Sorry for beginner Question

[mant01]

I have an Olympus E420 and I dont understand how the shutter speed number shows you the speed it will take the pic. My slow shutter speeds come up as from 1" upto 60" and on the quick side from 1.3 upto 4000. Can someone give me a quick guide I can use or an example I can apply to work out times.

Thanks for any help offered

 

[mant01]

I'll just add that the reason I ask is that when I look at examples it normally says 1/80 etc and then I look in my camera and it either just says one number on the fast side (2 etc) and something like 2.3" on the slow.

 

[Frenzied Dwarf]

the " generally indicates seconds so 5" would be 5 seconds 1/80 is one eightieth of a second so 1/4000 would be 1 four thousandth of a second hope that makes sense?

 

[mant01]

Thanks alot I didnt know that " stood for seconds thats cleared up what I wanted to know. Thanks