As a newcomer to photography I am unsure why I would select first curtain sync over second. I understand about lights/movement before or after the subject and would like to leave the custom function set to the position I am least likely to have to adjust it! Can anyone give me an reason why I shouldn't leave my flash to fire on 2nd curtain sync.

-- Ken Smith (kengs@acay.com.au), July 19, 1999

Answers

I can't think of any reason not to keep the flash set on second curtain sync. FYI, 1st and 2nd curtain are exactly the same at the camera's X-sync speed.

-- Dave Herzstein (dherzstein@juno.com), July 20, 1999.

In 1st curtain sync mode, you decide when the flash will go off. In 2nd curtain, there is a delay (the shutter speed) before it fires. As an example, last Halloween, I took a picture of my daughter next to a Jack O'Lantern. I needed a long shutter time to capture the glow of the candle inside the pumpkin, but I still needed the flash to illuminate her. If I had used 2nd curtain sync, she would have to try and hold a pose for several seconds, while waiting for the flash to fire. With 1st curtain, I could take her part of the picture when her pose was best, and then let the camera take care of the pumpkin. By the way, the camera was on a tripod. But I do agree with you, 2nd curtain sync is more useful, most of the time.

-- Geoff Doane (geoff_doane@cbc.ca), July 21, 1999.