help needed on shutter speed.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dal
  • Start date Start date
Dal

Dal

Is always right
Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,636
Name
Darren
Edit My Images
Yes
I keep seeing on here that people are talking about shutter speeds of 1/200th for taking pictures of rally cars and stuff. The thing that I can't figure out is that on my camera the shutter speed goes from a 15 second and then drops all the way down to a 2000 (these are the numbers that come up on the lcd screen, so i need to know what point a 1/200th shutter speed would be on my camera, or even better, how i work out what each one works out at. I'm trying to learn as much as i can about taking decent photo's but its difficult when i dont understand some of the jargon that goes with it.

Also my camera's apeture goes from F8-F3.2, is this a good range for taking photo's of moving cars or does it need to be a more open apeture.

hope that makes sense.

thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Dal
 
What camera do you have? From the information you have given I assume its one of those advanced-compact type cameras.

Is there a shutter priority mode? In this mode you set the shutter, and the camera sets the aperture in order to achieve a correct exposure.

Have a look in your camera manual for the shutter priority mode.
 
sorry, its a Fuji S5600, its an SLR type camera (cant afford a proper SLR yet, but want to save for a Canon 400D eventuallt). it can be completely manual, i havent played about with the shutter priority yet, been doing everything on manual settings for the time being.

can you help me understand what the 1/200th means?

thanks.
 
You will probably find when you have it in Shutter Priority or Manual mode Dal that the speeds shown as you adjust the shutter will progress in pre-defined 'jumps' ... :shrug:

I am not at all familiar with your camera but it maybe that you do not have exactly a 1/200th setting ... just select the nearest for the type of action shots you have described ... and go for slightly higher than slightly lower ... say ... 1/250th ... possibly denoted just a 250 ... :thinking:

HTH ... :D







:p
 
Hi Dal,

I'm not sure about your specific camera, but if you put your camera in Tv (Shutter Priority) mode, or Manual, then you will have control over the shutter speed.

Here is a rough list of shutter speeds, ranging from the slowest, to the fastest, with 1/200 highlighted in bold, so you know where abouts it is. Just scroll through the shutter speeds on your camera till you get to the one you want.

1second
1/2 second
1/4
1/10
1/20
1/30
1/40
1/50
1/60
1/80
1/100
1/125
1/160
1/200
1/250
1/500
1/1000
1/2000

Your camera may not have some of the shutter speeds on the list for selection, so you may find it misses some out as you scroll through.
 
LOL oops. I must admit it did fox me for a short while too!
 
Thought it might help to give the reason for that shutter speed....

The 0.005 second exposure (or 1/200th as a camera setting) is the suggested amount of time the film or sensor should be exposed to light. It is a very short time but car wheels are turning fast and flying gravel is also travelling pretty fast etc. so they will move far enough in that time to make a blurred image. Those blurry bits make the picture look like there is action going on.

A really fast shutter speed will give a sharp picture with no blur but a fast moving car can look like it is parked!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top