Shutter Lag on Point and Shoots

[OE2X]

In your heart O2x you KNOW the answer...

The focus speeds I quote come directly from DPREVIEW. Phil does an awesome job of rating this type of thing. Unfortunatley he is using IDEAL conditons!! So that .3 focus lag can become never if the lighting is not good.

If you want DSLR type focus and capture, you will have to use a DSLR, no way around it.

Another thing to consider is that I have discovered after tying to do adjustments on a friends UW COZ images, that one can NOT bring back color UW easily. He was NOT using an external strobe. In COZ the light is about as good as one can get on a sunny day, but he was shooting in the 50' range, and the color was just lost, even if the images were actually OK, and I was able to make them a LOT better.

The only images where the color was really jumping were the images where his tiny pathetic flash was able to help (IOW's VERY close).

O2X, if you want pro level images UW, IMO you will have to use a pro level setup. Not to say that a camera like the Oly 8080 can not produce great results with an external flash, but dude, you already have the SLR's/DSLR's needed to do the job, and the 8080 is a far cry from ANY DLSR with it's tiny noise producing limited sensor at higher ISO's, SLOW shutter lag, lockup when storing RAW data, lack of focus tracking.. need i go on?

I never thought I would say this in public, but I just want to be a snapshot photographer. While I love my work topside, one of the reasons I dive is to get away from it. As to taking snapshots, you should see how perturbed my wife gets with me about taking pictures of the kids. Either it's set up the studio lighting or get out to a location before sunrise with a grumpy wife and two even grumpier kids. Worse yet is when I tell my wife - hey no problem, I need a couple of kids to model for the next job. That one goes over as well with the family the same as if I forgot Christmas.

Yes, I have the $8,000. U/W setup, but no I don't want to dive with it. It's big, bulky and gets in the way of fun. That said I'm dragging it to CA tomorrow just in case I need it for a job I'm shooting. What a PITA. The TSA and airline people just love it when I get in line.

I want to leave the U/W stuff to just the rarest of jobs or to the real pros. For me diving is about creating memories with friends in some really cool places with cool things to see. After seeing how UP just goes about effortlessly grabbing a shot here and a shot there, got to admit it looks like fun. With one of these small little cameras I can clip it off to my left chest D-ring and not worry about it. With my Aquatica and strobes, I need a Gavin just to get around!

So I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a small little camera and put up with the idiosyncrasies. Either that or not shoot at all.

BTW - I love looking at everyones beautiful photos. What you folks do is pretty amazing. Your images inspire me...

Thanks for everyones input I really appreciate your help.

 

[Uncle Pug]

After seeing how UP just goes about effortlessly grabbing a shot here and a shot there, got to admit it looks like fun.

Grunt Sculpin was only 1.5" long and the Painted Greenling was about 7" long.

 

[Cecil]

Total agreement on my part, I want to be a diver who happens to take pictures as opposed to a photographer that happens to dive. My little Sony goes in a BC pocket when getting in or out and under a BC strap while diving. I can forget about it except when I see something to photograph.

As an added bonus, out of the water in fits nicely in a pant's pocket always available when required.

 

[mccabejc]

Could someone explain why a DSLR has negligible focus lag, while the less expensive PNS cameras take longer? Both have motorized focusing, and it still has to hunt a bit, especially in low light.

 

[jlyle]

I'm no expert and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but I believe it has to do with the time delay to display the image on the LCD. The SLRs use an optical view-finder.

 

[jakubson]

Does anyone have any experience using manual focus on PnS? When i used the MMII film camera, it had a manual focus. Using the proper aperture, you could get sufficient depth of field to shoot anything in the reasonable strobe range (up to 4 or 5 feet). If you have a PnS that has full manual (I have an Oly 5050) and a strobe with multiple settings, in theory you "should" be able to set a small enough aperture to get decent depth of focus. Then you could leave the focus on the camera set to 3 feet, and shoot most non-macro stuff this way.

Has anyone tried this? How much does it reduce shutter lag?

 

[Grajan]

I ordered a complete Ikelite rig for my 20D, was very excited to receive it, put it together, lugged it round the house a couple of times, took a long hard look, repacked it and sent it back (Thanks again Ryan).

I'm back with my Canon S45. I'll get a few more fish butts and have to work harder in Photoshop but I'll enjoy my diving (and travelling) more. I just wish the S45 housing had a flash diffuser - guess I could make one.....

I never thought I would say this in public, but I just want to be a snapshot photographer.

 

[JasonH20]

I'm a professional photographer topside. I have an aquatica housing for my F5's and Ikelite strobes, and use them for the very rare U/W shoot. For me diving is for fun and here I can get away from my work. Dragging around the housing is a PITA.

I want a small digital point and shoot. Canon and Nikon both have 7 meg cameras that fall into this catagory.

One of the things that I will not get used to is shutter lag. I've got a half dozen 35mm bodies that don't have it, so even for recreation I'm unwilling to put up that hassle.

Is there a camera 6+ megs that has a minimal shutter lag?

I think it's all a matter of what you get use to. With "point and shoots" just remember, pre-focus is your friend. I've only taken my Canon A70 diving a couple times, but it's done reasonably well to my expectations. I would imagine the newer version (A90) would do equally well, though it's only 5 megs I believe.

Here is a picture I took yesterday. As you can see, shutter lag didn't present much of a problem for me.

(OK, I have to fess up, it took me 3 tries, but it was worth the effort!)

 

[JasonH20]

Here's probably my best picture UW so far...

 

[Uncle Pug]

Nice pic Jason! Just re-discovered this thread.