Shutter Release Time

[Bryan Allman]

I am looking to buy a D60 though am concerned about its suitability for catching high speed action shots such as might be taken at Air Shows and Motor Races (my two pet activities).

I keep reading that although the shutter release time has been considerably reduced when compared to the D30, nowhere can I get information on how long the delay is.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Morden]

Assuming that you're using manual focus (auto focus might be pretty useless for such as fast-moving planes anyway), the 'lag' between fully depressing the D60's shutter release button, and the shutter actually being released, is tiny. I haven't been able to measure it precisely, but I have seen it quoted as about one 0.1 seconds. To me, it seems practically instantaneous.

I hope that this helps.

[Bryan Allman]

Thanks for that. I guess the only way I can really evaluate it is to try one out somewhere, though most of the stores I have tried so far either don't have them in stock, or if they do, are reluctant to let you 'play' !

However, having seen some of the example shots of aircraft and racing cars shown in some of the galleries, it would seem that I have nothng to fear and I will be well pleased if I can achieve a standard somewhere near those.

[y6y6y6]

Here are some photos taken with the D60 and the Canon 100-400 IS lens at the last Miramar air show in San Diego (only the first ten are with the D60):

http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3?Submit=Get%20Photos&category=Airshow+%2700

I would have to say the shutter release isn't a problem. As long as you can physically keep the planes near the center of the frame you'll get the picture. Also - I was using the servo with auto focus which worked great even for planes flying near 300 mph.

[soumya63]

Y6Y6Y6, Beautiful pictures! But what is that big idea about no copyright? I do think you deserve some compensation when someone use it :-)

What Focal length you have used?

[Cory Grunkemeyer]

There seems to be some digital grainyness in the grey skys. Were you using a higher ISO or is that a result of JPG compression? Great shots none the less.

cory

[y6y6y6]

"But what is that big idea about no copyright?"

Well, as it says there, I have no interest in making money from the photos. I make plenty as a programmer. And to be perfectly frank I doubt I'd ever make any money anyway. Trying to sell the photos by shopping them around would eat into time I'd rather be using for something fun. And certainly no one would use them if I just put up the copyright like everyone else.

As it is now I see people using them for some pretty wonderful things. I get much more satisfaction from that than I would getting a few dollars here and there. Copyright for this sort of amateur work used to make sense to me. But now that I've seen the value it adds to the public domain it makes much more sense to leave the copyright off.

Professionals need copyright. That's their living. For me it's much more rewarding to place the images in the public domain. Please feel free to use them for whatever purpose you want. Let me know so I can enjoy whatever you come up with.

"There seems to be some digital grainyness in the grey skys."

That's a lot of things, all of it added in post processing. I was shooting at ISO 100. The problem was that most of the good shots took place over 100 yards away from the stands so I had to do some tight cropping. Add to that the fact that this was one of the haziest days I've seen here. So the contrast out of the camera was very bad. I had to kick up the contrast and saturation in Photoshop. I suspect most of the noise you see is from that.

[y6y6y6]

And thanks BTW.

The focal length for most of those was close to 600mm once you take the D60's multiplier into consideration.

[Morden]

y6y6y6 wrote:
Well, as it says there, I have no interest in making money from the photos. I make plenty as a programmer. And to be perfectly frank I doubt I'd ever make any money anyway. Trying to sell the photos by shopping them around would eat into time I'd rather be using for something fun. And certainly no one would use them if I just put up the copyright like everyone else.

As it is now I see people using them for some pretty wonderful things. I get much more satisfaction from that than I would getting a few dollars here and there. Copyright for this sort of amateur work used to make sense to me. But now that I've seen the value it adds to the public domain it makes much more sense to leave the copyright off.

Professionals need copyright. That's their living. For me it's much more rewarding to place the images in the public domain. Please feel free to use them for whatever purpose you want. Let me know so I can enjoy whatever you come up with.

Interesting; I could apply this text verbatim to myself, right down to the making money as a programmer!

[soumya63]

right down to the making money as a programmer!


I am a programer too, Java, but is there any big money left in Bay area to buy the new toy EOS 1DH?