Is there much difference between 1/4000 and 1/8000?

Question

This is my last question and then I will purchase. I know the Nikon D80 has a 1/4000 shutter speed while the Canon Rebel XTi has a 1/8000. Is there much difference? When do you use each speed? I don't do much of speed shots but I just want to know that if I ever need to, I won't have a problem of the speed being to slow to capture the image.

I definitely will. everyone has been a big help and I might not be able to physically show it, but I am extremely grateful to everyone especially OMG, Sam, KOKO.....

Answer 1

The only time you'll ever use a shutter speed anywhere close to 1/4000th, is when you aim your camera directly at the sun. The difference between 1/4000th and 1/8000th might look impressive on paper but simply isn't an issue in the real world.

So eh.... what are you getting? By now the whole community wants to know :-)

P.S. as a courtesy to all the effort that Sam & the others have put in, please don't let all your questions go to a vote. Pick a Best Answer yourself after you've given everyone a few days to respond.

----
Added:

Just found this - here's a shot from a motor bike race: http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=132068744
This is a speeding bike on a race track on a bright sunny day. That's about as fast as it gets, and you can see he used a shutter speed of just 1/1500th second - he was panning along with the bike, but the shutter speed of 1/1500th was fast enough to practically eliminate motion blur on the spokes!
A top shutter speed of 1/4000th isn't a problem.

Answer 2

At those speeds, the difference between 1/4000 and 1/8000 will be the least of your worries (getting enough light into the camera will be a bigger problem). it may not be much difference. If you can get a sharp photo of a bird at 1/500th of a second, then shooting at 1/4000th (or 1/8000th for that matter) won't make a difference since the bird is not moving fast enough to REQUIRE a difference in shutter speed. If anything, it would be more beneficial for shaky hands than for the bird's speed. It's like shooting a turtle at 1/60th and 1/125th. The results are the same because the speed at which the turtle is going is less than the difference between the two speeds. I don't think I've ever used anything over 1/2000th of a second (there just isn't enough light getting into the camera to justify using it).

Answer 3

Besides the fact that you will never use either speed...

The theoretical answer is that one is twice as fast and will let in half the light as the other. In a real world, it is extremely difficult to control a shutter with such a degree of accuracy and there is always variation. I'd bet that, on any given day, due to temperature fluctuations, whatever, they were virtually the same speed anyhow. I do NOT have an actual basis for makingthis statement as I have not read tests on shutter speed accuracy lately, but this used to be common knowledge. 1/30 is pretty much twice as long as 1/60. 1/1000 was rarely twice as long as 1/2000 on the test bench.

The only pictures I've ever seen that would approach this kind of speed were more or less gimmick shots anyhow, such as an exploding light bulb where you capture the shards of glass in mid-air. Guess what, though. That effect is due to the rapid speed of the flash and not the shutter speed!

I see that my D200 goes to 1/8000, but I had to look it up to fidn out as I've never used that kind of speed. I'll have to do some tests to see what happens. (As OMG said, though, I'd probably have to take test shots of the sun.) I have never used faster than 1/1000 unless I did it by accident. This probably goes back to my film camera days when I learned that anything over 1/500-1/1000 was not going to be very reliable for accuracy anyhow.

Answer 4

1 8000 Shutter Speed

Answer 5

The average user will never use either of those speeds! Don't let it be the deciding factor in your purchase! In my experience, 1/125 will stop most small movements. 1/250 or 1/500 should stop just about anything.

If you're concerned about camera shake, 1/focal length of the lens is a good rule of thumb to follow.

The only reason I can think of (I'm a nature and studio photographer) for 1/4000 or 1/8000 shutter speeds would be if you wanted a very shallow depth of field on a very bright sunny day. But like I said, I've never used either of them. (My medium format camera has a maximum shutter speed of 1/400)

I hope this helps! Either of the cameras you're considering would do a great job for you!

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avS3d

For a shutter speedof 1/8000 you will need gobbs of light. Almost more than is possible. I dont think birds fly fast enough to justify the added shutter speed. 1/4000 is more than enough. good shots that freezes the wings of a humming bird can be achieved with 1/800 of a sec. 1/8000 is obviously overkilk. A sacrafice in iso that is clearly not neccessary

Answer 7

Woah, my XTi doesnt have 1/8000!!! unless i got jipped. I have acutally NEVER used 1/4000 even in broad day light its just a little too dark. I have been shooting at least 2000 pictures per month since I got my XTi and I still havent used above 1/800. Maybe its just me so far but I havent had the need for 1/4000. Its just way too dark for most pictures since I like to use the sweet spot of my lens (f/8). If you looked in my gallery, most of my pictures were set at like 1/800 in daylight. Rule of thumb usually, if your at 70mm the slowest shutter speed you should use is 1/60, if your at 200mm the slowest shutter speed should be 200mm without worryign about blurred imagines. But of course once you start using your camera, no rules apply.

Answer 8

The difference is 1/8000 of a second.

1/4000 = 2/8000
2/8000 - 1/8000 = 1/8000
Nikon Canon Difference

Both of these speeds are very, very fast. And the difference is very, very, very small.

On a practical basis, the difference is meaningless. Ignore it!

Good Luck

Answer 9

Yes of course the 1/8000 of a stop is useful, sport photographers use it all the time for the SHARPEST capture, and when you use that with a fast FPS DSLR, your guaranteed a nice crisp sharp image. Also, when in conjuction with your F-stop, 1/8000 will allow you to shoot with a much more open F-stop for better depth of field. IE the 50mm for Canon @ 1.4f. You better believe you want a shutter speed that goes that high with bright sunny day to utilize that wonderful 1.4f-stop. If you desire that is...:) I shoot with a 5D and have used 1/8000 of a second quite frequently, especially if Im at 400 ISO closed down at the Aperture, but with a slow shutter speed, and then all of a sudden I need to change it immediately to a lower aperture without waisting time to change ISO, the more open I get allow the F-stop, the higher the shutter speed, and its hit 1/8000 several times......hope that helps. :)

Answer 10

my friend has a rebel xti and it has 1/4000 max shutter ...who told u it has 1/8000