New to using a flash, Why can't I shoot higher than1/250?

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Sharps

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Anthony
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Hi everyone

After owning cameras for years I have owned speed lights but never really had to use them apart from the odd occasions. I have just bought the Godox AD200pro, Just tried a few shots ( i always shoot in Manual mode) but I can't shoot any higher than 1/250 ? As I said I'm new to flash so is this correct or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks
 
Cameras have a maximum speed at which they will sync the shutter and flash
 
To be a little more technical: the maximum flash synchronisation speed is governed by the maximum time during which the entire surface of the sensor will be exposed to the flash exposure.

In cameras with leaf shutters (most commonly point and shoot cameras, nowadays) this will be true for pretty well the entire exposure, so they will sync at, generally, all shutter speeds.

Cameras with focal plane shutters (almost all cameras with interchangeable lenses) only have the sensor entirely exposed at low shutter speeds. At higher speeds, the first curtain starts its travel and the second curtain starts soon after, so a slit between the shutter curtains moves in front of the sensor. Given the short duration of electronic flash, if the shutter speed is too high, the flash will illuminate only the sensor under the current position of the slit, when the flash triggers.

In the "good old days" there were FP (focal plane) flashbulbs, designed to burn for longer than normal, which overcame this problem, albeit at a greater cost.
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
To be a little more technical: the maximum flash synchronisation speed is governed by the maximum time during which the entire surface of the sensor will be exposed to the flash exposure.

In cameras with leaf shutters (most commonly point and shoot cameras, nowadays) this will be true for pretty well the entire exposure, so they will sync at, generally, all shutter speeds.

Cameras with focal plane shutters (almost all cameras with interchangeable lenses) only have the sensor entirely exposed at low shutter speeds. At higher speeds, the first curtain starts its travel and the second curtain starts soon after, so a slit between the shutter curtains moves in front of the sensor. Given the short duration of electronic flash, if the shutter speed is too high, the flash will illuminate only the sensor under the current position of the slit, when the flash triggers.

In the "good old days" there were FP (focal plane) flashbulbs, designed to burn for longer than normal, which overcame this problem, albeit at a greater cost.
Click to expand...
That was a very good explanation.
 
Your AD200 can do HSS - if you're using the X-Pro trigger, you need to enable it by pressing the "Sync" custom function button. I believe it's always enabled on the XT1 trigger.
 
Thanks for all the info, much appreciated
 
Just to add that if the flash is the main light source then you typically don't need a fast shutter speed, as the flash duration (which is typically very short) will freeze any motion.
 
juggler said:
If you're new to flash I'd suggest you avoid HSS for now. It just adds complication (and disappointment!) to what's already a steep learning curve.
Click to expand...

I would echo this 100% - I should have said as much when I posted the video link. Thanks Simon. (y)
 
Faldrax said:
Just to add that if the flash is the main light source then you typically don't need a fast shutter speed, as the flash duration (which is typically very short) will freeze any motion.
Click to expand...
Well you would if surrounding are crazy bright or you want wide open apertures and it is reasonably bright. Any directly sunlit areas tend to fall within that category.
 
Have to say 1/250s is rather good, as long as it works perfectly. 5D3 can only go to 1/200s and even that setting has an issue with GODOX system at least in live view mode (which of course you would use for something like architecture). It essentially causes slightly darker bottom, which may not be so noticeable say for a portrait. 1/160 is clean and that is really the crappy sync speed of CANON ef system. So you really want to step up to 1DX or some fancy new mirrorless for that.

For mirrorless users another point to watch is that flash apparently doesn't play nice with electronic shutter.
 
Oddly enough I was thinking about making a video about sync speeds.. I made a couple of crude snippets of an EOS film camera shutter opening filmed in high speed on my phone (give it a go). Its quite odd to see 1/250th of a second shutter taking several seconds to happen in the recording.
It Turns out the Slow Mo guys have ready done this (only better than I ever could).
The issue is at the sync speed the first shutter blind drops all the way down then the flash fires, exposing the full frame, and the second curtain then starts it's journey. Above the sync speed the second curtain starts to move before the first one gets to the bottom of the frame so only a slit is exposed when the flash trips.
View: https://youtu.be/CmjeCchGRQo
 
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