Using Digicams for Street Photography

How possible is it to use digital cameras (non-SLR ones) to do street photography? I understand that several of them can do 1/4000 shutter speeds or better, but I'm not sure how fast they can focus, though. I guess, their manual focus can also be preset using some estimates.

<p>Any thots?</p>

It's not the shutter speed that I would be worried about but the shutter lag. As long as the delay is tolerable, I see no reason not to use a digital P&S. Otherwise, you may be unable to take truly spontaneous pictures, but even then you can practise street photography.

I've seen guys using the swiveling, digital Nikons for street shooting - looks like they are just fiddling with their cameras when they're really taking pictures.

Pretending to be looking at the swivel and hit the shutter instead --- that's an idea for digicam owners! Good suggestions.

Considering that most of the digital cameras out there have extremely short focal length lenses, depth of field will take care of most focusing problems.

 

And it's a lot faster to shoot from the hip than to raise something to your eye.

The problem is shutter lag, more than anything else. I have been

tempted by the Sony "nightshot" effect on a few, but I've yet to find

a digicam that beats the ease of using my M6 or my battered

Sears(Ricoh) compact RF:) I would say that the cool-pix style

models are probably a better choice than most of the p&s

models, althouth the LCD finder on 99% of digicams is easier to

look at unnoticed than most slr finders.

Points to note.

 

The shutter delay is fairly long and can be made worse with focus hunting.

 

Having the LCD on will chew up the batteries. Carry extra sets.

 

Depth of field control is also difficult with the digicams.

I do not own a digicam but some owners complained that the data aquisition time is longer than expected. I'm not really understanding the difference between shutter speed and data aquisition-time. Say, the shutter speed is 1/4000 sec., wouldn't it mean that the frame's data has to be captured in 1/4000 sec.? The shutter will close in 1/4000sec, so what other processing does the camera need after the shutter is closed? Even it does, it should not require the photographer to hold still since the shutter is already closed. So, why is there a shutter lag? Please shed some light on this. Thanks.

Shutter lag is the time it takes for the camera to start recording onto film after you have pressed the shutter released. On SLRs, it is on the order of 100ms. On rangefinders, it is as low as 10ms. On point-and-shoots, it can be over a second.

 

Shutter lag is unrelated to shutter speed. You do not have to be more still to compensate for it; you have to press the shutter earlier.

OK, I'm beginning to see it clearer now. Thanks for the hints. Tell me if this is right.

<p>For SLR: shutter lag = {mirror-flip-up time + start of actual focal plane shutter movement}</p>

<p>For RF: shutter lag = {start of shutter leaf movement}</p>

<p>For non-SLR digicams: There isn't any mirrors either. So, why the long lag?</p>

<p>If we exclude mirror-flip time, shutter lag essentially depends on how the manufacturer implement the internal mechanisms to actuate the shutter movement and this is not exactly revealed in the specs, is it?</p>

Correct, and don't forget to account the time for focus acquisition, lens focusing actuation, and eye tracking (in some Canon SLRs). Of course, the actual numbers don't matter; only how fast it feels in practice. Mine was too slow, so I upgraded.

I wish I had his camera. But I can take photos as good as his

with my P&S digital camera if I know how to use it. The most

important thing is how fast that you can focus not how fast the

camera can focus.<div></div>

Now the real photo ;-)<div></div>

Well, I love film for his implicite approach and for his intuitive use, I don't like to mess for hours with a computer, is a total different approach, but i swear that I've taken shots with my nikon 995 withou taking to the eye, with a wide converter on, that were sick...it'a wonderful system ,and it really looks like yo're not shooting....

 

Not the only possibility, ok , but a good one.<div></div>