Question about Canon S90

[markster33139]

I was recently on a dive in Mexico, where the visibility was not that great maybe about 50 feet. Anyway, I noticed that when I tried to take pictures with my camera, there was a noticeable delay between pressing the shutter button, and the camera actually taking the picture. This delay was sometimes as long as 2 or 3 seconds, very noticeable. I was shooting, in AV mode, at 4.0 using Canon OEM case with an Inon S2000 strobe. Does anyone know why there is this delay in taking the shots, I have noticed this on other dives as well. Does this have something to do with the camera trying to process the image? Thanks.

 

[markster33139]

One other thought, would a focus light help in these situations by helping the camera to "focus" faster?

 

[PatW]

I have noticed pronounced lag in my G11 in certain situations. It comes from 2 sources. I am looking at the screen and what is shown on the screen and lags what is actually out there.

But I think your problem is probably a slow focus. I notice that once my G11 acquires focus, there is almost no lag at all. It can be pretty slow to acquire focus at times. I have noticed that oddly enough, my G11 can be really slow in focusing when it is zoomed all the way wide or all the long. If I back it off the maximum at the ends of the focal length, the focusing seems to be much faster.

Oh, if your camera does not have adequate light, it will not focus or will focus very slowly. In low light situations, a focus light is really nice to have. Now some strobes come with a built in focus light. You can kill 2 birds with one stone by getting a strobe with a focus lights. I know that some strobes will briefly shut off the focus light when the strobe is firing. One would think they all would but I am not sure of that.

Now, if you don't want to fool with a strobe, you can always jury rig an inexpensive light to your camera housing to serve as a focus light. Focus lights tend to be rather expensive. This is a cheap solution and the light will affect your photo which could be a positive or a negative depending on the situation.

 

[markster33139]

I try to not have the focus out too wide, or all the way long. However I am starting to believe that the focus light might pay big dividends. I was looking at the Fisheye MiniLED focus light only $49, and it mounts on top of my case. It will briefly shut off when it senses the strobe firing.

 

[Nemrod]

It could be the auto focus in the low contrast conditions taking a moment to figure it out or the flash recharge time or exposure calculation. I often go to manual focus in such conditions and then the camera snaps happily away.

Since you are shooting the camera probably in auto flash mode for sTTL, next time, try going to manual strobe and lowest power and of course, set your S2000 for manual mode since it does not have the External Auto exposure mode.

N

 

[markster33139]

Do you believe that adding a focus light would improve the camera's performance in such conditions? I would like to keep shooting in AV mode.