Nikon SLR Cameras

Nikon D5100 shutter problem, shutter too slow?

Dani
Dani

Hi, I have the d5100, and I'm starting to think that it has a problem with the shutter… Or I have a problem! Lol
It seams that no matter what lens I use, and no matter now fast of a shutter speed I select, you can clearly hear the shutter opens and closes with long time between the two clicks. I'm not sure if this will make any sense, but I'm trying my best to describe the issue… I'm not a pro, but I do a lot of product photography for my Etsy shop. When I use my camera for something else, that is to take photos of my kids. They move fast. My camera's shutter doesn't seem to be fast enough. Even when there's lots of natural light, it still sounds like the shutter gets stuck for few seconds and then you can hear it close. I have watched many videos on youtube of newborn photographers taking pictures, and because it is a quiet environment, you can clearly heartheire shutters, and it sounds like they are closing fast… I got my Nikon last summer, I have the kit lens, a 50mm Nikkor prime lense and a 80-200mm zoom lense. May be I'm doind something wrong. All my kids photos are one big blur…
Help! Any expert photographers out there, please advise?

rick
rick

Put your camera in manual, go outside and go through your shutter speeds. Start at 1/2000 and working your way down. Make sure you meter properly on your first exposure and then work your way down by 1/3 stop (One click) for every speed reduction, close your lens to the next 1/3 as well. Your exposure should be the same on every shot. If it is not and the light did not change, then you have a problem. It will be very obvious if there's something wrong.

secret_asian_man
secret_asian_man

Stop using the liveview screen.

fhotoace
fhotoace

If you are trying to use your camera like a P&S camera, holding it at arms length using the live view feature (used when shooting video), that is the problem.

Look on page 26 of your user manual to see how to hold the camera and use the cameras view finder.

Go outside in the sun and start learning how to use the camera light meter in the manual mode.

Pages 65-71

Master those pages and your results will be much better. To prevent blur, make sure that you are shooting at shutter speeds of 1/500th second or shorter