Max Flash Sync Speed for E-PL6?

MinAZ wrote:

Am I wrong or is the flash sync speed for the E-PL6 1/60s? I tried setting to fill flash but if I went above 1/60 shutter speed the ISO indicator would flash (and the exposure would be very bright), which I am guessing is because the camera is firing at 1/60s even though the proper exposure might be faster (e.g. 1/200s)? If this is the case, that means that this camera is totally incapable of doing fill-flash (so why even have the option in camera)? Or is this another of those cases where my sync is being limited by some other menu choice I might have made?

Edit: Okay I have discovered that if I disable RC mode, I can sync to 1/250, which is still pretty worthless but better than 1/60s I guess. Is there any way of getting a high speed sync mode?

You're wrong - to answer your first-line question!  It's actually 1/250s for the maximum sync speed (1/160s with some flashes) - 1/60 is the default slow-sync setting, but you can configure what speed should be the slowest, or even set it to a fixed, preferred sync speed if you wish.

1/250s is actually a pretty decent sync speed for a focal plane shutter.

agott123 wrote:

MinAZ wrote:

Am I wrong or is the flash sync speed for the E-PL6 1/60s? I tried setting to fill flash but if I went above 1/60 shutter speed the ISO indicator would flash (and the exposure would be very bright), which I am guessing is because the camera is firing at 1/60s even though the proper exposure might be faster (e.g. 1/200s)? If this is the case, that means that this camera is totally incapable of doing fill-flash (so why even have the option in camera)? Or is this another of those cases where my sync is being limited by some other menu choice I might have made?

Edit: Okay I have discovered that if I disable RC mode, I can sync to 1/250, which is still pretty worthless but better than 1/60s I guess. Is there any way of getting a high speed sync mode?

Sure. You just need a High speed sync-capable unit (FL50r, FL600, FL36, Nissim i40..)

Actually I am using the Metz Mecablitz 52 AF-1 which is TTL and HSS capable. There simply isn't an option to enable HSS (now I realize after reading the manual that there is a mode TTLFP which is the HSS equivalent mode for M4/3, but the option doesn't appear unless the camera supports HSS). This seems to indicate that the E-PL6 indeed does not support HSS, but I would love to know if I am wrong since I use HSS frequently and lack of this feature will severely reduce the usefulness of the camera as a second body.

Another thing that seems to indicate the lack of HSS is that the free kit flash that sits on-camera doesn't sync higher than 1/250 either - usually the built-in flash (which this clearly substitutes for) will support HSS if available - at least that's how it works on Canon systems.

Helen wrote:

MinAZ wrote:

Am I wrong or is the flash sync speed for the E-PL6 1/60s? I tried setting to fill flash but if I went above 1/60 shutter speed the ISO indicator would flash (and the exposure would be very bright), which I am guessing is because the camera is firing at 1/60s even though the proper exposure might be faster (e.g. 1/200s)? If this is the case, that means that this camera is totally incapable of doing fill-flash (so why even have the option in camera)? Or is this another of those cases where my sync is being limited by some other menu choice I might have made?

Edit: Okay I have discovered that if I disable RC mode, I can sync to 1/250, which is still pretty worthless but better than 1/60s I guess. Is there any way of getting a high speed sync mode?

You're wrong - to answer your first-line question! It's actually 1/250s for the maximum sync speed (1/160s with some flashes) - 1/60 is the default slow-sync setting, but you can configure what speed should be the slowest, or even set it to a fixed, preferred sync speed if you wish.

1/250s is actually a pretty decent sync speed for a focal plane shutter.

Yeah its not bad but sadly it wouldn't work for outdoors portraits fill flash without using some sort of filter or shooting only when dark

Today, the day after a week long vacation shooting at f/22, my flash finally allowed me to set FP TTL mode. I have no idea why - the option was missing before, and now there it is. Perhaps a contact pin wasn't contacting all the way or it was some other interacting menu option that I had set. In any case, thank you for all those who suggested it could be done which made me look again to see what the problem was.