Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> LRZeitlin@aol.com wrote: > > > You don't even have to use film. The flash will illuminate the > > position of the marble and you or your friend will be able to mark how far it has > > dropped on the meter stick. [...] This simple test is about as accurate as they > >come.<<<<<< Martin Howard responded:: > Again, accuracy is not the issue -- validity is. Like so much > experimental psychology, for the purpose that you are trying to use > these results, this experiment is simple, elegant, accurate, and almost > totally irrelevant. > > Pretty much the only case where a photographer is facing this kind of > task is trying to catch the very first motion of a swimmer diving off > the platform, or a sprinter's first push out of the blocks. But even > in *those* cases (reaction to stimuli without preceeding rhythmic or > timing context) you're typically interested in action that takes place > slightly later: the swimmer's hands breaking the water's surface, or > the runner with one foot in the blocks, the other on the ground, and > leg extended. So, again, it's about timing: stimuli -- beat -- shutter > release. > > For the very vast majority of photography, adding a 200 ms human > reaction time to whatever the camera's shutter lag may be is completely > meaningless in any sense other than the mathematical one.<<<< Hi Martin, In simple words, those of us who have whatever it is to capture the start with one foot in the block and the other in first stride happens simply because.... "we don't think about it!" We just do it! The previous poster "LRZeitlin" may have all the good intentions in the world with his mathematical figures, numbers and technical bull shit, but the bottom line comes down to being there, feeling it and shooting with instinct emotion and not some stupid Mickey mouse set of techie numbers. Man some people just don't understand what re-actions and real life shooting are all about. They're only interested in dumb ass tests and numbers that are meaningless in real life compared to actually doing it in the heat of the stadium with thousands of yelling and screaming spectators. This is really a stupid go no where topic and we've had some beauties, but this one gets the golden ring! ;-) ted - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html