Who actually uses 1/8000 of sec?

[Benjamin Marks]

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

 

[Roger Hicks]

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.

 

[Mike Ip]

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.

 

[Richard Marks]

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

 

[jackal2513]

all the time with Noctilux + 103 ND

 

[luketrash]

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.

 

[lZr]

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

 

[Benjamin Marks]

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.

 

[Ben Z]

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.

 

[David Goldfarb]

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.

 

[simonclivehughe]

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.

 

[POINT OF VIEW]

1.0 Noctilux

1.0 Noctilux

all the time with Noctilux + 103 ND

Ditto. 1.0 Noctilux sunny day, many times.

 

[atufte1@mac.com]

Very often, and i will not change /"upgrade?" the shutter...

 

[tomasis]

I wish Leica could use new shutters with M8.. I seldom use even 1/1000 .. silly kaufman after all..

 

[irq506]

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....

 

[etrigan63]

With my Nokton in broad daylight? Alot. Especially if I use larger apertures...

 

[amateriat]

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

 

[Al Kaplan]

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.+

 

[tomasis]

So you only take pics when the sun is on its highest?

Edit: Or very fast film 🙂

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 😛

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

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Who actually uses 1/8000 of sec?

I do. I also shoot "Bulb". The whole spectrum has its uses in real life. Real life is not a controlled indoor-studio.