When will there be a higher sync speeds with speedlights?

Will be seeing higher sync speeds higher than 1/500 sec from speedlights in the near future?

Sync speed is a camera shutter dependent spec.
The lights flash much faster.
The X sync speed is the maximum shutter speed when the trailing shutter curtain is still clear of the sensor when the leading shutter curtain clears the sensor.

Leaf shutters are different because the open and close in a manner similar to the iris.

The only way to increase sync speed on a focal plane shutter camera is to increase shutter curtain velocity. That means a more expensive shutter.

dmward wrote in post #11321925
The only way to increase sync speed on a focal plane shutter camera is to increase shutter curtain velocity. That means a more expensive shutter.

Or electronic CMOS shutter.

ProjectNineFive wrote in post #11321893
Will be seeing higher sync speeds higher than 1/500 sec from speedlights in the near future?

The problem is the design of the focal plane shutter in DSLRs, and they're not going to get much faster than they are now. And no FP shutter can do 1/500sec anyway. The current way around it is high speed sync, which changes the way that the flash dumps its light - basically reducing the peak brightness a lot but spreading it out over the longer time it takes for an FP shutter to complete its full cycle. You can run up to any speed that way, like 1/8000sec or higher, but the brightness is feeble at that speed. There is also a HSS hack you can do but that is pretty hopeless TBH.

The answer is I think a switching sensor, such as the CCD that the Nikon D70 and one or two other cameras used to have. Most compacts have them too, and can run high x-sync speeds. Nobody has maganed it with a CMOS sensor yet, but it can't be long in coming. It's also the key to making EVIL/MILC cameras completely solid state, which is important to making that type of camera as good as it could be so there is plenty of commercial incentive.

Watch this space I think.

Leaf shutters sync at any speed, but then they don't offer so short exposure times as the focal plane shutter does, since they have to change direction during exposure. Typically 1/500s or so is the shortest time they offer.

It seems to me that shutter speed sync is kinda irrelevant because the strobe light speed freezes the action.

JackLiu wrote in post #11322882
It seems to me that shutter speed sync is kinda irrelevant because the strobe light speed freezes the action.

Ever tried to kill ambient in full sun?

JackLiu wrote in post #11322882
It seems to me that shutter speed sync is kinda irrelevant because the strobe light speed freezes the action.

Unless you're competing with ambient, especially when you're trying to maintain a fairly wide aperture.

The maximum X-sync shutter speed available for electronic flash is a direct limitation of the focal plane shutter in the camera, it is not a limitation of the flash unit.

The design of the mechanical aspects of the focal plane shutter likely reached there design limitation at least 10 yeas ago, possibly longer.

The shutters now are state of a mature art.

It would be very easy to design a focal plane shutter that has a significantly faster maximum X-sync shutter speed, but that same shutter would NOT endure the hundreds of thousands of exposures expected of today's digital cameras.

Current shutters are a stunning mechanical achievement of speed and longevity. Most of the computer focused crowd are not understanding of this sort of mechanical design maturity.

Enjoy! Lon

Depending on your camera & the situation, you might be able to use a sync speed of 1/400:
Strobe sync @ 1/400: Pushing the limits.

Frank,
The irony in your example is that its possible because of the tail that is characteristic with older technology strobes.

Two mature technologies combine to deliver higher shutter speed for flash photos.

Let's make sure the OP understands that its not increasing the sync speed of the camera but rather relying on the tail of the flash to illuminate the subject just as a constant light source would.

It's a huge pain.

On my 5DMKII I sit on 1/125th pretty much permanently using my Elinchrom lighting.

If i get my speedlights out though I can sync at 1/8000 using High Speed Sync. Very cool, but I am yet to actually test it for an actual photo.

I think the reason we don't have naturally high x-sync speeds is because most of the time it's not necessary and when it is, there are workaround solutions.

I use high speed sync a lot with a 580EX. The power is considerably reduced but it's enough at close-ish range stuff if you start with a powerful gun. That works fine for me and it's just so easy - switch it on and full E-TTL control is retained. The gun even switches in and out of HSS mode as and when the shutter speed demands it, so you can just leave it on and not worry. For most folks, I think that's probably a complete solution.

The problem comes when you want to do battle with bright sun and the main problem there is flash power, not x-sync. Rule of thumb is you need at least 400ws to even have a chance of beating bright sun, and that's two or three stops more than any hot-shoe gun can deliver anyway (580EX is about 60ws equivalent).

Then once you've got enough flash light, the best workaround is to simply fit an ND filter to bring the whole exposure down to the x-sync level. You obvioulsy get a darker viewfinder that way, but that's not the end of the world. Thinking about that a bit differently, if manufacturers could reduce the sensor ISO down to say ISO25, you would not need an ND filter at all. Or they could fit one over the sensor, as some compacts already do for other reasons.

A Canon PowerShot G series digicam with hard wired non-Canon flash will get you to around 1/1000 to 1/2000 sec shutter speed.

Austin.Manny wrote in post #11322915
Unless you're competing with ambient, especially when you're trying to maintain a fairly wide aperture.

I'm not following this. Is it because you have to use a faster shutter to minimize ambient light?? Is there a link or something where I can read more on this?