D70s vs D2XS sync speed?

[Dprime]

Hey guys,

I've done a couple of night shoots which involved using speeds of upto 1/1000th and using a set of pocket wizards for radio slaves connected to a couple of speed lights and it worked fine, the sync speed was never a problem with the D70S.

But since upgrading to the D2XS I've noticed that its not possible to achieve the same result (I think?)

I know about the mode you can set the 2X on in its flash settings so that it can sync above 1/250th, but I'm guessing this is only activated when a speedlight is attached, because when I'm using radio slaves it wont sync above 1/250th even though its on that setting. What I'm thinking is it wont recognise the radio slaves, so it has no need to sync above the 250th mark.

Using the IR on the 800's to sync isnt really an option so radio slaves have always been better, anyone have any thoughts about how I can get the D2XS to sync above 1/250th without using it with a speedlight?

Cheers,
Brett

[DaveB]

My first question would be why you need shutter speeds that high on a night shoot?

The feature of high-speed syncing is a function of the flashes as much as the camera: they go stroboscopic, with a series of pulses which will cause the entire frame to be lit evenly as the narrow curtain slit traverses across the frame. The flashes and PocketWizards you're using won't support this function, so the solution that springs to my mind is to invest in some D70s.
That's only a partially-facetious comment!

The ability to cheat on the D70 is due to the camera actually using the CCD sensor as its own "electronic shutter" at high speeds. The CMOS sensor in the D2X isn't going to help you with this.

But back to the point: why do you need high shutter speeds at night? Isn't the flash pulse enough to freeze action?

[Dprime]

Thanks for the info Dave, I wasnt sure about the technical reasons for it happening and thats cleared it up.

I do alot of my wakeboarding and skateboarding photos at night, which I like using faster shutter speeds to get it crystal clear, as the flash pulses dont freeze the image quite enough majority of the time.

This is one I took with the D70s and pocket wizards at 1/800th


I already have a D70s so looks like I'll have to result back to that for the night work. Thanks for the info

[DaveB]

The flash pulse will be shorter than 1/10000s, and should be enough to freeze most subjects.

It sounds as though your exposures are also using some amount of additional light source: spotlights, other people's flashes, etc which might allow for blurring at longer exposures.