Cover Photo by insung yoon, free to use

Flash sync speed, also sometimes referred to as to as X-Sync, is the fastest shutter speed that will allow the camera to capture light on the whole sensor. Shooting at a faster shutter speed then a camera’s flash sync speed without using high-speed sync (aka HHS, which will be the subject of a future article) will result in a black band in your photos.

When photographing with studio strobes, it’s common to set the camera exactly at the sync speed to maximize the reduction of ambient light and allow to capture light from the strobes only.

When I find myself using a new camera body to shoot using strobes, I often have to search for its flash sync speed, and I’ve found myself struggling to find the info easily. So for this post I decided to compile the flash sync speed for many of today’s popular DSLR and mirrorless cameras.

I cover cameras from the 3 major manufacturers: Canon, Nikon and Sony.

Canon Bodies

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Camera Body

Flash Sync Speed
Canon EOS R
1/200s
Canon EOS RP
1/180s
Canon EOS 6D Mark II
1/180s
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
1/200s
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
1/200s
Canon EOS 5DS R
1/200s
Canon EOS 5DS
1/200s
Canon EOS 1D X Mark II
1/250s

Nikon Bodies

Most Nikon pro DSLRs have a flash sync speed of 1/250s, and the new mirrorless cameras from Nikon have a flash sync speed of 1/200s.

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Camera Body

Flash Sync Speed
Nikon Z7
1/200s
Nikon Z6
1/200s
Nikon D850
1/250s
Nikon D5
1/250s
Nikon D500
1/250s
Nikon D4S
1/250s
Nikon D4
1/250s
Nikon D810
1/250s
Nikon D800
1/250s

Sony Bodies

Even though most Sony bodies are rated at a flash sync speed of 1/250s, I’ve had a different experience using a Sony α7R III with a Godox strobe, where it turned out that 1/200s was what I found to be the maximum shutter speed I could really use.

📷
Camera Body

Flash Sync Speed
Sony α7 III
1/250s
Sony α7R III
1/250s
Sony α9
1/250s
Sony α7R II
1/250s
Sony α7 II
1/250s
Sony α7
1/250s
Sony α7R
1/160s