61
votes
Is there a sane reason why ¹⁄₁₂₅ is not, instead, exactly half of ¹⁄₆₀?
Actually 1/125 is half of 1/60, ±0.06 f-stop.
It should be obvious by looking at shutter speeds that they were chosen to be the reciprocal of nice round numbers. Start with 1 second and keep ...
- 17k
38
votes
Accepted
Should changing the shutter speed affect the moon's color?
but why i can see little bit of orange color with shutter speed 1/400 ?
My best guess is that you had the camera set to automatic white balance (AWB). In the 1/200s shot, the moon was bright enough ...
- 31.2k
35
votes
Is there a sane reason why ¹⁄₁₂₅ is not, instead, exactly half of ¹⁄₆₀?
The difference between the "actual" shutter speeds at powers of 2 (32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128, 1/256, 1/512, 1/1024, etc.) and the rounded numbers we use (30, 15, 8, 4, ...
- 168k
35
votes
Accepted
Why can't I shoot with a fast shutter speed with my continuous light at max power?
There is no reason whatsoever that you need to shoot a static object from a tripod with 1/100s or 1/200s shutter speed. The shutter speed has nothing whatsoever to do with "soft focus": it just has ...
- 406
28
votes
How is it possible to have shallow depth of field in very bright conditions?
The easiest way to solve this problem is to use a neutral-density filter. They are essentially neutral grey filters that cut down on the light reaching the film or digital sensor. Good ones are ...
- 1,730
27
votes
Accepted
Should I use the highest shutter speed for regular shooting?
It depends on what you mean by "highest".
If you have enough light, then the first thing you should do is to reduce the ISO setting to the minimum, so that you can get as much light as possible on ...
- 1,623
26
votes
Photographing a waterfall but also have a person in foreground
Use the ambient light to illuminate the waterfall. Use a fairly powerful flash to illuminate your human subject. The quick duration of the flash will freeze her, especially if she remains fairly still ...
- 168k
26
votes
How to capture rays of light in a photograph using a DSLR camera
The first step is to find a situation where the atmosphere is right for such effects to appear to the naked eye - whether it's steam or fog or dust or whatever else in the air that is reflecting the ...
- 5,012
25
votes
Accepted
Why don't people care any more about shutter speed accuracy?
Shutters are probably more accurate/reliable now, but more importantly with digital photography you get instant feedback so you can tell right away if there are any exposure problems, you're not going ...
- 117k
25
votes
Accepted
How can I make a photo with blurred people but a sharp background?
What you are looking for is a ND (Neutral Density) filter.
To illustrate, here is an example of a photo taken in daylight in a street with a ND1000 filter. The filter allowed a shutter speed of 6 ...
- 4,103
25
votes
How can I avoid this blur during taking indoor party pictures?
The blur is caused by the people moving while you were taking the photograph with a slow shutter. Honestly, I think it improves this particular photo a lot: it shows that the people are dancing, ...
- 1,309
23
votes
Why do cameras use a slit between two curtains rather than exposing the entire sensor instantly?
As was said, the mechanical shutter has speed limitations. As to the slit, try to imagine without it. Suppose the shutter opens by moving from top to bottom of frame. And then of course, it has to ...
- 12.5k
22
votes
Accepted
What are the practical differences between the exposure settings my camera picked for me in auto mode and my own choices?
It's hard to really tell from the small versions here — which is a lesson in itself, because at 1280x850, which is a perfectly fine online viewing size, the differences really don't matter that much.
...
- 140k
21
votes
Why do cameras use a slit between two curtains rather than exposing the entire sensor instantly?
Thought experiment time. Assume we'd like a minimum exposure of 1/2000 of a second (500 microseconds) on a 35mm full frame camera. We have a single 'shutter' to move out of the way, and back.
We'll ...
- 1,848
21
votes
Accepted
What is the relationship between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed?
The Factors
There is an equation, and by convention, it's set up to be really simple. There are basically five factors to consider together:
Aperture — the size of the opening which lets light in,
...
- 140k
17
votes
Accepted
Since the speed of light is so high, why does shutter speed even matter?
why does shutter speed modify picture sharpness/detail? Why do pictures get darker with faster shutter speeds, and brighter with slower shutter speeds?
These things happen because the light sensor in ...
- 31.2k
16
votes
Shutter speed calibration
Calibrating your Shutter Speed
Unless you are performing photographic telemetry or a variety of other niche scientific measurements, the only reason to know the exact length of your exposure is to ...
- 1,959
15
votes
Why is shutter speed changing after each shot in manual mode?
No, it is not normal. One thing that Manual mode is used for is to take multiple photographs with the same exposure parameters which is very useful in many situations. There are a few cases where it ...
- 101k
14
votes
How can I make a photo with blurred people but a sharp background?
Apart from using an ND filter, you might be able to achieve the desired effect by taking multiple photos and then blending them in post processing. Either an automatic blend with "ghost removal" might ...
- 6,770
14
votes
How can I avoid this blur during taking indoor party pictures?
Honestly, the biggest problem I see in your picture is not the blur, but the badly clipped highlights. Next time, try shooting at, say, -1 EV (which will also reduce the exposure time, and thus the ...
- 4,483
13
votes
Difference between short/long exposure for faraway objects?
f/16 will give you sharper image than f/1.4. Yes, diffraction does kick-in at f/16, but it's still not as bad as the optical flaws that are pronounced at f/1.4 in pretty much every f/1.4 lens out ...
- 1,350
13
votes
Why do moving objects in photos appear blurry?
First, I'll talk about what cameras do normally, then about how motion affects this operation.
In order for an image to be sharp and in focus, all light coming from a single point on the object being ...
- 231
13
votes
Shutter speed -vs- effective image stabilisation
Image Stabilizations only compensates for camera movements.
IS has no effect on subject movements. None. Zero. Nada.
If your subject is moving, only a shorter exposure time ("faster shutter speed") ...
- 168k
13
votes
Is there any reason to change the ISO manually?
Is there any reason to change the ISO manually, rather than have it set automatically?
The primary reason to set ISO, along with shutter time and aperture, manually would be to totally control ...
- 168k
12
votes
Accepted
Is it normal for Nikon DSLR viewfinder and live view shutter speeds to differ?
It's a case of 'read the manual'.
Page 54 - D600 manual. Just posting in case any one else ponders this.
Exposure
Depending on the scene, exposure may differ from that which would be
...
- 270
12
votes
Accepted
Are there any electric flashes that will work at shutter speeds like ¹⁄₁₀₀₀th of a second?
That camera with 1/60 sync (and says ASA) must be at least 40 years old. :) More modern cameras commonly allow 1/200 second shutter with flash.
But this limitation (of not allowing flash with 1/...
- 12.5k
12
votes
Recommended shutter speed for action sports?
In general they like to use the fastest they can get away with. Just how fast that can be is subject to a number of variables.
What focal length? How far is the shooting position from the ...
- 168k
11
votes
How do I calculate the number of stops between two shutter speeds?
It helps to start with exactly what a "stop" means. See What is one "stop"?, but, fundamentally, each stop is a doubling or halving of the exposure.
So, given two shutter durations, you can ...
- 140k
11
votes
How can I see the photo settings like f-stop, ISO etc. of a image?
Your camera saves this information, which we call "metadata" (because it is data about the data captured in the photo itself — one level beyond, or meta), in every file. There are many utilities which ...
- 140k
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