D80 Flash/Shutter Speed?

As far as I remember from several posts here at PN the D80 max synch. speed is 1/200 s. But of course if you can find the manual you could look it up :-) I personally see no big difference between 1/200 and 1/250 but I do not work in a studio. From the cheaper Nikon DSLR the D70 has the best implementation of short synch times. The D200 offers 1/250s.

Thanks Walter

After a bit more research I think one way to get higher flash speeds would be to have an additional SB-800 camera mounted in commander mode as it supports high speed flash that the built in flash on the D80 does not (1/200th max). Pretty expensive solution though.

As for the manuals - mmmm, not exactly Nikons strong point ;-)

I made a quick search at BHPhoto of all the $1000.00 or less bodies listed and none of them have a 1/250th flash sync speed that I could find. Even my FE2 has a 1/250th sync speed. Maybe the next batch of new models will one up each other in that area.

The D70s is certainly less than $1000 and its flash sync speed is 1/500 sec, but of course, 1/500 sec is not 1/250 sec. :-)

Check out the following comparison by Thom Hogan. The only current Nikon DSLR that has a flash sync below 1/250 sec is the D80, and that is 1/200 sec: http://www.bythom.com/currentdslr.htm (Scroll down to the bottom half of that page.) The D70s, D50 and D40 are all 1/500 sec.

It would seem the D80 to a step backward from the D70 in that regard. I didn't see that one in my BHPhoto scan.

The d80 is definatly a step backwards in this regard though I don't personally miss the faster sync speed very often. I really don't know why Nikon decided to limit the d70 to 1/500th because if you use a non-ttl flash, like say a Vivitar 285hv, than you can have fully synced flash all the way to 1/8000th without a stupid FP mode! That's pretty cool but the rest of the D80 makes up for that missing feature in my opinion.

The sync speed seems fine to me at 1/200th. What will keep the camera out of my bag is incompatibility (metering) with the AIS lenses.

How is a maximum speed of 1/200 "bad" for indoor portraits? The flash speed is much faster than the shutter speed - as brief as 1/56,000 for the SB-800. Of more concern for portraits is the ability to reduce the depth of field to minimize busy backgrounds, using wider apertures (lower flash power).

1/200th might be a problem for outdoor fill, but the SB800 has an "FP" mode which can be used up to 1/4000 second or faster.

I have successfully used the D80 at 1/250 with an auxiliary shoe-mount flash (Sunpak 383). The built-in flash is limited to 1/200.