Who actually uses 1/8000 of sec?

B

Benjamin Marks

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Are there a lot of you who routinely use 1/8000 or 1/4000? When starting out, my Pentax K1000 had a nominal top speed of 1/1000 and that stopped all the action I could ever want. Or I thought it did. Later I upgraded to a Nikon FM2 with a top marked speed of 1/4000 (or was it 1/2000? historians and Nikon users chime in here) (of course actual speeds differ from the speed marked on the dial). I don't ever actually recall using the top speed . . .

So: 1/8000 (1/4000 if applicable). Who among us actually uses their camera's top speed? If so, how often? Routinely?

Inquiring minds want to know.

With curiosity,

Ben Marks
 
Dear Ben,

Very seldom, and mostly with the 135/2.8 when I want zero depth of field in close-ups. Even more rarely with a Noctilux.

Put it this way: I wouldn't really miss it.

Cheers,

R.
 
I've never used the 1/8000 on my M8, however I have used the top speed before. When I was in Iraq, I was shooting my 70-200 2.8 on my Canon and even at ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/8000, the sun was so bright it was still blowing out highlights. I actually had to stop down in order to preserve the highlights. I think I ended up having to shoot at f/4 or something.
 
I use it as others when using my 75 lux wide open in bright conditions. But I seem to cope with my M6 with 1/1000 so presumably I could get by with a new 1/4000 shutter. The thing you are alluding to is would I go for the new shutter? Not that bothered actually.
Regards
Richard
 
My Nikon D50 only goes down to 200iso. I regularly see the overexpose notice through the viewfinder when I'm out in the sun if I'm shooting at f3.5 or faster.

My Voigtlander stopped at 1/2000th and I was shooting film at 800iso and couldn't accommodate it on a sunny, snowy day even at f22.

With a digital camera, you can adjust down your iso. With film, sometimes you're 3/4 the way through a roll you were pushing indoors the night before.
 
I use my Maxxum 7 SLR at 1/8000 with lens f/2 on sand dunes with near no DOF. Fantastic clicks can be hear. Nice results. It happens seldom with my Lensbaby 2.0
 
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Hmm. Interesting. I do a lot of portraiture and don't tend to work in the direct sunlight. Even when taking portraits outdoors, I tend to go for open shade. I guess my mental model for this was sporting events or outdoor weddings.

No, I wasn't really asking about the M8 shutter swap, although that was what prompted the question. I guess digital cameras don't really have the reciprocity characteristics of film and that CMOS chips have a fairly linear response. I just wondered how folks use that 1/8000 slice of time as I couldn't really imagine needing more than that Pentax's 1/1000 top speed. But I get what folks are saying about shallow depth of field. It seems like digital's exposure linearity has made certain things possible in this regard that weren't previously.
 
I can't say how many times I've used 1/8000, but with the M8 set to Automatic I know that frequently the shutter goes over 1/4000. Set to ISO 160, in broad daylight, "sunny-16" rule means anything wider than f/3.5 requires a shutter speed beyond 1/4000. It isn't necessary to be shooting at f/1 or 1.4 to need speeds higher than 1/4000. Remember, the M8's shutter is stepless in Automatic, so it's isn't simply one shutter speed lost, it's a whole range of shutter speeds. It's the loss of one full stop of exposure flexibility.
 
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To stop action, there seems to be a class of things that require something like 1/1000 sec. (most kinds of normal motion, moving cars, etc.), and some that are best done with flash and need 1/20000th (dancers in mid-air, hummingbirds). Occasionally I might use 1/1000 or 1/2000 sec to get a wide aperture without a ND filter in bright light, but I don't really see myself using 1/4000 or 1/8000 sec. that much, even if I had it.
 
My first two shots this morning were at 1/8000 and then 1/6000 at ISO 160 with my CV 35mm Nokton at f1.2, shooting against water reflecting a bright, overcast sky.
 
I wish the M6 had a higher top speed, because I like to use my optics wide open for nearly everything and 1k doesn't cut it sometimes. I generally have 400 on me, just because this is Seattle....
 
Once, when I was still shooting with my old Minolta 9xi SLRs, I actually tried a few wide-open shots in bright sun at its purported top speed (1/12000 sec), just for shiggles. Hard to find situations where you can do that, and I personally feel that the law of diminishing returns (not to mention deterioration of accuracy) starts to kick in around 1/4000. I do frequently hover between 1/2000 and 1/4000 on my Hexar RFs, so I'm happy for having a 1/4000 top shutter speed on those.

The shutter-speed drop on "upgraded" M8s might be more a psychological barrier than anything else, but I don'tt shoot with one, so I can't be sure. If it made the thing noticably more quiet, the trade-off might be worth it, but we'd have to compare models side-by-side to determing this.


- Barrett
 
I rarely shoot faster that 1/250. I can always fall back on neutral density filters if I want to shoot wide open, or use slower film.+
 
ErikFive said:
So you only take pics when the sun is on its highest?

Edit: Or very fast film :)
Click to expand...

I don't understand it but I believe that is supposed to be a ironical joke, isn't?

I'm more noctilux-guy ;) At f8 at bright day you can do what you like without using 1/500 or faster :) Maybe the weather is bad here, lol. If it is too bright so I could shoot at iso 50 with another body and film :p

using ndfilter is more pleasant with new shutter than a loud one
 
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