what do you call this fast button pressing?

[wackodacko]

Hi All! Im new to photography and i hope someone can help me with this. .Im using a sony p7, with the marine pack and did about 20 dives with it..i definitely want a different camera, this p7 is soo not for me. What do you call it when , for example, you see this HUUUUGE turtle pass about 5 feet from you.. you click the button and it takes a picture.. and you press the button again but it won't bloody take another picture!!! is it cycling rate? fps? does my cam not have a big enough buffer? or is it writing too slow to the memory stick? i have to wait at LEAST 5 seconds to take another picture..by that time, my subject is GONE!! and also, the flash flickers once, then it flickers again...even on land.. it flashes twice..this is really annoying and people get confused when i take their pictures..what digicam has a fast button re-pressing feature and doesnt have this pre-flash sort of thing?

thanx for any help.
i hate my camera :upset:
-Jade

ps: my budget for a new cam is ~1000 including uw housing.. i was thinking nikon coolpix 5000 or oly 5050z..hopefully it doesn't have this slow-picture-taking-problem thing...

 

[Jonathan]

Wackodako you will get this delay with most if not all cameras - also probably a slight exageration on the 5 seconds but I know what you mean. I guess you could shell out loads for a 35mm with a motor wind on and flash away - but more than you budget.

Or you could get into video - more dosh again...

The double flash thing is "Red Eye Reduction" - you should find it in the setup and you can turn it off (well you can with the other sony digitals that I have used).

Jonathan

 

[The Hamburger]

I think what you are talking about is called shutter lag.

Its a problem with most digital cameras.

This is another reason why you can't beet good old film cameras.

Cheers

 

[Jonathan]

but you still have to wind on the old film cameras unless you've got a motor wind on....

 

[Travisc]

Been there done that, Recently sold my P9 and now I have a Olympus C5050z, just haven't had a chance to get it out in the water yet. You will have shutter lag on the Olympus too, just not as bad. The Sony takes good photos, but here in the Puget Sound you need more control over things, so I am adding two strobes.

travis

 

[Cecil]

You can also minimize the shutter lag by half pressing the button first. It will do it's auto-focus, auto-leveling thing then. Once you have the subject framed press the button the rest of the way to get the picture instantly. Best to practice this technique out of the water first. Do turn off the red-eye flash, goto setup on the camera.

The only digitals that don't have this delay are the high end digital SLR's which are way, way out of your budget.

 

[notabob]

The shutter lag is only half the problem. The other is the flash recycle time. When taking photos underwater, the flash is typically always on, and it usually takes a few seconds to recharge.

As far as the dual flash, if you have red-eye reduction turned on, you should turn it off (many film cameras have that too, btw). No need for it underwater and it'll suck the battery try quicker. Your camera may still fire twice, however. I'm not sure about Sonys, but many digital cameras have what's called a pre-flash. It's a very brief flash that goes off right before the shot is taken, and that flash is used to measure exposure for the shot. The best trick underwater is to pick your shots. Be prepared in advance, and start aiming your camera at the subject earlier in anticipation of what it might do if it's moving. Hope this helps.

-Roman.

 

[Dee]

It's called shutter lag. It occurs when your camera is recording the image to the memory card and it's common with all digital cameras. The lag is shorter in some cameras and has alot to do with the size and speed of your memory card.

 

[Finesse]

From what I understand (and this pertains to the Olympus 5050) the fastest write times (barring a DSLR ....as mentioned above ....something like $2,000 for the camera ..... about the same money for a housing and then lenses that are very expensive.....and on and on) are from the new xD card by Olympus .....these cards , as far as I know, will replace Smart media and are used in the 5050. At the moment they are available up to 256mb ..... but Olympus promises much higher memory space in the near future. That camera has the ability to hold two different type medias at the same time .... it has two memory slots ..... one for either a Micro drive or Compact Flash(CF) card the other slot for either the Smart media(SM) or the new xD card.

Apparently the next in line for write time is the SM card then the CF.....

I think I have read somewhere that there is a rapid fire mode with this camera that allows several images to be stored in a buffer then dumped to the card ????...... but as mentioned above you're still limited by the cameras ability to recycle its flash

 

[Zept]

Shutter lag is the time between you pressing the button and the camera actually taking the picture. It's caused partly by the camera focusing and partly by it readying its innards. Better defination here.

Since you're talking about the delay between shots, your problem is caused by (a) the time it takes to write the image to the memory card and/or (b) the time it takes to recharge the flash. My guess would be (b), since I don't notice this when using my Sony P9 for natural-light shots. Try taking some pictures with the flash turned off. I doubt it is helping much for a turtle that's five feet away.

You can turn off the red-eye reduction from the Setup screen.

Hope that helps,


Zept