5 ms·
Opposite experience for me. I can turn on my DSLR, zoom, focus on the subject, and get a shot in under two seconds, with no noticeable latency between pressing
by colanderman 5y ago
Opposite experience for me. I can turn on my DSLR, zoom, focus on the subject, and get a shot in under two seconds, with no noticeable latency between pressing the shutter and taking the photo, and without having to take my eyes off the subject. Subsequent photos a half second or less.
(I used to own a Canon G11. It was not as fast as a DSLR, but I don't recall it being nearly as slow as you describe.)
Meanwhile on Android, I'm lucky if the stock camera app loads in that time. Plus another three seconds to muck with the focus circle, and another two seconds of latency while it actually takes the photo. The whole time I'll be starting at the screen trying to find the tiny circles for my fingers to tap. If I managed not to actually miss the moment (unlikely), I later get to go back and crop the photo, because pinch zoom while shooting is too slow to even consider using while shooting.
I have missed a lot of good shots when all I had was my cell phone.
(Yes, I could get an iPhone and it will probably perform better, and buy some contraption to give it physical buttons.)
- zimpenfish 5y ago> I can turn on my DSLR, zoom, focus on the subject, and get a shot in under two seconds To be fair, I can probably do that on my DSLRs as well if they're left in standby mode -but- there's a certain amount of weight and bulkiness inherent here that moves it out of "why is a phone better than a compact" territory because I damn sure can't fit any of my DSLRs into my pockets.
- foobarian 5y agoI don't know if DSLRs changed while I wasn't looking, but my old Nikon D5100 turns on and takes photos without delay, i.e. as fast as my fingers can actuate the levers. My phone takes 5s to wake up, 5-15s for the camera app to wake up. It is actually kind of a travesty how slow it works (Android on Nexus 6P) given how modern the hardware and software is. Clearly you could run a lean BeOS style system on it that would rival the DSLR.
- jmiserez 5y agoIt's slightly slower with the mirrorless systems because you have to wait until the viewfinder is ready before looking through it. It's fast enough, but the viewfinder is black while the camera is off.
- foobarian 5y agoIt certainly must be due to the mirrorless switch. The older DSLR is just good enough that I never ended up trying out any of the newer systems.
- SAI_Peregrinus 5y agoI just tested my Sony a7R4 mirrorless camera with a stopwatch. It takes about 0.6s for the viewfinder to be ready. If I flick the switch while raising the camera to my eye, it's up just as I look through.
- frumper 5y agoI just sang happy birthday at what I find a normal pace in 15 seconds. If you can't open your phone and camera app faster than you can sing that song then maybe you should look into upgrading your phone. My iPhone from the screen being off to the camera app finished with taking the first picture is easily under 2 seconds, probably about half that. My DSLR is about the same
- foobarian 5y agoI don't disagree. Doesn't make me any less grumpy about the state of things in app design and lack of respect for low latency in UI though :-) "There was once a dream that was Rome, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish." Marcus Aurelius, ‘The Gladiator’.
- oblio 5y agoWhat Android phone do you have? I've just tested on an S21 and the camera app loaded in less than 1 second. Felt more like 0.25 or 0.5 seconds at worst.
- colanderman 5y agoDon't forget to count time activating the phone itself. Admittedly I have a cruddy phone (Moto G4), but the phone app itself takes about 1.5 seconds to start, on top of 0.5-several seconds to come out of sleep mode (sometimes it takes 5-10 seconds). And if the lock screen is up, opening the camera takes longer due to the weird swiping motion needed which always takes me a few tries. Contrast with my DSLR, the on switch is colocated with the shutter. I can turn it on and get a photo in 1.5 seconds.
- Kye 5y agoI just leave my D5600 on all the time and let it go into standby. It can sit for months like that and still take hundreds of photos. It wakes up and focuses with a single half press.
- oblio 5y agoDouble tapping the power button on my S21 brings up the camera. Tried it now and it's almost instant. With how fast mobile SoCs are becoming, I think this will be even faster.
- passivate 5y agoThere certainly are genres of photography where you absolutely have to take a picture of a fleeting moment in under two seconds, but I don't think it is a common scenario for most people. The things people photograph the most are people (incl. themselves), and landscapes/objects/things. And I say this as someone who recently dumped $6.5k on a camera for wildlife. I obviously do see the advantages of dedicated cameras, but for casual users I don't think they'd need more than a phone camera. $.02
- ants_a 5y agoSmall kids generate tons of such fleeting moments and also need good autofocus and fast shutter speeds.