non dedicated flash d70

[mdmc]

I had hoped there woul be more interest in this.
Some discussion, exprerimentation, explanation.
This pic was at 1/2000 @ f16.
It was underxposed but still I think pretty incredible!
Sunpac 383 super on hotshoe.
Mark.
D70 non dedicated flash bonous!
EDIT
added photo.

[JCPhoto1]

I'm not really sure of what your looking for in feedback. It would help if you could explain why it's incredible for you and describe your decision to expose at ( 1/2000 @ f16 ). Then we woud have a starting point of discussion.

[mdmc]

flash sync speed is 1/500 sec, if a 35mm camera with a sync speed of 1/250 were shot at 1/500 the bottom half of the image would not be exposed at all, at1/1000 just the top quarter would be exposed, at 1/2000, nothing.
if this were a 35mm camera w/sync speed 1/500, then only the top quarter wold be exposed.
Mark.
JC, I don't know why i exposed for 1/2000 @ f 16, but I did And should not have been able to. Curious as to what others find.
Mark

[JCPhoto1]

Now I see what your talking about. I shoot only digital and my knowledge is based there so I wing it with giving answers about film camera's. Film camera's have a mechanical shutter and what your saying is true about cutting off part of the picture when you exceed the sync speed. Was this shot with a film camera and if so what kind. I use digital which has a sync speed but it really relates to syncing with the onboard flash. Modern digital doesn't have a mechanical shutter as far as I know and I have HSS (high speed sync) that will go up to 1/8000. I have tried shooting higher speeds and have cut off part of the pic when I shoot fast. So what I'm trying to say in a round about way is I don't know why it did it on digital but with film it seems more likely that you should have gotten only part of a frame using conventional thinking.

The more I think about it it's not really a problem with the flash but the shutter speed. If the camera has a setting for 1/2000 then the shutter will open at that speed. The flash duration should be at least 1/2000 to 1/10000 so that should work. So logically it seems to me that you can take a flash picture and get what you did. Now I'm really confused. I think I'll go lie down now and hope someone can shed some light on this.....Jim C

[JCPhoto1]

I'm having a bad day. Maybe I should have noticed the thread title. I see you were using a D70. Thats probably why you were able to get the shot. No mechanical shutter. The CCD just turns off and on so you can get HSS with it. You weren't syncing with a dedicated Nikon flash and it might have acted as if it were a off camera flash and didn't try to sync so that made it possible. Again I hope someone here can give a better explaination or answer....Jim

[mdmc]

Jim,
Thanks for replying, Im just curious.
I didn't know it doesen't have a shutter. never looked and change lenses as fast as possible
Mark.

[JCPhoto1]

To carry the confusion even further if there isn't a shutter then why does there seem to be something covering a portion of the picture. From what I understood there is no mechanical shutter but maybe something that simulates the action of a shutter. I'll post something on the Nikonians list and see if they have any answers.

[mdmc]

Its a full frame verticle, nothing blocked.
Mark.

[JCPhoto1]

I posted the questiion on the Nikonians forum and got some interesting and informative answers. A lot of different opinions about how shutters work on the DSLR's. Here's the link to the discussion. I'll be gone for a few days and I'll be interested to see how it goes when I get back....Jim

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID71/4574.html

[OldSchool]

Hi Mark,

I've read that the D70 does have a mech shutter, and (I believe) the max speed is 1/250. When you select speeds faster than that, it's all electronic switching.

On an assided (FWIW) this is one reason CCD blooming gets terrible when shooting faster than 1/250 when you got the sun in your image.

BR,
Tim

[mdmc]

Tim, thanks for your reply. sounds like the most reasonable answer out there.
Jcphoto, seems like the Nikonians arent sure.
I have e-mailed Ken Rockwell, and his terse reply was " the d70 syncs easily at 1/8000 as long as its not the built in or nikon shoemount flash"
sounds like something nikon might not want to advertise.
Mark.

[mdmc]

My own rudimentary reasoning from what I recall is that a full burst from a flas gun lasts 1/1000 sec, so you should be able to get good flash results with the shutter set to 1/1000 sec at any distance the flash is capable of. However, if the distance requres full flash and the shutter is set to 1/8000, you wil get only 1/8 exposure. So in order to get proper flash exposure at 1/8000, you must be close enough to the subject to require only 1/8 of the flash capacity.
Mark.