GrowingUpDisney
589 Miles From My Favorite Place On Earth!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2007
- Messages
- 675
NOT a great pic...but I am still figuring out the odds and ends to my new camera. I have a Sony Cyber-shot Super steady shot DSC-T30...

Very cool!Tower of Terror. ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/4, 63mm
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This is from the Little Mermaid show at MGM. It was taken with a Canon 1DM2 with a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens at 200mm. Av mode, 1/60 second, f/2.8, ISO 1600. Show in RAW using auto WB. IS mode 1. Evaluative metering (should have used spot and metered off of her face). Exposure correction. A bit of noise reduction and sharpening.
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One thing that is not well known about absurdly fast shutter speeds is that the shutter does not actually move that fast, not even close. Most shutters have a maximum speed of about the same speed as the flash sync, often about 1/200 second. For anything faster than that the shutter still moves at 1/200 second but instead of the entire sensor being exposed it is a slit that moves across the sensor.
How this works is for up to 1/200 the first curtain opens and the second curtain follows after the first has finished it travel across the sensor opening. For faster shutter speeds the second curtain starts before the first has finished, reducing the time any portion of the sensor is exposed but still taking 1/200 total time.
So does this matter? Maybe, if the image of the subject is moving in the same direction and at the same speed as the shutter it could cause some odd exposure effects where the subject receives the full 1/200, or in the opposite direction the subject might receive almost no exposure.
How likely is this to occur? Rarely, but if it ever happens at least you know it isn't a problem with the camera.
One from Spectromagic with 50/1.8
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Very good point. If you ever wondered why the flash mode in which the flash fires at the end rather than the beginning of the exposure is called "second curatin sync", now you know.
If you really want to freeze high speed motion, use your flash. It's usually a very, very brief flash of light. Don't, however, use it in high speed sync mode. It sounds screwy, but the flash duration is longer in high speed sync mode. The reason is that it needs to be lit during the entire time that the first and second curtains are exposing a portion of the frame. With a non-high speed synch flash shot, the first shutter curtain opens the frame, the flash fires, and then the second curtain closes the frame.
Clear as mud?
Finding Nemo - The Musical. XTi w/ 18 - 55mm IS, ISO 1600.
27mm, f/4.0, 1/100
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44mm, f/5.0, 1/160
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45mm, f/5.0, 1/50
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WOw! These are amazing! Can I borrow these for my scrapbook? We got there 35 minutes early and still had to sit in the last row! As hard as tried, my camera just couldn't make the distance with no flash! Do you have any of the big bird that comes out from the side of the stage? I really wanted to capture that!![]()
Thank you for this!What do all of these exposure numbers mean to me and my camera? How can I see what settings I would need to take the same shot?
ISO, aperture, and shutter speed are universal standards. A combination of the three represents the correct exposure for a certain light level. If those settings worked for someone, they will work for you in the same light level. You can also play with those settings to match your camera's capabilities.
Here are scales for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. If you move down the scale on one, you must move up the same amount on one of the other scales. In other words, if you move two steps down on ISO, you must move either two steps up on shutter speed or two steps up on aperture (or one each on shutter speed and aperture) to get the same exposure.
ISO
6400
3200
1600
800
400
200
100
50
Aperture
f/1
f/1.4
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32
Shutter Speed
1 minute
30 seconds
15 seconds
8 seconds
4 seconds
2 seconds
1 second
1/2 seconds
1/4 seconds
1/8 seconds
1/15 seconds
1/30 seconds
1/60 seconds
1/125 seconds
1/500 seconds
1/1000 seconds
1/2000 seconds
1/4000 seconds
1/8000 seconds
So if you see the settings "1600, f/2.8, 1/60s" and you wonder how that would work at ISO 400, you can do the translation. ISO 400 is two steps down on the ISO chart, so you have to go up two steps on the shutter speed and/or aperture. If you keep the aperture the same, that means that you need to increase the shutter speed from 1/60s to 1/15s.
What if your lens could only go to f/5.6 and you find shots above ISO 800 objectionable on your camera? Then then "ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/60s" shot would be one step down on the ISO scale (1600 to 800) and two steps down on aperture scale (f/2.8 to f/5.6), so you would need to move up the shutter speed scale three steps to make up for those changes. That would give you a shutter speed of 1/8 seconds.
These rules are the same for everyone. They don't vary based on camera brand or quality. ISO 400 means roughly the same light sensitivity on a camera phone as it does on an $8,000 full frame DSLR. The cameraphone will show A LOT more noise at ISO 400, but the exposure level is the same.