How to work around no HSS on Nikon d3100?
I'm using the Nikon D3100 with an SB-400 speedlight and want to use an f/4 with a shutter speed faster than 1/200 outdoors to have the flash overpower the sun. I know the d3100 does not have HSS. Is there any workaround for this? I know I could close the aperture a little but I want a shallow depth of field.
HSS is not a photographic term.
The Nikon D3100 has a top shutter speed of 1/4000, but like all dSLR cameras, the highest flash sync is at between 1/1200th and f/250th second
Saturday, I used flash fill. I set my camera to shutter priority and used 1/250th second (the sync speed of my camera) and adjusted my SB600 to -.07 to reduce the flash output.
Your problem is that you do not understand the fundamentals of photography well enough to know that if you want to shoot with a lens wide open in direct sun, using flash is not an option.
There's a camera that has a flash sync faster than 1/250th second and that is the older Nikon D40. I have a colleague that shoots X-Games with the D40 at shutter speeds of 1/1000th second. This is because the D40 has a CCD sensor and it is the sensor the controls the length of the actual exposure, not the shutter when syncing with flash
HSS = High Speed Sync
You might be able to use some neutral density filters to maintain f/4 at 1/200, but I don't know if the SB400 has enough power to be useful under the circumstances you describe if you add and filters.
You could try a polarizer if you don't own and filters. You can cut a stop to a stop and a half with a polarizer.
Yes, but first, HSS is a flash feature, not a camera one.
There's a very simple solution:
Use a and filter. Usually around an ND8 (3 stop) filter will work best.
Using the sunny 16 rule, at f/4 you would be at 1/125 in bright sunlight using an ND8 filter.
The and filter is a great tool for flash photography because you do not need to use your HSS mode on the flash. When you use HSS you actually loose about 1-2 stops of power plus you severely reduce your recycle rate. Using an and filter will allow you to reduce your shutter speed into a syncable rage.