If you don’twant that second exposure, you should use the highest shutter speed that
will synchronize with your flash. This setting prevents Program or Aperture-priority
modes (which both select the shutter speed for you) from inadvertently selecting a “too
slow” shutter speed. You can select a value from 30 s to 1/60 s, and the D7000 will avoid
using speeds slower than the one you specify with electronic flash (unless you’ve selected
slow sync, slow rear-curtain sync, or red-eye reduction with slow sync, as described in
Chapter 12). The “slow sync” modes do permit the ambient light to contribute to the
exposure (say, to allow the background to register in night shots, or to use the ghost
image as a special effect). For brighter backgrounds, you’ll need to put the camera on a
tripod or other support to avoid the blurry ghosts that can occur from camera shake,
even if the subject is stationary.
If you are able to hold the D7000 steady, a value of 1/30 s is a good compromise; if you
have shaky hands, use 1/60 s or higher. Those with extraordinarily solid grips can try
the 1/15 s setting. Remember that this setting only determines the slowest shutter speed
that will be used, not the default shutter speed.
e3 Flash Cntrl for Built-in Flash
The Nikon D7000’s built-in flash has four modes, which I’ll describe in a lot more detail
in Chapter 12. Your four options are as follows:
■TTL. When the built-in flash is triggered, the D7000 first fires a pre-flash and
measures the light reflected back and through the lens to calculate the proper expo-
sure when the full flash is emitted a fraction of a second later.
■Manual.You can set the level of the built-in flash from full power to 1/128 power.
■Repeating flash.The flash fires multiple bursts, producing a stroboscopic lighting
effect. As I’ll describe in Chapter 12, when you choose repeating flash you’ll be
asked to select Output (flash power level), Times (the number of times the flash is
fired at the output level you specify), and Frequency (how often the flash fires per
second). Note that these factors are interdependent. For example, if you tell the
flash to fire at 1/8 output power, you can select from 2 to 5 flashes, at a rate of 1 to
50 flashes per second. That’s because the flash has only enough power for a maxi-
mum of 5 flashes at the 1/8 output setting. At 1/128 power, there’s enough juice
for 2 to 35 individual flashes, at a rate of no more than 50 flashes per second.
■Commander mode. If you never use external flash, you can safely ignore this set-
ting. If you do, you’ll want to set up the D7000 for your most frequently used
options, to avoid having to fiddle with the camera if you decide to pull your SB-
900 out of your bag for some impromptu multi-flash shooting. In Commander
mode, the built-in flash emits pre-flashes that can be used to wirelessly control one
or more remote external flash units.
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