[Leica] M9, lag time, perception and other things

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca)]

Gary Todoroff offered interesting testimomial. However, are we not talking 
about two different camera systems?

One, the M8-9 rangefinder camera with nothing flipping up and down? Compared 
to an SLR of some kind with flipping mirrors and whatever extra screens that 
move about? Is that not correct? Different systems?

My gut feeling is the more things to go click-clack in the night as the 
shutter is released the greater the opportunity for LAG-TIME to occur?  I 
can understand a lag time occurring. But the M8-9 is camera to eye, quick 
focus.... click! Done! And if there is a delay I don't doubt these are as 
much human reactions involved in what the photographer sees and by the time 
his nervous system creates pressure on finger tip to push click!

And this with the minds eye re-calling "just the moment" seen compared to 
the taken image. If one is experiencing this regularly here's a tip how to 
speed your tripping and nervous system up.

Stand on the side of a highway and focus on the front of on coming traffic 
and do this until you can get 36 rams in a row sharply in focus. It works! 
As it's an old training exercise I have always done for years before going 
to cover world international sports events as tee Olympics. You will be 
surprised how much  faster you become in "SEE-SHOOT-SHARP!"

So far with my M8 I have absolutely no sense of so-called milli-second lost 
moment of what I saw and reacted to faster than I breath and my heart beats. 
This is why I put as much of the LAG-TIME back on the shoulders of the 
photographer than blaming the camera. Meaured or otherwise, we humans see 
and shoot or don't shoot as fast as some of us think we do.

And this is why over the years I have consistently offered.... "YOU CAN'T 
THINK AND SHOOT!" Nor can you think and bat in baseball as Yogi Berra 
offered. There isn't any question, we as humans time measured or otherwise, 
have different see-shoot nerve systems of re-action time and this little 
nerve triggering system is what make great sports photographers  better than 
99% of all others. Their nerve system  re-action.

I trust this is somewhere along the lines of your thoughts and experience.

But from this side of the screen I can honestly say I have never experienced 
this phenomena knowingly with an M8 or M9.

cheers,
ted