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Doubling or halving shutter speed
- Thread starter Dem Bell
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Shutter speed is the reciprocal of exposure time. So "took a shot at 1/30 sec" is one way of saying that the exposure time was 1/30 s.
Thus shutter speed was 30 (1/s).
"double the shutter speed" then means to use shutter speed 60 (1/s), i.e., an exposure time of 1/60 s.
If they had said that "double the exposure time" and try again, then the answer would have been an exposure time of 1/15 s.
Harri
chrisfisheye
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Nobody is right or wrong, this is ambiguous.
But I find it more ambiguous is you ask for lower/higher shutter speed instead. Don't know why but I find it more confusing.
Or...
Ask if for a shutter speed = 2 sec. Doubling or halving SS here is even more confusing !!
The ways to remove the ambiguity are:
- use exposure time instead
- Use slower/faster instead of low/high.
I wonder if this is just a language issue that is more confusing for non-native English speakers.
ChatGPT:
While "shutter speed" is the standard term in English, other languages often use terms that translate to "shutter time," emphasizing the exposure duration. Here are some examples:
ChatGPT:
While "shutter speed" is the standard term in English, other languages often use terms that translate to "shutter time," emphasizing the exposure duration. Here are some examples:
- French: Temps d'exposition
- German: Belichtungszeit
- Spanish: Tiempo de exposición
- Italian: Tempo di esposizione
- Portuguese: Tempo de exposição
- Dutch: Belichtingstijd
- Russian: Время экспозиции (Vremya ekspozitsii)
- Japanese: 露光時間 (Rokō jikan)
- Chinese (Simplified): 曝光时间 (Bàoguāng shíjiān)
- Arabic: زمن التعريض (Zaman at-ta`rīḍ)
chrisfisheye
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Well I am french and the terminology : "vitesse d'obturation" is also very widely used.
Maybe not as much as "temps d'exposition", not sure about that, but both are used for sure.
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I would think that all languages have different words for time and speed, after all they are quite different physical concepts.
Too many people are just sloppy in what words they use so that in photography the meanings of some terms is being lost.
Think of the speed of your car. And how much time it took to travel from your home to your office or whatever. Speed is distance divided by time, km/h or mph etc.
With shutter speed there is no "distance", just one shutter actuation, but still the relationship between time and speed is that speed is inversely proportional to time.
Jeff Biscuits
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It’s impossible to tell because the term makes no sense, so whichever way someone chooses to interpret it can be argued as being incorrect (because it is; you just have to choose one of two things that the term does not describe).
”Speed” makes no sense because it has nothing to do with distance.
”Time” makes no sense because time and speed (when distance is involved) are inversely related.
At the end of the day I see it this way: if you were to show me one of your images and I were to ask you what shutter speed you used, I’m guessing you’d say something like “one sixtieth (of a second)”. I mean, I can’t think what other answer you could possibly give. So to me the only reasonable (if still nonsensical) way to consistently interpret the phrase “shutter speed” is as a synonym for “exposure time”. If you interpret it the other way then although it’s no more nonsensical in relative terms, I think it falls apart as soon as you introduce absolute values. 1/60 is half of 1/30, and it’s hard to argue the opposite.
Let’s face it, it should have always been called “exposure time” and somehow, at some time, something went wrong and this incorrect term stuck. It happens. Welcome to the world of linguistic idiom
”Speed” makes no sense because it has nothing to do with distance.
”Time” makes no sense because time and speed (when distance is involved) are inversely related.
At the end of the day I see it this way: if you were to show me one of your images and I were to ask you what shutter speed you used, I’m guessing you’d say something like “one sixtieth (of a second)”. I mean, I can’t think what other answer you could possibly give. So to me the only reasonable (if still nonsensical) way to consistently interpret the phrase “shutter speed” is as a synonym for “exposure time”. If you interpret it the other way then although it’s no more nonsensical in relative terms, I think it falls apart as soon as you introduce absolute values. 1/60 is half of 1/30, and it’s hard to argue the opposite.
Let’s face it, it should have always been called “exposure time” and somehow, at some time, something went wrong and this incorrect term stuck. It happens. Welcome to the world of linguistic idiom
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Tom Axford
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I know what I mean by increasing shutter speed, but I have no idea what others mean by it.
If I use the term myself, I usually try to guard against being misunderstood by saying that I mean reducing the exposure time.
Dick Dastardly
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The key notions are "double" and "shutter speed", not much room for interpretation here, unless you don't understand what the shutter speed is.
I spent more than 30 years in camera retail in English speaking countries (in other languages a direct translation may not work...)
I am pretty sure that to most customers if I suggested to double the shutter speed they would understand that instead of 1/30th they should have used 1/60th.
Again the idea may not work when translated...
BTW, I agree with Aizuri, I am not sure that I have ever used the terms double or halve but used increase/decrease or faster/slower....
I am pretty sure that to most customers if I suggested to double the shutter speed they would understand that instead of 1/30th they should have used 1/60th.
Again the idea may not work when translated...
BTW, I agree with Aizuri, I am not sure that I have ever used the terms double or halve but used increase/decrease or faster/slower....
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As far as I'm concerned, shutter speed is shutter speed, and the term simply conforms to expectations for anything speed-related: increased (including doubled) speed means that which is measured happens faster. 1/1000th of a second is obviously much faster than 1/60th of a second.
Not that I've heard people talk about doubling the shutter speed anyway: it would be more common to say you need to increase or decrease it. The fact that moving it one step is doubling or halving it usually isn't especially relevant.
Not that I've heard people talk about doubling the shutter speed anyway: it would be more common to say you need to increase or decrease it. The fact that moving it one step is doubling or halving it usually isn't especially relevant.
MJ_Photo38
Veteran Member
increase the speed = shorter shutter time
increase the exposure = longer shutter time
increase the exposure = longer shutter time
luxborealis
Well-known member
While 1/60 is technically wrong (and a lot of very long-winded responses point this out in spades), the bottom line is, that is how we speak.
How many times do you use the phrase “there is” or “there’s”, when you should be saying “there are”?
There are a number of elements of speech we use incorrectly everyday, yet they have become part of the regular jargon.
So, don’t get all huffy about 1/60 being ‘double’ 1/30. ;-)
Terry
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The essence of place — the art inherent in nature.
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How many times do you use the phrase “there is” or “there’s”, when you should be saying “there are”?
There are a number of elements of speech we use incorrectly everyday, yet they have become part of the regular jargon.
So, don’t get all huffy about 1/60 being ‘double’ 1/30. ;-)
Terry
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The essence of place — the art inherent in nature.
www.luxBorealis.com
Quite the opposite. I think 1/60 is the only technically correct answer here. "Double speed" means "go faster". Surprisingly about 20% of respondents either find this ambiguous themselves or believe other people might find it ambiguous when talking about shutter speed.
I suppose the best way to ensure certainty is to explicitly specify the new shutter speed, e.g. "try a higher shutter speed such as 1/60 sec".
chrisfisheye
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I think this is again a terminology debate. And terminology is arbitrary.
According to wikipédia , shutter speed is the same as exposure time, besides it is expressed in seconds so this is homogenous with time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed
Shutter speed:
shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light.
So I still answer 1/60s but this is definitely ambiguous imho.
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Tom Axford
Forum Pro
I am surprised that many here think that "doubling the shutter speed" is clear and unambiguous.
Personally, if I talk about doubling the shutter speed I mean halving the exposure time, e.g. going from 1/30s to 1/60s.
However, I have encountered beginners who assumed that doubling the shutter speed meant literally doubling the value 1/30, which gives, of course, 1/15.
That is why I voted for "Cannot tell".
Personally, if I talk about doubling the shutter speed I mean halving the exposure time, e.g. going from 1/30s to 1/60s.
However, I have encountered beginners who assumed that doubling the shutter speed meant literally doubling the value 1/30, which gives, of course, 1/15.
That is why I voted for "Cannot tell".
Craig Gillette
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I think it's not entirely clear and some have trouble with fractions. The context, what's going on with the photo would help. Is it seeing some camera motion? Or trying to get smoother water flow or intended subject motion blurring?
poipoipoi_2016
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Dark picture of static subject? 1/15, though I hope you're on either a tripod or a wide lens with good IBIS.
Picture of gently moving subject? 1/60
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