how to deal with "delay time" when photographing

Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

Hello:

I would try:

Turn off AF. Most cameras will refocus anyway so having it focused
correctly accomplishes nothing.
Turn off AE. Most cameras take a long time to determine the "correct"
exposure in dim light. Some will never decide on the
exposure.
Now see how long the delay time is.
Jim

Jim's got some good suggestions... the only other option I might
suggest, if you don't want to shell out for a DSLR, is to get a really
cheap fixed-focus film camera.

The problem you're describing is known as "shutter lag" and it's
more-or-less inherent to almost all auto-focus point-and-shoot cameras,
film or digital.

Jim wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

Hello:

I would try:

Turn off AF. Most cameras will refocus anyway so having it focused
correctly accomplishes nothing.
Turn off AE. Most cameras take a long time to determine the "correct"
exposure in dim light. Some will never decide on the
exposure.
Now see how long the delay time is.
Jim

"Matt Ion" wrote in message
news:2g6ti.30706$fJ5.465@pd7urf1no...
Jim's got some good suggestions... the only other option I might suggest,
if you don't want to shell out for a DSLR, is to get a really cheap
fixed-focus film camera.

The problem you're describing is known as "shutter lag" and it's
more-or-less inherent to almost all auto-focus point-and-shoot cameras,
film or digital.

Jim wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

Hello:

I would try:

Turn off AF. Most cameras will refocus anyway so having it focused
correctly accomplishes nothing.
Turn off AE. Most cameras take a long time to determine the "correct"
exposure in dim light. Some will never decide on the
exposure.
Now see how long the delay time is.
Jim
Probably the only way to get around this problem is to "pre focus",
anticipate and hold the shutter button in the half press position, should be
minimal delay when you then do the full press..

Pete D wrote:
"Matt Ion" wrote in message
news:2g6ti.30706$fJ5.465@pd7urf1no...
Jim's got some good suggestions... the only other option I might suggest,
if you don't want to shell out for a DSLR, is to get a really cheap
fixed-focus film camera.

The problem you're describing is known as "shutter lag" and it's
more-or-less inherent to almost all auto-focus point-and-shoot cameras,
film or digital.

Jim wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

Hello:

I would try:

Turn off AF. Most cameras will refocus anyway so having it focused
correctly accomplishes nothing.
Turn off AE. Most cameras take a long time to determine the "correct"
exposure in dim light. Some will never decide on the
exposure.
Now see how long the delay time is.
Jim
Probably the only way to get around this problem is to "pre focus",
anticipate and hold the shutter button in the half press position, should be
minimal delay when you then do the full press..



That's the best you can do. I got the impression from the op that he was
focusing then releasing the shutter. That won't do, you have to keep the
shutter half depressed. I always do this even when the subject is
stationary.
Dave Cohen

wrote:
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."
[]
Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?
[]
Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

In addition to the "keep half-pressed" advice others have given, just
press the shutter release a little /before/ the peak of the action. Some
cameras can take a rapid sequence of pictures, so that's another
possibility, as is using the movie mode if capturing the action is
important. Perhaps a short video will convey as much as a high-resolution
still?

Cheers,
David

wrote:
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

In addition to the prior suggestions I can add one. It requires lot and
lots of practice, a study of the actions you want to photograph and more
practice. You may need to predict that moment off peak action. This is not
far different than the skills of action photos en the early days of news
photography when we had to use 4x5's which often could not be used at high
speed. It was and is an art and requires lots of practice.



--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

snip

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

snip

Ted, this is called "shutter lag" and it's the bane of photographers
everywhere. It exists in all cameras, but is minimized to nearly
(perceptably) zero in the best cameras. Newer cameras tend to minimize
shutter lag, and it's often written about in reviews.

You can fiddle around with settings till the cows come home, but the best
approach to reducing shutter lag is to buy a camera without noticeable
shutter lag. In the under $300 range, the Canon S3 IS is one I own and
enjoy. In addition to very little shutter lag, it has a great zoom. You
can go to a baseball game, sit in the upper deck and catch the batter as he
hits the ball.

Go to your local photo shop and try the S3 (if it's available) or some
other cameras and see what you think of their shutter lag. I think you'll
find the newer models of any kind but the cheapest have, in large measure,
fixed this problem.

HTH,
Ray

wrote:
Hello,

There is surely a term for what I want to discuss. But since I'm no
expert, I don't know that term.

"the length of time between my pushing the button, and the camera
taking the picture."

Sometimes I want to take a picture of something that is fleeting: an
expression on someone's face, for example. Let's assume that I've
already done some things right:
* the camera is in position
* it's focused already
* red-eye reduction is OFF

So, I push the button, and . . . . uh . . . hmmm . . . . it takes the
photo.

Sure enough, the moment has come and gone, before the picture was
taken.

What can I do about that?

At the moment, I have a Canon PowerShot 530. That might not impress
the professionals, but that's not my goal. I'm not going to spend
$1000 on a camera.

Good ideas?

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker


Ted,
As others have said, you are experiencing shutter lag. Pretty
much all P&S cameras use the sensor itself for focusing,
setting exposure, and giving you the preview on the LCD,
all these add up to delays. The A530 (I'm assuming you meant
the A series) has a shutter lag of about 0.5 seconds, but
in lower light can be much longer.

Adding to the band aids given by the other posters, wave
your hand in front of the camera. Do you see a delay
in the LCD image from where your hand actually is?
If so, turn off the LCD when taking action images and
use the optical viewfinder. This will speed things up
about 0.1 second or so.

The other solution is a DSLR. DSLRs have independent
electronics for autofocus and exposure settings, and
use the optical viewfinder which gives the only true
live preview. Shutter lag is typically well under
0.1 second including exposure and autofocus (assuming
the lens doesn't have to move the focus far). You can get
entry level DSLRs for under about $600 (they are also quite
small but won't fit in a shirt pocket). They will also give
much lower noise, especially at high ISO. Look at a
canon XT (also called 350D, 8 megapixels), for example.
You may be able to buy a used one for much less.

If you want to choose another P&S camera, check the
"full press shutter lag" specifications in reviews
such as those from dpreview: http://www.dpreview.com

Roger

Thanks, all, for the good advice.

Ted Shoemaker