D70 sync speed and S2's - not all that different

[Scott Wong]

Theoretically I should be able to use an ND filter to get ISO 100 (so to speak) and still use sync of 1/500, But how do i make S2 shoot iso 100 at 1/500? Or do you wish to compare S2 at iso 200 at 1/125 to D70's 1/500?

 

[majic]

Anthony,

We are not "overexposing" photos with the S3 - the larger dynamic range means that you will simply have much more "playwidth" which easely should compensate.

My original statement was that the S3 was not designed to be a high fps beast (And cant be, due to its large filesizes) to start with, and that the low ISO compared to cameras with 1/500th shutterspeed (thats the D70 allright) means that effectively you get similar flash power.

Adding to this I later concluded that the huge dynamic range will make exposure a lot easier, and either you dont have to use flash at all, or you can decide to use it anways and the SR sensor captures the highlights just fine. There is no real precedent for the SR sensor except in the form of the F700, and of all what I have seen from it it will be more than capable of handling any kind of highlight issue we can imagine - with or without flash ("over" exposure included).

It's very simple about depth of field and even with a higher ISO of
200, the faster sync of D70 does allow a little bit more control
over depth of field.

Your original post spoke about stopping action, not depth of field.
Again, to quote:

"Back to reality people, the S2 and S3 were never intended to be
FPS stop-motion-monsters."

So, for you to say now...

"If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you
to get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

"This has been, and still is my exact point. "

...is not the truth. That's not at all what you said in your
original post.

What you're saying below is that I should overexpose my pics and
trust the sensor's dynamic range to get it right. That's BS in my
book. You're better off nailing the exposure right from the get-go.

In actual experience, opening up the aperture forces the shutter
speed to be faster. Hence, faster flash sync will allow people to
use flash in daylight. And you've missed the point about the D70.
The point is that if Nikon can put a 1/500 flash sync in their D70,
why can't Fuji put a 1/500 flash sync in the S3?

Heck if I could, I'd take a 1/1000 or 1/2000 flash sync speed,
which high-end Nikons and even middling Canons can do. The 1/500
of the D70, even including the ISO 200, still gives an edge over my
S2 and it's 1/125 sync speed with a hot shoe flash. Guess
what--that means I can use a bigger aperture.

in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

Well, people use fill flash even with film which has more dynamic
range and exposure latitude than digital. I think I'll leave your
statement to stand alone for what it appears, and let people draw
their own inferences.

Anthony

I fail to understand how you can excert more control on depth of
field with JUST a faster sync speed.

What you say is absolutely true - the flash output power should not
limit yourself from using your lenses wideopen to get smooth, out
of focus backgrounds.

However, just flash syncspeed is not going to fix this for you, so
I do not understand your sneering reply.

If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you to
get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

This has been, and still is my exact point.

S3's SuperCCD Sr sensor will allow you to make photos that would
normally have yielded severe overexposure - so the 1/180 flash sync
speed is effectively more usefull than D70's 1/500 in several ways,
and in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

(Which is exactly what I've been saying in the other messages)

It's not about stopping motion, but about controlling depth of
field by using flash.

I appreciate what you're saying, but your explanation and
justification demonstrates a limited understanding of the issue by
failing to take into account the need to control depth of field.

 

[earthbound_ca]

1/125th second allows 4x the distance travelled due to camera shake versus 1/500th. 1/500th is therefor 4x better. Depending on how unsteady your hand or you subject, I'll take the 4x advantage. It has nothing to do with ISO.

Next, you mention fill flash. Who is talking about fill flash? Did I mention fill flash?

YOUR REBUTTAL IS WEAK. YOUR ORIGINAL POINT IS DRAMATICALLY OVERSTATED: high sync speed is useful for a wide variety of applications... not only sports nor simply for fill flash. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE APPEARS COMPARABLE TO YOUR REBUTTAL: WEAK.

PER YOUR ORIGINAL POST WHERE YOU WROTE:

I'm sick and tired of reading the ranting about something that is so completely irrelevant.

MY RESPONSE:

As I wrote earlier, it'll be nice when people stop telling others what they should or should not expect or want from a camera. I'll add that perhaps the ALMIGHTY YOU should learn a little more about photography before the attempting to assess the value of something as relevant or irrelevant... and then have the arrogance to attempt to impose your values on others. That's not "magic", majic, that's BS.

What exactly are you going to achieve with the higher 1/500th sync
speed of the D70 if the base ISO is also a stop higher? I am
falling into repetition - Effective flashadvantage for the D70 is
minimal....1/180 vs 1/250th is negicable, especially when taking
into account the huge dynamic range on the S3 which will mean that
fillflash will be both more controlled AND less of a necessaty.

 

[Mike Goebel]

I shoot litterally 1000's of soccer and little league baseball players in direct sunlight. (these are team and individual shots) Years ago I used a Hassleblad and could shoot on a bright sunny day at f8 at 1/500. My "fill flash" would last all day.

Now, I have to shoot at 1/125 at f16. My pwer supply is drained very quickly at f16.

Those people who complain that 1/500 sutter speed is a "waste" doesn't have a clue as to what is happening in the world of photography outside his.

What is all the fuss about? 1/500th Sync speed ..wow...! We
suddenly all became sports photographers ...right.> SNIP>
For anything except the extremes, 1/500th is completely and utterly
useless....

Actutally, there are literally thousands of times where a 1/500
sycnh speed comes in handly shooting totally staic,non-moving
scenes....like commercial products, wedding groups, single- and
multi-person portraits,and basically any situation outdoors in
bright sun when one would like to sue some fill flash and NOT be
constrained by shooting at 1/125 and at f/9.5 to f/16 at ISO 100.
I agree with you that a lower ISO camera helps quite a bit.....but
I grew up using leaf shutter cameras that synched to 1/500,and with
focal plane 35mm SLR's that synched to 1/250 second. In
actual,real,everyday use, at this time of year in my area, I have
been shooting synchro-sun shots at f/9.5 or f/11 at 1/125th second
with a very,very powerful Sunpak 622 Super flash unit.
The statement that 1/500th synch is completely and utterly useless
is clearly just a throwaway remark. If you'd use your head and
think about it, you could come up with some good reasons for 1/500
synch,but if you're narrow-minded and exclusionary,of course you'll
probably never figure out when flash at 1/500th might actually "Do"
something for your photographs. I guess if you like every shot at
f/16 to f/11 outdoors, you'll be happy with 1/125 sycnh....1/180
doesn't really cut it sometimes....depends...it's not 100%
evenly-illuminated.

--
Happy Shooting!
Derrel

--
http://www.mikegoebel.com
http://www.belmontstudio.photoreflect.com

 

[Anthony32599]

Hi Majic--

There is a precedent. It's called film. I do appreciate what you're saying and it does have some merit--the higher ISO of the D70 negates to some extent its higher flash sync speed. However, do not discount the need/desire by some of us to have a high speed flash sync to accomplish a particular task--using a flash in daylight with a wide aperture (the fast aperture necessitating a correspondingly fast shutter speed) to control depth of field.
Anthony

We are not "overexposing" photos with the S3 - the larger dynamic
range means that you will simply have much more "playwidth" which
easely should compensate.

My original statement was that the S3 was not designed to be a high
fps beast (And cant be, due to its large filesizes) to start with,
and that the low ISO compared to cameras with 1/500th shutterspeed
(thats the D70 allright) means that effectively you get similar
flash power.

Adding to this I later concluded that the huge dynamic range will
make exposure a lot easier, and either you dont have to use flash
at all, or you can decide to use it anways and the SR sensor
captures the highlights just fine. There is no real precedent for
the SR sensor except in the form of the F700, and of all what I
have seen from it it will be more than capable of handling any kind
of highlight issue we can imagine - with or without flash ("over"
exposure included).

It's very simple about depth of field and even with a higher ISO of
200, the faster sync of D70 does allow a little bit more control
over depth of field.

Your original post spoke about stopping action, not depth of field.
Again, to quote:

"Back to reality people, the S2 and S3 were never intended to be
FPS stop-motion-monsters."

So, for you to say now...

"If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you
to get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

"This has been, and still is my exact point. "

...is not the truth. That's not at all what you said in your
original post.

What you're saying below is that I should overexpose my pics and
trust the sensor's dynamic range to get it right. That's BS in my
book. You're better off nailing the exposure right from the get-go.

In actual experience, opening up the aperture forces the shutter
speed to be faster. Hence, faster flash sync will allow people to
use flash in daylight. And you've missed the point about the D70.
The point is that if Nikon can put a 1/500 flash sync in their D70,
why can't Fuji put a 1/500 flash sync in the S3?

Heck if I could, I'd take a 1/1000 or 1/2000 flash sync speed,
which high-end Nikons and even middling Canons can do. The 1/500
of the D70, even including the ISO 200, still gives an edge over my
S2 and it's 1/125 sync speed with a hot shoe flash. Guess
what--that means I can use a bigger aperture.

in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

Well, people use fill flash even with film which has more dynamic
range and exposure latitude than digital. I think I'll leave your
statement to stand alone for what it appears, and let people draw
their own inferences.

Anthony

I fail to understand how you can excert more control on depth of
field with JUST a faster sync speed.

What you say is absolutely true - the flash output power should not
limit yourself from using your lenses wideopen to get smooth, out
of focus backgrounds.

However, just flash syncspeed is not going to fix this for you, so
I do not understand your sneering reply.

If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you to
get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

This has been, and still is my exact point.

S3's SuperCCD Sr sensor will allow you to make photos that would
normally have yielded severe overexposure - so the 1/180 flash sync
speed is effectively more usefull than D70's 1/500 in several ways,
and in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

(Which is exactly what I've been saying in the other messages)

It's not about stopping motion, but about controlling depth of
field by using flash.

I appreciate what you're saying, but your explanation and
justification demonstrates a limited understanding of the issue by
failing to take into account the need to control depth of field.

 

[majic]

Actually you said "thats just one application" , and you neither specified anything - not fill or other types (and hence the contribution of your posting was what..? zero!)

Also CAPSLOCK is considered RUDE and IMMATURE, which confirms the general attitude in your POSTING.

Kindest regards,

• majic

Next, you mention fill flash. Who is talking about fill flash?
Did I mention fill flash?

YOUR REBUTTAL IS WEAK. YOUR ORIGINAL POINT IS DRAMATICALLY
OVERSTATED: high sync speed is useful for a wide variety of
applications... not only sports nor simply for fill flash. YOUR
PHOTOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE APPEARS COMPARABLE TO YOUR REBUTTAL: WEAK.

PER YOUR ORIGINAL POST WHERE YOU WROTE:
I'm sick and tired of reading the ranting about something that is
so completely irrelevant.

MY RESPONSE:
As I wrote earlier, it'll be nice when people stop telling others
what they should or should not expect or want from a camera. I'll
add that perhaps the ALMIGHTY YOU should learn a little more about
photography before the attempting to assess the value of something
as relevant or irrelevant... and then have the arrogance to attempt
to impose your values on others. That's not "magic", majic, that's
BS.

What exactly are you going to achieve with the higher 1/500th sync
speed of the D70 if the base ISO is also a stop higher? I am
falling into repetition - Effective flashadvantage for the D70 is
minimal....1/180 vs 1/250th is negicable, especially when taking
into account the huge dynamic range on the S3 which will mean that
fillflash will be both more controlled AND less of a necessaty.

 

[majic]

Great!

Lets call in all the other wannabe and pro sportsphotographers that bought an S2 with 1/125th sync speed....!

 

[earthbound_ca]

You may think I'm rude. You may think I'm immature. I really don't give a rat's a** what you think about me. You know I'm right.

For someone who wrote, "I'm sick and tired of reading the ranting about something that is so completely irrelevant," you sure RANT about something that's, according to you, COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT!

Sorry, but no kind regards in this matter to you, sir. Later, in another thread, I'm sure the sentiment will be different... but not here, not now.

Actually you said "thats just one application" , and you neither
specified anything - not fill or other types (and hence the
contribution of your posting was what..? zero!)

Also CAPSLOCK is considered RUDE and IMMATURE, which confirms the
general attitude in your POSTING.

Kindest regards,

• majic

 

[majic]

I prefer an approuch based on facts not on personal attacks, thank you!

 

[Masterdeath]

I hate when people like majic make a statement when they dont know what they are talking about.. I shoot wedding portraits, I did 2 this last week and the 1/125 shutter was KILLING me the whole time...

I had to shoot at F11 ISO 100... My flash battery died since I HAD TO FIRE it at full power to balance out the sun light.. I dont shoot sports AT ALL, but I NEED higher sync...

Wing88,

Yes I should have made more clear that I ment the "semi working
1/180" of the S2 and the now official 1/180 of the S3. Point was
about the discussions on the S3 anyways, I dont think the S2 has to
prove itself anymore

However your judgement is correct, and I think I should have left
out the S2 all together.

 

[Masterdeath]

The ISO base does nothing to diminsh the synce speed.. It does hurt your DOF(meaning you will need a F16 instead of F11)

But, your flash will shoot will not need to shoot as bright to balance out your daylight.,.. let me lay it all out for you here
Lets say ISO 100 needs a Fstop of 11 (sometimes 16)

On the S2 at 1/125 sync you will need to fire your flash at full power from 10 feet to match ISO 100 F11

At 1/500 sync on a ISO 100 ( I know D70 does not have iso 100, this is just an example) You would only need to fire your flash at 1/4 instead of full OR you could fire the flash more often OR also, you could then move your flash futher back..

At 1/500 sync ISO 200 (d70) you would set you F-stop at F16 BUT your flash would still be at 1/4 power...

Better synce saves your batteries OR you can move your flash futher back(or use a softbox)

But you lose it by thinking that 1/500th applies to sports
photographers. It really applies to anyone who wants to do
daylight fill flash with wide apertures, such as guys like me who
enjoy swimsuit photography or wedding photographers shooting in
daylight who want to blur backgrounds.

It's not about stopping motion, but about controlling depth of
field by using flash.

I appreciate what you're saying, but your explanation and
justification demonstrates a limited understanding of the issue by
failing to take into account the need to control depth of field.

Anthony

What is all the fuss about? 1/500th Sync speed ..wow...! We
suddenly all became sports photographers ...right.

Back to reality people, the S2 and S3 were never intended to be FPS
stop-motion-monsters.

For anything except the extremes, 1/500th is completely and utterly
useless.....and I'm feeling silly for pointing out that 24 mb RAW
files (which is the result of having the best dynamic range in the
world and is a direct result of capturing double the data -
highlights and shadows) are hardly suitable for high FPS - write
times are just too lengthy even with the best of CF cards (Just
like we do not hear 1Ds users complain that it's not a sports
camera - because it isnt!) . Alternative would be tremendous
buffers - but we're dealing with costs and "target audience" too -
and I doubt that any company is going to spend a lot of money for
something that only

Now watch this :

S2 : ISO 100, 1/180
D70 : ISO 200, 1/500

That makes effective 1/250 for the D70...not all that big a
difference suddenly is it. No it is not. UNLESS you shoot sports
where it is not about the effective shutterspeed but about freezing
a subject at shutterspeeds as high as possible.

Good, we know the S2 and S3 are not sports cameras, we now know and
see that the EFFECTIVE difference between 1/180 and 1/250 is
minimal and we know that the average human will not move at
speeds fast enough to render 1/180 useless.

Fine, lets drop it then! thanks, I'm sick and tired of reading the
ranting about something that is so completely irrelevant.

 

[Masterdeath]

UGH, since you can only use 1/125, you are forced (unless you use a ND filter, which then causes their own problems, AF seems more and you get more flare) to use a F11 or F16, the depth of feild is HUGE... I had a bride 15 feet from me the other day and the building was 120 feet.. They BOTH looked in focus... No blur in the background... IF I had 1/500 I could have shot at F5.6 and theirfore would have had LESS depth of feild..

Thats why..

It's not about stopping motion, but about controlling depth of
field by using flash.

I appreciate what you're saying, but your explanation and
justification demonstrates a limited understanding of the issue by
failing to take into account the need to control depth of field.

Anthony,

I fail to understand how you can excert more control on depth of
field with JUST a faster sync speed.

What you say is absolutely true - the flash output power should not
limit yourself from using your lenses wideopen to get smooth, out
of focus backgrounds.

However, just flash syncspeed is not going to fix this for you, so
I do not understand your sneering reply.

If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you to
get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

This has been, and still is my exact point.

S3's SuperCCD Sr sensor will allow you to make photos that would
normally have yielded severe overexposure - so the 1/180 flash sync
speed is effectively more usefull than D70's 1/500 in several ways,
and in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

(Which is exactly what I've been saying in the other messages)

 

[Masterdeath]

majic, without getting mean, I dont know how mcuh you really know about light balancing between flash and sun.. It does not matter how much dynamic range a camera has, if the sun is shinning on one side of a persons face and NOT the other side, it will look pretty bad in most cases... You need flash to balance it out.. Even a camera with 50 stop of DR will not fix this...period....

We are not "overexposing" photos with the S3 - the larger dynamic
range means that you will simply have much more "playwidth" which
easely should compensate.

My original statement was that the S3 was not designed to be a high
fps beast (And cant be, due to its large filesizes) to start with,
and that the low ISO compared to cameras with 1/500th shutterspeed
(thats the D70 allright) means that effectively you get similar
flash power.

Adding to this I later concluded that the huge dynamic range will
make exposure a lot easier, and either you dont have to use flash
at all, or you can decide to use it anways and the SR sensor
captures the highlights just fine. There is no real precedent for
the SR sensor except in the form of the F700, and of all what I
have seen from it it will be more than capable of handling any kind
of highlight issue we can imagine - with or without flash ("over"
exposure included).

It's very simple about depth of field and even with a higher ISO of
200, the faster sync of D70 does allow a little bit more control
over depth of field.

Your original post spoke about stopping action, not depth of field.
Again, to quote:

"Back to reality people, the S2 and S3 were never intended to be
FPS stop-motion-monsters."

So, for you to say now...

"If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you
to get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

"This has been, and still is my exact point. "

...is not the truth. That's not at all what you said in your
original post.

What you're saying below is that I should overexpose my pics and
trust the sensor's dynamic range to get it right. That's BS in my
book. You're better off nailing the exposure right from the get-go.

In actual experience, opening up the aperture forces the shutter
speed to be faster. Hence, faster flash sync will allow people to
use flash in daylight. And you've missed the point about the D70.
The point is that if Nikon can put a 1/500 flash sync in their D70,
why can't Fuji put a 1/500 flash sync in the S3?

Heck if I could, I'd take a 1/1000 or 1/2000 flash sync speed,
which high-end Nikons and even middling Canons can do. The 1/500
of the D70, even including the ISO 200, still gives an edge over my
S2 and it's 1/125 sync speed with a hot shoe flash. Guess
what--that means I can use a bigger aperture.

in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

Well, people use fill flash even with film which has more dynamic
range and exposure latitude than digital. I think I'll leave your
statement to stand alone for what it appears, and let people draw
their own inferences.

Anthony

I fail to understand how you can excert more control on depth of
field with JUST a faster sync speed.

What you say is absolutely true - the flash output power should not
limit yourself from using your lenses wideopen to get smooth, out
of focus backgrounds.

However, just flash syncspeed is not going to fix this for you, so
I do not understand your sneering reply.

If your base ISO is 200, your flash sync speed will not help you to
get out of focus buttersmooth backgrounds - since the higher ISO
will also force you to stop down to prevent overexposure. The d70
is pointed out as a camera that has excellent flash sync speeds -
yet the above is often forgotten.

This has been, and still is my exact point.

S3's SuperCCD Sr sensor will allow you to make photos that would
normally have yielded severe overexposure - so the 1/180 flash sync
speed is effectively more usefull than D70's 1/500 in several ways,
and in practise when shooting girls in bathing suits you will
benefit from greater dynamic range, hence less need for fillflash,
ergo 1/180 will not limit you unless you are going to shoot sports.

(Which is exactly what I've been saying in the other messages)

It's not about stopping motion, but about controlling depth of
field by using flash.

I appreciate what you're saying, but your explanation and
justification demonstrates a limited understanding of the issue by
failing to take into account the need to control depth of field.

 

[Masterdeath]

majic is confused.. A few other of yall are also...

The S2's sync is 1/125.. Ok, just because the BASE iso is 200 does not effect the overall ratio of the flash sync on the S3 compared to the D70..

The ratio is still 4x. You cant figuar in ISO 100 to compare to a ISO 200 camera. You just cant... let say the S2 is set at ISO 200 the sync is still 1/125 and the D70's is stil 1/500... If you have a flash on the ISO 100 1/125 camera it uses a LOT more flash power.. NOW when it comes to Fstop number is does not make as much of a difference.. BUT for proper balancing of sun light it makes a BIG difference

Simple. no matter what iso your running at, the flash needs less power to match the sun light when the sync is set higher

Theoretically I should be able to use an ND filter to get ISO 100
(so to speak) and still use sync of 1/500, But how do i make S2
shoot iso 100 at 1/500? Or do you wish to compare S2 at iso 200 at
1/125 to D70's 1/500?

 

[Derrel87035]

II hate when people like majic make a statement when they dont know what they are talking about... I shoot wedding portraits, I did 2
this last week and the 1/125 shutter was KILLING me the whole
time...

I had to shoot at F11 ISO 100... My flash battery died since I HAD
TO FIRE it at full power to balance out the sun light.. I dont
shoot sports AT ALL, but I NEED higher sync...

MD,

Yes, majic's still young....he's probably never had a 1/500th synch speed camera..he can't figure out that the flash use in bright sun is NOT to "stop motion",and his whine has absolutely nothing to do with "sports"....the matter of flash synch speeds seems to be a bit more photographically sophisticated than he seems to be able to grasp...I agree "I hate when people like make a statement when they dont know what they are talking about."

 

[Kraig]

S2 in basic day light @ 1/125sec and ISO 100 will give you F/11 2/3
S3 in basic day light @ 1/180sec and ISO 100 will give you F/11 1/2
D70 in basic day light @ 1/500sec and ISO 200 will give you F/8 2/3

(Not sure what you are talking about this an S3 syncing @ 1/250 it would just cut off the flash exposure from the top of your frame.)
D70 wins this match but is still to high.

Now S3 with a 1/500 sync would give us F/8 in this brave new digital future we should be able to do better but at least this gets us back to what we had in the 20 century with film. Really with the small APS/DX format cameras F5.6 would be better but than my strobes flash duration would come into play so I would rather see ISO 50 instead of a 1/1000 sync.

majic if you are comfortable constantly over exposing the yet to be seen SR sensor by almost a stop and post processing every image you have a point. Not the way I would plan to shoot but to each his own.

Many of us who shoot commercial advertising and many of those who shoot events know the value of this sync feature. Fuji knows it too just look at the Hasselblad H1. If they want to profess the S3 as the quintessential event shooters DSLR they will need to add this feature. I guess they just want to have it be a better than D70/D300 camera and send the rest of us to the D2x or what ever. That’s fine but Fuji is so close to what we want it frustrates us.

I enjoyed the images on your site,
Kraig

 

[Rinus Borgsteede]

I hate when people like majic make a statement when they dont know
what they are talking about.. I shoot wedding portraits, I did 2
this last week and the 1/125 shutter was KILLING me the whole
time...

I had to shoot at F11 ISO 100... My flash battery died since I HAD
TO FIRE it at full power to balance out the sun light.. I dont
shoot sports AT ALL, but I NEED higher sync...

Have you noticed that you need to teach people 10 years of experience defore they get this? It really is like pulling teeth trying to make them understand.

I am not above telling anyone but why do they not read all the "before posting". I just cannot be on the web all the time, I do have a job. I know you are also getting a little frustrated and a month from now they start this all over again.

This misunderstanding of the practicality of a high sync is how the Pentax 6x7 with a low price and low sync speed is the first mistake many wedding photographers made and then switched to Hasselblad, Mamiya or Bronica, just for the 1/500 sync. Lack of experience can be a real bummer in the wallet.
Rinus of Calgary

Of course, the S2 is great but not for what Fuji said it was made for. Don,t believe it!

 

[Masterdeath]

One of my former camera was a Bronica with a 1/500 leaf shutter.. Loved 1/500 sync.. Bad thing was the camera could not go over 500 LOL

II hate when people like majic make a statement when they dont know what they are talking about... I shoot wedding portraits, I did 2
this last week and the 1/125 shutter was KILLING me the whole
time...

I had to shoot at F11 ISO 100... My flash battery died since I HAD
TO FIRE it at full power to balance out the sun light.. I dont
shoot sports AT ALL, but I NEED higher sync...

MD,

Yes, majic's still young....he's probably never had a 1/500th synch
speed camera..he can't figure out that the flash use in bright sun
is NOT to "stop motion",and his whine has absolutely nothing to do
with "sports"....the matter of flash synch speeds seems to be a bit
more photographically sophisticated than he seems to be able to
grasp...I agree "I hate when people like make a statement when they
dont know what they are talking about."

 

[Manta Ray Arts]

I'm one of the people very disappointed at the lack of improvement in flash sync speed in the S3 over the S2. It is a practical, every day concern, and I'm not one of your dismissed "wannabe" sports photographers. In bright sunlight with harsh shadows, I need a Neutral Density filter to get the DOF desired on many shots, when fill-flash at 1/500th would be a better alternative. In the studio, it is often difficult to get multiple strobe light sets down to a meter reading of less than f/8, when f/5.6 or 5/4.8 might be more appropriate for the specific focus desired. When this happens I switch to constant light sources with lower, warmer-colored output with the attendant difficulties of working with hot lights (sweating models, melting make up, etc).

To my mind, the increased dynamic range of the S3 will not help in these situations because it would simply capture the extremes in the frame. What helps is removing extremes from the scene (because that is what our eye does naturally--we humans have dynamic, dynamic range). Fill flash and bokeh do help in this regard. Fill flash and bokeh are more of a challenge if the camera has a slower sync speed. Again, not for sports, but for scenes in bright sunlight (you can't always control the weather over what you must shoot) and in the studio (where desired lighting set ups are often at odds with lower F-stops). Yes, I can dial down the lights some and use ND filters, and look for open shade, and ask passers-by to hold diffusion panels when I can't afford an army of assistants and and and and.

Having said all that, I love my S2 and I've made 1/125th work for me after a fashion. I would have preferred that Fuji improve more than to 1/180th, (and a more consident metering and AF system) rather than give me more dynamic range which wasn't a noticeable limiting factor in my everyday work. The fact that a $1000 camera can be made to sync at 1/500th, but the "under $3000" S3 cannot (regardless of the ISO level) seems odd to me. Fuji has concentrated on giving me something I didn't necessarily want in my next camera.

No, I'm not throwing my S2 overboard because I'm stuck with 1/125th. But I'm not buying another body that is similarly limited unless I get something more than dynamic range out of it.

Majic, you've taken umbrage at some of the earlier comments, but I also think you've too easily dismissed the S3's practical problems that remain unaddressed. And for me, I'm waiting for better flash sync before investing in another body. Meanwhile I'll do fine with the S2.

I prefer an approuch based on facts not on personal attacks, thank
you!

--
http://www.mantarayarts.com

 

[Manta Ray Arts]

For anything except the extremes, 1/500th is completely and utterly
useless.....

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=7756806
--
http://www.mantarayarts.com