Re: To Burst Or Not To Burst - That Is The Question

KevinM Wrote:
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> On an engine moving at track speed,
> you need to shoot in burst mode.  My
> camera shoots at 10 fps ...

Russo Loco Wrote:
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> ...  Most likely it's just a habit left over
> from several years of lugging around a
> Mamiya RB-67 on a tripod, but I have
> NEVER shot in burst mode - always
> just one frame at a time.


Or maybe it's just a loco inclination to use Phraud-O-Graphical techniques when trying to take authentic Phraud-O-Graphs™ - capturing what traditional photographers called 'The Critical Moment'.

OTOH, one good thing about digital cameras as opposed to old-fashioned film cameras - especially ones without motor drives - is that IIRC it takes a real effort to make a double exposure on a modern camera.  On the aforementioned RB-67, for example, one had to push a little button to release the film before pushing a bigger lever to advance the film, and then push an even bigger lever to bring the mirror down and cock the shutter.  All of which meant that "burst mode" was seldom faster than two frames per MINUTE - not per second - or if you were really, really good maybe three frames per minute at best.  On more than one occasion I mis-judged the speed of an approaching train and didn't allow enough time to advance the film and cock the shutter between a semi long distance shot and a better composed closer shot - and missed the latter.  Even worse was when I cocked the shutter but forgot to advance the film.  Forty years ago today, I forgot to advance the film before getting back in the car and moving to the next location - which cost me probably the best shot I took of #4449 pulling the American Freedom in the month of February, if not the entire year of 1976.  And maybe the second or third best shot as well:


Knowing that the previous three frames were shot near Bowie, Arizona, I'm pretty sure the above - shot #4 with perfectly-lit #4449 framed by a signal bridge and every kid in town looking on - was taken in the village of San Simon, about 175 miles east of Tucson, and shot #5 was taken on the same frame just a few miles further east, near the Az-NM border.   I doubt even the most skilled Photo-Shopper on the planet could salvage the above, and I can't afford to commission Jeff Ellingson to do another painting . . .    

- Roosso (MUY) Loco