Can a Nikon D5500 use high-speed sync with an SB-800?
Asked 2/29/2016
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I’m using a Nikon D5500 with a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight. The SB-800 supports Nikon Auto FP high-speed sync, but I’ve read that the D5500 may not. Is there any way to overcome the camera limitation and use flash at shutter speeds above normal sync speed?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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The Nikon D5500 does not feature an Auto FP flash sync setting. This is the name Nikon uses for high speed sync. So although the SB800 does support AFP, your camera is not capable of using it.
The only practical way to overcome it would be to use a studio type flash that allows you to adjust the duration of the flash at constant output to longer than about 1/200 second or slower. These types of flashes are fairly expensive and probably cost several times the cost of upgrading to a Nikon body, such as the D7200, that does support AFP.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
10y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
No. The Nikon D5500 does not support Nikon Auto FP, which is Nikon’s high-speed sync system, so it cannot do true HSS/FP with an SB-800.
That means you’re limited to the camera’s normal flash sync speed for standard flash use. The SB-800 being compatible with Auto FP doesn’t help if the camera body cannot control it.
Workarounds are limited:
- A specialized studio flash with a long enough flash duration can sometimes be used for similar effects, but that is a different approach and typically expensive.
- A niche technique sometimes called tail sync can overlap part of a very fast shutter speed by firing a full-power flash pulse, but it is not true HSS, is inefficient, and only works in a narrow range of conditions.
If you need reliable high-speed sync, the practical solution is a Nikon body that supports Auto FP.
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