Harry2007 wrote:.

Hi,.

I am a little bit confused when reading photography article aboutshutter speed..

Here are the terms that confuse me:.

- High shutter speed (use higher shutter speed ...)- Low shutter speed (lower ...)- Slow shutter speed (slower ...)- Fast shutter speed (faster ...).

Is High = Fast ? .

You'll have to take it in context. I really think the high/low terminology should not be used - often times people say this and use "high" to mean a "fast" shutter speed, and low to mean a "slow" shutter speed, which is mathematically the opposite...

Low=slowHigh=Fast.

Shutter speed is the reciprocal of exposure time. If you have an exposure time of 1/1250 s the speed is 1250 that is higher than 500 (for an exposure time of 1/500 s).A low shutter speed is let's say 1/8 s that is lower than 1/500 s (8<500).VictorBucuresti, Romaniahttp://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/victor_petcu/..

Baloo_buc wrote:.

Low=slowHigh=FastShutter speed is the reciprocal of exposure time. If you have anexposure time of 1/1250 s the speed is 1250 that is higher than 500(for an exposure time of 1/500 s).A low shutter speed is let's say 1/8 s that is lower than 1/500 s(8<500)..

Shutter speed is the same as exposure time, not the reciprocal of it. What would you call a shutter speed of 5 seconds then? 1/5?.

People get confused into calling a 1/1000s shutter speed "high" because they miss the 1/ part...

A speed is distance divided by time. Most people confuse speed and time. The problem is that the distance is variable (function of aperture).The right formula would be speed = 0.5*aperture/(exposure time)..

A 5 s exposure has indeed a 0.2 shutter speed (I don't mention the unit because I normalized the 0.5*aperture to 1 so it should be s^-1)..

Our brain makes the calculations automatically that's why most of the people say 640 instead of 1/640 s and they call it shutter speed.VictorBucuresti, Romaniahttp://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/victor_petcu/..

Baloo_buc wrote:.

A speed is distance divided by time. Most people confuse speed andtime. The problem is that the distance is variable (function ofaperture).The right formula would be speed = 0.5*aperture/(exposure time).A 5 s exposure has indeed a 0.2 shutter speed (I don't mention theunit because I normalized the 0.5*aperture to 1 so it should be s^-1).Our brain makes the calculations automatically that's why most of thepeople say 640 instead of 1/640 s and they call it shutter speed..

The vast vast vast majority of definitions describe shutter speed as the equivalent of exposure time (i.e. how long the shutter is open/film is exposed):.

Http://www.google.com/...;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a..

I myself say shutter speed of 1/125 s (..

Unfortunately this is inaccurate as saying that the power is equivalent to energy..

Because most of the people's brains make the automatic conversion. That's why they say high shutter speed for short exposure times..

It seems the photographs were not brilliant students in physics when the jargon was crystallized.VictorBucuresti, Romaniahttp://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/victor_petcu/..

Yes. A high number (1000) corresponds to a fast shutter speed (1/1000 sec). A low number (15) corresponds to a slow shutter speed (1/15) sec..

Confusion can arise with very long shutter speeds... a number of, for example, 4 can mean 1/4 sec... or 4 seconds. Sometimes if it means 4 whole seconds it has a dash after it (4'). You need to have some idea from the conditions which is more likely. This is not something that will happen much unless you are doing shots at night for example..

Best wishesMike..