I’m suspicious of his use of a camera that captures 8,000 frames/second on this particular day when all Trump was doing was giving a rally. You almost to expect to need a camera that does 8000 frames/second to bring one.
The speakers on the video agree with your suspicions.
They believe that the technology required is not generally available on the market and was provided as a “perk” to this prominent photographer.
In action the speakers suspect that the photographer was “tipped” that the camera would be “useful” on that particular day at that particular location.
This may be a trail that leads nowhere—or everywhere important.
In this excellent video, the photographer explains why he was using those settings. He is a proffessional photographer who routinely covers these events, and has done so for many years.
I suspect he had his ISO (light sensitivity) set to “auto” and his lens opening to a wide open setting (f1.4?) to get the depth of field he wanted. It's not his first sports or political event. There are no do- overs.
With those kind of settings, it means to balance the light, the shutter speed (frames per second) has to adjust (increase) to balance the light.
As a photojournalism major (40 years ago) I might be able to add something to this discussion. Modern cameras are wonderful!
There are two main ways to adjust the amount of light that hits the focal plane of a camera - the F stop of the lens and the speed of the shutter that ‘opens and closes” in front of the plane.
Each has its own advantage. If you adjust one up, the other generally is adjusted down. A high F stop number on the lens requires a low shutter speed. That gives the photographer a deep depth of field, so much more is in focus, but it can be blurry if you use a telephoto lens.
A low F stop and high shutter speed can be good too! The low F stop means that much less is in focus front to back. And the fast shutter speed gives a sharper image.
This is the setting that is ideal to shoot sports or at a Trump rally. Only Trump would be in focus - everything in front or behind is out of focus. The photographer would likely be using a very long lens so the fast shutter speed would help keep things crisp.
Modern cameras are amazing. Back 40 years ago 1000th of a second was pretty good. But some pro cameras maxxed at 2000th. Now 8000th of a second is available on pro cameras.
The advantages that gives is amazing, but not out of this world. It is just a tool of the trade.
I hope this helps a little.
I’ve followed Doug Mill’s work for decades. The man is absolutely brilliant.