Question about shutter release delay

[Cirrus]

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When out and about using the camera, I note erratic shutter delay and I wonder if other people have this. If the screen has gone to sleep (not the whole camera), which it does every minute, then there is always a shutter delay. I'm learning to touch the shutter button as I bring the camera to my eye so that it's alive by the time it gets there. This is not what I'm talking about although I wish Leica would solve this. What I am talking about is that when using the camera and it is fully awake, I take one shot, then fire the shutter again and sometimes there is a ~ 1/2 to 1 second delay and sometimes there isn't. If you hold the button down it will eventually fire on its own. This is with zone focusing, single mode, usually F8 in good light and it happens when shooting DNGS + JPEGS or JPEGS alone. I can't identify the variable that affects this.

 

I'm asking because on Continuous mode the camera can fire off several shots in quick order. So why the delay, which doesn't always happen, in single mode? Uses the same buffer?

 

Anyone else have or understand this? For me it's becoming the worst problem with the camera.

Dan

[pvak]

Are you half pressing the shutter first to allow the camera to focus? The only delay (1/2 to 1 sec) is the autofocus!. After focus is achieved, there is practically no shutter delay. My photo work flow involves rough composition, followed by a half press of the shutter to achieve focus then final re-compose and shutter release (which is then instantaneous).

 

Peter

[wda]

It sounds as if you are allowing the camera to refocus between shots, which is normal. For a succession of shots, set the mode to continuous or manually pre-focus.

[Cirrus]

As I mentioned in my original post, all my work in zone focused. So this has nothing to do with automatic focusing, which I do not use. There are intermittent, significant delays *without autofocus.*

[pop]

From you description I would think that you overrun the buffer. That happens if you shoot faster than the camera can move your shots to the storage card.

[eduardoho]

It really does not matter what you think you are setting as... And the previous post is right on the nail's head. You have outrunn'ed the buffer of the algorithm, ie, every time you take a shoot, whether you think or not it is the same shooting situation, the X1 still views a brand new set of conditions that the algorithm goes through its iterations to satisfy the ever demanding IQ. In continuous mode, the parameters are frozen and you are simply taking repetitive shots with the same algorithm values, ditto for auto bracketing albeit EV settings. It would be nice if anyone can crack open the X1's program and alter some of the attributes of the algorithm... you know sort of hot rod the X1??? But the downside of this is that for every gain there will be something lost, i.e. if you want a faster AF then it will be at the IQ expense, etc..I don't know what the clock speed is, but I think is limited and it is pretty much max'ed already in trying to execute the existing set up. Of course, I am not anticipating that anyone is nutty enough to do this while in the original warranty period. But I do expect that someone will do it, once we are beyond the customary warranty coverage.

[Cirrus]

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It really does not matter what you think you are setting as... And the previous post is right on the nail's head. You have outrunn'ed the buffer of the algorithm, ie, every time you take a shoot, whether you think or not it is the same shooting situation, the X1 still views a brand new set of conditions that the algorithm goes through its iterations to satisfy the ever demanding IQ. In continuous mode, the parameters are frozen and you are simply taking repetitive shots with the same algorithm values, ditto for auto bracketing albeit EV settings. It would be nice if anyone can crack open the X1's program and alter some of the attributes of the algorithm... you know sort of hot rod the X1??? But the downside of this is that for every gain there will be something lost, i.e. if you want a faster AF then it will be at the IQ expense, etc..I don't know what the clock speed is, but I think is limited and it is pretty much max'ed already in trying to execute the existing set up. Of course, I am not anticipating that anyone is nutty enough to do this while in the original warranty period. But I do expect that someone will do it, once we are beyond the customary warranty coverage.

 

Yes, I agree with you that there must be some calculation going on between the two "single" shots. But the first shot (as long as the screen is lit) never delays and there's some calculation going on there too. When it has to do the same thing for the first shot, why is the second one slower? As for the buffer, if it can handle several shots to record to the card in continuous mode, it should be able to do the same for single mode. I don't think I'm just over-running the buffer as someone said in a previous post. Two JPEGS shot in quick succession doesn't slow down even a $300 pocket cameras. If anyone is going to crack open the software, it should be Leica. I hope they fix this.

Dan

[Cirrus]

I think I have the answer to my question. A friend who subscribes to Reid Reviews says that their review reported that in single shot mode the camera is only capable of recording an image on the average of every 2.73 seconds. This is with manual focus and recording a DNG and small JPEG. They also said that the buffer used in continuous mode is not being used in single shot mode. So I'd say that's really slow and that's what I'm seeing. The 2.73 was an average and I forget the low end of the average, but the high end was over 3 seconds between single, manually focused shots. Reid Review also said that they talked to Leica about this problem. I can also add that it's no faster if only a JPEG is recorded.

Dan