Shutter SPeed

The shutter speed is the time that the light coming through the lens is allowed to hit the film. Obviously the longer the shutter remains open the more light that can pass through to the film. On your camera the most used numbers are also fractions.

Therefore the larger the number, the faster the shutter speed.

The shutter works by opening for a specified length of time and then closing. The SLR camera, especially 35mm cameras, usually have what is called a focal plane shutter (see the Shutter Speed Diagram). The shutter speeds usually start from around 5 - 30 seconds on the slow side up to 1/4000th of a second for certain cameras.

When speaking apertures we do not mention the fraction, e.g. 1/8. But usually when speaking about shutter speeds the fraction is mentioned. 60 on the camera means 1/60th of a second. Some digital cameras with LCD's will actually write the shutter speed as a fraction. Oftentimes on a film camera shutter speed dial, shutter speeds over one second are in a different color.

30s _ 15 s _ 8 s _ 4 s _ 2 s _ 1 sec _ 1/2 _ 1/4 _ 1/8 _ 1/15_ 1/30 _ 1/60_ 1/125 _ 1/250_ 1/500 _ 1/1000_ 1/2000 _ 1/4000

The fractions can be a bit off-putting but look at the images and spend some time understanding the timing, even if you just have to memorize it.