Max shutter/flash sync speed on D2x

This has been eluded to on other posts but not clearly stated and I am currently not 100% sure if my camera has a fault or its just that I used a D70 b4 and the way the D2x works with non Nikon flash is a bit a shock.

With the D70 you can use whatever shutter speed you want when using flash (if you tape up the relevant contacts) because high shutter speeds were attained by switching on/off the CCD.

With the D2x it is physically impossible to take a flash shot over 1/250, which is limited by the CMOS.

Am I correct (I am praying I am wrong but it seems the conclusion I am heading to) in stating that it is not possible to get a shutter speed over 1/250 with a flash connected (other than the SB series) on the D2x.

Yep! I have not actually tried to go above 1/250th on the D2X - but I would suspect it doesn't work. In terms of UW shooting, though, 1/250th at ISO 100 on the D2X controls ambient light to the same degree as 1/500th at ISO 200 on the D70.

The reason that the D70 is capable of very high flash synch is that it does not use a mechanical shutter at high synch speeds and instead controls the exposure time on the sensor. Yes, the D70 uses a CCD, but I see no reason why this could not be done on a CMOS. In fact I have used a CMOS camera that did this. The D70's high synch speed (greater than 1/500th) is not something that Nikon did on purpose - indeed they don't advertise it in the specs. It is more a by product that users have discovered for themselves and found very useful for UW photography.

The D2X uses a mechanical shutter throughout and therefore cannot synch at speeds greater than 1/250th. This is only possible with a SB gun which can emmit several flashes perfectly timed during the exposure to fully illuminate the sensor as the moving curtains of the shutter exposes different parts of it.

So if you really need flash synch over 1/250th at ISO 100 (remember that this is the same as 1/500th at ISO 200 on the D70) then the D70 may well be a better choice. Or you have to consider housing an SB series gun.

Alex

I can get a sync speed greather than 1/500th with my D-70 ? How ?

I can get a sync speed greather than 1/500th with my D-70 ? How ? 

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Which housing are you using? Ikelite and Sea and Sea come from the factory with only 3 of the 5 pins connected so you can shoot at whatever shutterspeed you want. If you have a housing that has all 5 pins connected, you will have to disconnect a couple of leads (I have not idea which one though).

Hmm, a bit of a bummer on the sync speed. Not that I ever shoot > 1/500th very often but it would be nice to have that option.

Just when I got comfortable with Oly C5050 F8, ISO 64, I switched to D70 and get stuck with ISO200, F lots more and finally I started to get comfortable, now it is ISO100. Hmm, I think I will need to stop switching camera for a long while.

Question... I’m getting along with my housing for my D2X and I’m wondering if I’ll need to cover any of the flash terminal connections that are on the bulk head connector ?

I plan on using my SB 104 in manual mode, and the bulkhead connector is a standard TTL 5 pin made by Aquatica.

Marc

Turn on the high speed sync option in the camera menu.

As Alex says the FP sync option will only help with SB800.

Sorry, hit the send button before finishing my post. I meant to add that I hadn't tried this setting with a strobe. But after re-reading Alex's post, my guess is, it won't.

Rand