Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Larry, As Ted alluded to, it is partly a matter of having the right equipment--not all DSLRs have shutter lag as you describe. Of course, one can also shoot Leica M--digital or film, there is hardly any shutter lag. Here is a shot I took in the late 1980s with a Pentax something, of a high school basketball game in north Florida. Basketball is particularly easy of course, because 99% of the interesting action takes place in a small area near the hoop. Nevertheless, I had some dumb luck here, as both players wore the same number. The guy trying to block the shot is my youngest cousin among the US clan, now an anesthesiologist splitting his time between Oakland, CA and Trento, Italy. http://www.greatpix.eu/Other/Stuff-from-the-20th-century/5775622_gTB2p9#!i=357377885&k=WPCbWs2&lb=1&s=O Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Mar 7, 2014, at 11:48 PM, lrzeitlin at aol.com wrote: > I was a much better sports photographer back in the good old film days > than I am now. I had trained my trigger finger to click the shutter of my > Leica the instant before I saw something interesting happen and chances > are I got the picture. I was a specialist in soccer. I had both played and > coached the game and could anticipate the action. Local newspapers called > me to cover regional and state championships. > > > Looking back through my old files I had a lot of great shots. Here is one > published in a newspaper almost 50 years ago. Note the long hair and the > "traditional" soccer ball. The picture was taken on a cloudy, overcast > day.? Pushed Tri-X film was necessary to get a high shutter speed .The > grain is simply from a big blowup. The picture looks like crap on a > computer but looked OK when printed in a newspaper using a halftone screen. > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Soccer_001.jpg.html > > > But now with my digital cameras I press the shutter button and wait and > wait and wait for the picture to be taken. Sure, they are in focus and > exposed correctly and the ASA 6000 sensor means that I don't have to push > film speeds but getting the critical moment is a matter of guesswork. By > actual test my DSLR takes nearly half a second in auto mode from button > press to shutter click. A big league baseball would travel from the > pitcher's hand to the catcher's glove in that time. Even by using all the > tricks, manual settings, prefocus, etc. I can't reduct the latency to much > less than .25 seconds. My reaction time with a film Leica is half that. > > > Motor drives and sequence photography anyone? It seem like cheating to me. > > > Ted, what does your son do? > > > Larry Z > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >