Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]><The decisive moment is based on eye-brain-finger-mechanical linkage timing. ><I remember the older photo mags used to publish articles on time from ><shutter push to shutter open. Leica was of course #1. THe lowest delay. ><Only recently have I seen these issues come up again in Canon and Nikon's ><top cameras. I postulate that ><the electro-mechanical operation of electronically controlled cameras will ><be longer than the old Leicas.... ><Has anyone tried testing the response time of their Leica M3 or M6 (or M6J ><super camera) versus, say a Nikon F4 or F5? ><The decisive moment could be sorely delayed....and missed with an ><electronic shuttered camera. ><I hope Leitz Gwermany is listening to this argument.... it is crucial. There's absolutely no basis for stating that a shutter with electronic timing would have a slower actuation time than a shutter with mechanical timing. SLRs have MANY other things to set in motion besides the shutter, and they ALL have longer actuation times than a simple shutter like the Leica M. Auto exposure mechanisms, auto focus mechanism, exposure metering appliances, etc all add to the shutter lag, as does the implementation of each of these items in any given camera design. Norman Goldberg's excellent book "Camera Technology - The Dark Side of the Lens" discusses this. "In tests made of 40 different 35mm SLRs, I found them to have a time lag range of from 46 to 230 ms. The average was 120ms." ... "Leica M3(...): 17ms." Of course, the M3 does not have the exposure sensor apparatus that must be retracted, so I suspect the M4 has a longer time lag. And the shortest time lag he lists is the "Minox 35 EL (...): 8ms" which has aperture-preferred auto exposure and electronic shutter timing. Godfrey