Re: dSLR speed
| February 23, 2007 08:12AM |
"Her complaint is digital, with their ccd receptors, are too slow for action shots. Her camera is an 8Mp Nikon about 4 years old. Are the newer ones faster, or does the same issue still exist?"
Dan, to answer your question, just look at the sidelines in any major sporting event, and see what cameras are being used. Good luck finding a film camera in the bunch. Modern digital SLRs use mechanical shutters just like film SLRs and are FAST. The ones designed specifically for sports shooters and photojournalists are ridiculously so.
Older digital SLRs may have limited buffers for continuous shooting, so there are some differences there, but response is pretty uniformly excellent across the range. And just as with SLR film bodies, the higher up the food chain you go, the better things like predictive autofocus (for tracking action), and autofocus speed work. But today's lower end dSLRs are every bit as good at these things as their comparably positioned film counterparts.
I wonder if your older Nikon is a digicam, rather than a digital SLR. Digicams work differently. They lack mechanical shutters, and work by turning their sensors on and off. One of the disadvantages to this is high latency when you mash the "shutter" release. They also tend to have slower, less light sensitive, less accurate autofocus systems. Pretty much across the board, they're significantly slower and less responsive, and thus less well-suited to action photography.
And now, back to slim-gauge choo-choos.
" />
Scott
Dan, to answer your question, just look at the sidelines in any major sporting event, and see what cameras are being used. Good luck finding a film camera in the bunch. Modern digital SLRs use mechanical shutters just like film SLRs and are FAST. The ones designed specifically for sports shooters and photojournalists are ridiculously so.
Older digital SLRs may have limited buffers for continuous shooting, so there are some differences there, but response is pretty uniformly excellent across the range. And just as with SLR film bodies, the higher up the food chain you go, the better things like predictive autofocus (for tracking action), and autofocus speed work. But today's lower end dSLRs are every bit as good at these things as their comparably positioned film counterparts.
I wonder if your older Nikon is a digicam, rather than a digital SLR. Digicams work differently. They lack mechanical shutters, and work by turning their sensors on and off. One of the disadvantages to this is high latency when you mash the "shutter" release. They also tend to have slower, less light sensitive, less accurate autofocus systems. Pretty much across the board, they're significantly slower and less responsive, and thus less well-suited to action photography.
And now, back to slim-gauge choo-choos.
" />Scott
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