Shutter speed display

irenefrieirenefrie
edited January 2015 Posted in » Nikon D5100 Forum
The shutter speed on my camera is showing as 1.6"; 1", etc. I want it to display as 1/100, etc. Where do I go to make the shutter speed display as fractions? I can't find it in the menu or the manual.

Thank you, Irene

Comments

  • ohyeaharohyeahar
    edited January 2015
    What’s your exposure mode, P, A, S, M?
    If in M or S: Just rotate the rear command dial. That changes shutter speed.
    If in A or P: Try rotating the rear command dial. If a larger aperture setting is available, that will increase your shutter speed accordingly. If you’re already at your largest aperture, then increase your ISO; that will increase your shutter speed accordingly.
  • brutobruto
    edited January 2015
    If the shutter speed is being shown as mentioned here (1.6"; 1") it is correct. The quotation mark designates seconds. As @ohyeahar says, if you put it on M or S mode and rotate the command dial, you will see it step through the shutter speeds, which range from 30" to 1/4000.
  • irenefrieirenefrie
    edited January 2015
    Thank you so much. I guess I wasn't turning the dial far enough to see the fraction.

    I'm trying to learn manual mode on the D5100, but maybe I'm a little ambitious.

    Thanks again,
    Irene
  • brutobruto
    edited February 2015
    Manual can be very useful. Remember that the meter still works in manual mode, and will tell you how far from the recommended setting you're going. You can always overexpose in manual mode, but if you want to underexpose remember to turn off Auto ISO or the meter will just raise ISO and override your intentions.

    If you want a base reading from which to start and the meter reading is too far out to read easily, you can switch to A mode. Choose an aperture and the meter will choose a shutter speed (and ISO if it's on auto). You can start with that setting when you switch to M mode, and then watch how the meter changes when you change settings.

    The aperture and shutter speed controls work in 1/3 stop increments. A stop equals a doubling or halving of exposure. ISO control is in full stops.

    Remember it's digital. You can take a thousand shots that don't come out quite right and erase them all. Nobody need ever know how many shots you goof. Set your playback display to give you the histogram and full EXIF information, and you can look at every shot you make and figure out exactly how the changes you make influence the result.

  • irenefrieirenefrie
    edited February 2015
    Thank you.

    One of my exposures read as 1/1.6. Is that actually 1/1600?

    Sorry for my ignorance, but it is just hard for me to get my head around this.

    Irene
  • brutobruto
    edited February 2015
    Nope, it's 1/1.6 indeed. The shutter speeds progress by 1/3 stop, so the low ones produce some rather odd looking fractions. The next will be 1/2, then 1/2.5, then 1/3, and so on. Every three clicks of the wheel in that direction will give you approximately half the exposure, referred to as a full "stop". So, three up from 1/1.6 is 1/3, three up from that is 1/6, and so on, right up to 1/4000.

    Put it in manual mode and run through the whole series of shutter speeds, and you will so how they all display. It requires quite a few clicks of the wheel to get from one end to the other. At the bottom end you should see "bulb" which is untimed, leaving the shutter open as long as the button is pressed. Above that, 30 seconds, and so on. There are, if I count right, 53 clicks of the wheel to go from one end to the other.
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