the shutter priority mode, that way you can choose the shutter speed and the camera will select the appropriate f/stop.
Panning is a great time to use the "rule of thirds", where you put the subject in either the first or last third of the frame so that the subject has somewhere to go in the frame or looks like it is coming from somewhere.
Make sense?
I'd recommend experimenting with different shutter speeds on subjects that moving at various speeds. The subject doesn't necessarily have to be moving fast for this technique to be effective.
Good Luck!
Brian

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Originally Posted by Mr Yuck

When I pan, I simply match the speed of the object moving with my shutter speed.

IE: 1/20 for 20mph, 1/40 for 40mph. etc. This works for me at close range, I dont know how this strategy would work for boats travelling at 200mph 1/4 mile away.

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Seems to work well! This shot shows a lot of movement, but the car itself is sharp which is what I like to see - something that's moving is sharp but there is a lot of blur.

This kind of photography takes practice. Examples can really help but I'm afraid I can't quite help with that yet (still getting used to the Mac switch). Sometimes I find that it's easier to keep both eyes open since on an SLR, the viewfinder is blocked out while the shutter is open - this way you can track movement. I can't see too well out of the other eye because the camera is blocking it, but it does seem to help a little. Experiment a lot, and you'll get there.