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I have Nikon D7000 with 18-105 mm lens. One day around noon outside I tried to dial in 1/4000 shutter speed in Shutter Priority mode at 18 mm f/3.5. The exposure meter was telling me my image is going to be underexposed. I tried to increase the ISO to its maximum value but still exposure meter was not balanced. So I am wondering at what combination of ISO and f-stop I can use such or more faster shutter speeds.

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    \$\begingroup\$ What kind of light were you shooting in? A 1/4000th shutter speed is a VERY small amount of light. Outside of bright daylight scenes, it is entirely probable that you won't have enough light to get a proper exposure at that shutter setting. Even if you increase ISO, you could very likely be several stops beyond the required shutter speed. If you are shooting at 18mm f/3.5 1/4000th ISO 1600 in post-sunset golden hour, you probably don't have anywhere remotely close to enough light to expose more than a very dark gray frame.... So...it would be very helpful to know what kind of light you had. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Mar 7, 2013 at 6:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ When you say you tried, does that mean you were unable to get the shutter speed to 1/4000? Could you take a shot. In shutter or aperture priority I would ignore the meter anyway. At f/3.5, even on a cloudy day, at 1/4000th you shouldn't have to bump up ISO beyond maybe 800. \$\endgroup\$
    – MikeW ♦
    Mar 7, 2013 at 6:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well I was trying to shoot outside on a bright sunny day. I was totally relying on the meter. May be I can ignore the meter and can try to take some pics at 1/4000 or even way past that. \$\endgroup\$
    – V.B
    Mar 7, 2013 at 6:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ How similar is the low exposure warning and the backlight warning on a D7000? Is there any shooting mode where the two could be confused by the operator and the camera refuse to release the shutter if the backlight warning is activated? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Mar 7, 2013 at 7:41

2 Answers 2

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Well I was trying to shoot outside on a bright sunny day. I was totally relying on the meter

The meter is for manual mode. Ignore it if you're in shutter or aperture priority.

It may blink Lo at you if it thinks it's too dark, or pop up the flash, but just give it a try and see what you get. You were probably fine to shoot

Sunny 16 Rule says on a sunny day, at f/16, shutter ought to be reciprocal of ISO.

  • 1/250th second at f/16
  • 1/500th at f/11
  • 1/1000 at f/8
  • 1/2000 at f/5.6
  • 1/4000 at f/4 (which is the same figure Johann3s came up with)
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Your exposure gets basically determined by three things:

  1. Aperture
  2. ISO
  3. Shutter-speed

These three properties together determine the amount of stops. There are tables as a general guideline for how many stops you need under certain circumstances. One example is given here.. According to this table, the most common bright daylight setting equals the number 15. On this same page is a table which shows which settings you need to use for which f-stop number.

This table says that for bright sunlight you can achieve 1/4000 at ISO200 F/4.

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