How much chimping?

[MazerRakhm]

Would you say you do, on average?

We all do it, don't hide it, but how much do you do, and is there such a thing as to much chimping? What's your process?

What made me think about this was the football game I attended yesterday afternoon, one of the other photographers basically shot one out of every 5 plays. The others he spent chimping and culling his shots.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, obviously this is the work flow that works for him. Personally I think I would miss to much, and only chimp once in a while to check for exposure and stuff and occasionally to see if I got a particular shot. On the other hand my post time would go a lot faster if I didn't have so many pictures.

[gary88]

I'll admit, I'm an avid chimper. With the tiny XTi viewfinder I usually find myself checking the screen after I take the shot to make sure my composition is just how I wanted it. That's one of the great things about shooting digital, might as well take advantage of it

[MJPhotos24]

We all do it, especially if shooting manual to check exposure. Pretty simple rule should be make sure it isn't getting in the way of shooting, which it sounds like it is with this guy. There was a sports shooter video on it some time back, showing a couple pros doing it and missing shots. Rather have extra work later to cull than miss a shot I need. Also depends on sport - baseball a lot of extra time, football not so much.

[Bill Roberts]

I know it's a bit of a joke, but I really don't see anything wrong on chimping. It's only confirming that you're somewhere near on exposure and composition. Far better to find that out when you've got the opportunity to re-take a shot than when you've got home and realise that you screwed it up big time!

Of course I don't do it at all...

cheers

[Merciez]

Originally Posted by MJPhotos24

We all do it, especially if shooting manual to check exposure. Pretty simple rule should be make sure it isn't getting in the way of shooting, which it sounds like it is with this guy. There was a sports shooter video on it some time back, showing a couple pros doing it and missing shots. Rather have extra work later to cull than miss a shot I need. Also depends on sport - baseball a lot of extra time, football not so much.

I agree with MJPhotos, Chimping is fine as long as you don't neglect the chance to capture another image. I shot some field hockey games this past Saturday with constantly changing cloud cover. I was chimping like crazy looking at the historgram. There are two things I try to accomplish when I chimp, 1) is the exposure correct and 2) is the image worth keeping. I try to delete all the crap shots during the idle time to save time when I am at home.

[macroshooter1970]

the screen is there to look at. why is it such a big deal when people look at it? i never do it

[JulieNick]

I shoot with the histogram on the lcd. I chimp all of the time, even taking sports shots

[computerguru3190]

Photographers who shot film used light meters, most people these days use the LCD screen. I shoot tethered in studio so I don't chimp then and normally chimp at events only when I know there is a lull and aren't looking around for sideline events. Also when I do group shots outside I like to check people's eyes and such. It takes a minute to do on site and another two hours to reschedule a shoot.

[S.Horton]

Isn't chipming when you find a great shot, then run around going "oooo ooo oooo you've got to see this!"

I don't think of looking at the results and the histogram as anything other than work.

[DDCSD]

Was he a newspaper shooter? If so he was probably just making sure he got a few shots that were "good enough".

[eigga]

The amount of "chimping" I do is directly related to the job I am doing and the lighting involved. Consistent light and I rarley need to look.

Also, If I am working a game for the paper I know I need 5-6 images that tell the story. I edit a lot with the screen, and chimp a lot to make sure I document the plays I might use with the voice recorder. Missing plays to do this is not acceptable for me though.

If I am covering a team for prints sales I dont need to document or chimp as much, take all the pictures and edit later.

[JulieNick]

Originally Posted by S.Horton

Isn't chipming when you find a great shot, then run around going "oooo ooo oooo you've got to see this!"

I don't think of looking at the results and the histogram as anything other than work.

That's what I thought chimping meant to. But I was told if you look at your lcd after shooting, then you are chimping. Dunno

[narlus]

Originally Posted by MJPhotos24

We all do it, especially if shooting manual to check exposure.

yep, that's how i use it...i never delete in-camera, just use the histogram as a guide for my exposure settings.

[clarence]

Originally Posted by S.Horton

Isn't chipming when you find a great shot, then run around going "oooo ooo oooo you've got to see this!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimping

Originally Posted by wikipedia

The term 'chimping' is attributed to Robert Deutsch, a USA Today staff photographer, in September of 1999 when writing a story for the SportsShooter email newsletter.

The phrase is most likely derived from comparison between the sounds and actions some make while reviewing images and those of an excited primate (Oooh! Oooh! Aaah!), or when a photographer is completely absorbed in the act of analysing, admiring or proudly displaying a shot to others.

I don't use the LCD to check composition or to delete shots, but I do like to review sports shots periodically to make sure my shutter speeds are still decent, or if I might need to kick up the ISO. Also comes in handy when dragging the shutter to check foreground/background lighting ratios.

But I'll also admit to chimping in the long car ride home (carpooling with buddies) and doing the whole "ooh ooh aah aah" routine when finding some nice shots.

[Tandem]

For the most part I keep my LCD off to preserve battery power. At the start I take a few test shots for review to determine the "blinkie" threshold. After that I only turn on the LCD to delete a shot or two that I know I missed right before a break.