Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Lag time is a big deal to me. In many cases it's difficult to predict when a bird's head will be positioned to catch the light just right, or how long it will be there. Those danged critters can rocket from here to nowhere in the wink of an eye. I want a minimum time lag between the decision to make the exposure and the actual event, but the time between pressing the shutter release and the start of the exposure is only a piece of the story. Ignoring for now my own reaction time, other factors that influence lag time are the time to frame the image, the time to focus, the time to set the correct exposure and the much-discussed (lately) shutter release lag. Comparing lab measurements of which-camera-has-the-shortest-lag are interesting factoids but I'm more interested in the total lag from brain to exposure. Auto-exposure by itself is quicker than lining up needles or diodes *if* I expect the automatic setting to be correct. The best auto focus is (supposedly) quicker than manual focussing *if* the system locks on the the right target. AFAIK there are no automatic features that will frame the image the way I want it. As it turns out this lag time is usually the limiting factor; manual focus and setting exposure manually can very easily be done while framing the image, using peripheral vision for the needles/diodes and by locking the focus sensor (A.K.A. eye) on the main subject as soon as it's in the viewfinder. Sure, in a lab test, an automatic feature by itself will beat setting things manually, but in the field, all that stuff is happening simultaneously. The quickest shutter-press-to-exposure time does me no good If I waste my time waiting to the system to lock on, or disabling something that's been fooled by tricky light, or mentally cursing an awkward camera function. Doug Herr Sacramento http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt