Nikon Camera Strobe Sync Speed

I have a Nikon D200 camera using the sea and sea TTL converter III and two inon D240 strobes. i am wondering if i am usin the correct sync speed. The camera has a sync speed set at 1/250sec but i cannot find out what the inon z240 strobes fire at. Does any one know ?

The sync speed is a limit of the shutter on the camera and the strobe itself doesn't influence it. It is all to do with the timing of the shutter on the camera and the delay to the strobe going off. If you set too faster a shutter speed, only part of the frame gets exposed because the shutter comes partly across before the flash fires.

Most strobes fire at something around 1/1000s on full "power" and this reduces with lower "power" settings.

You can't sync faster than 1/200th I believe??

Jack

The D200 sync speed is up to 1/250s. You should be able to use any flash with the camera at 1/250s or slower.

As I understand it, to achieve sTTL the INON Z240 fires with a very rapid increase in light output. That means that the strobe could cope with very fast shutter speeds indeed.

The limitation on strobe synchronisation speed is built into the camera, and depends on when the strobe is triggered in relation to the shutter opening: the strobe must fire before the rear curtain starts to close, and after the front curtain is fully open. This is limited on the D200, which is a pity, because the partly electronic shutter on older cameras like the D70 gave a much higher synchronisation speed.

I think that this explains why "close-focus-wide-angle" sunbursts with foreground strobe illumination are little different between these cameras (possibly, more difficult to achieve with the D200), despite the improved dynamic range of the D200: you cannot shorten the exposure of the sunburst to the same degree whilst keeping an f-stop that allows the strobe to illuminate the foreground.

D200:

D70:

Tim

B)

Yes, it's a pity that the D300 does not restore the 1/500 synch option. The specs do say that synch speed is up to 1/320 with reduced guide #. Not sure if that will be applicable to underwater strobes or just Nikon.

As noted the offical sync speed is 1/250.

I've played around a bit and been able to sync an sb-105 to my D200 at 1/320th. When the strobe is fired at full power, i notice a slight dimming in the very top tidbit of the frame, only noticeable when shooting a blank wall. At lower powers, 1/320th is as perfect as 1/250th.

At 1/400th and 1/500th there is a noticable black bar at the top of the frame. This is largest (about 1/4 of the frame) at 1/500th with full strobe power and gets smaller with lower strobe power.

However, for the sunburst pic, if your subject is entirely in the lower 2/3 of the frame I would try 1/500th. I will try it next dive - I just did the 'test' in my bedroom. I suggest others try it with their strobes to see what shutter speeds they can squeeze in. Cheers,

Chris