Thanks for the advice, I have to disagree with not burst shooting. When street shooting, you can anticipate a lot of things, but when no one is posing for you, there is no way you can anticipate how the facial expression is going to get frozen in a single shot.
A fast intuition, even a normal social intuition and when someone is reacting to something a photographer is reacting at the same pace. If you miss a photo then you miss it and the regret also happens to be an energy to keep you alert. I would much rather get one good photograph than a burst of bad. Staying in the mood of the street photographer is hugely important too although many dont even know what that means. You say "there is no way you can anticipate how the facial expression is going to get frozen ...but thats exactly what a good street photographer does and its just social intuition and heightened by the 'street mood' that the photographer is in. I'll add that we do it because thats what we do, that if we burst mode that we wouldn't otherwise learn how to. Bursting away can also cause the concentration or mood to be broken and it can take some time to get it back, its something we might only do if we had lost concentration or were tired.
An otherwise great shot can have a facial expression that does not represent what happened at all. Even though the person is happy and smiling, a single frame can easily look angry, ugly, sad, twisted, etc.
That is just a small range in street and to be honest I don't know anyone else that photographs that way, we anticipate the moment before hand but during the actions of the scene we are watching for our moment. This is the game and the movement and expression ...are the photograph ...and are when the photograph is taken. If you are relying on burst then there is a problem with the photographer that needs to be examined, evaluating the photo is evaluating yourself and is part of improving and always improving. If the scene changes then you take another but you stay in control and you always evaluate yourself in relation to the photo you just took.
If you shoot in bursts, you will always get the shot you would have gotten if you took a single shot. Often the first shot IS my best shot. But not always. There is absolutely no reason not to burst shoot. The only reason is to follow a "rule" cited by old school street photographers and repeated by those still trying to copy them. There is no reason to restrict yourself to the "rules" that their 50 year old equipment required.
The only reason is to follow a "rule" cited by old school street photographers and repeated by those still trying to copy them.
Thats just a put down and makes no sense, who are you actually talking about? What do you mean old school?
I dont know what kind of photograph you take and I dont know what you mean by old school but this isnt true for many of us. The moment is at the time of the photograph, not before, not after. Also its a street photography where you dont know what you are taking a photo of ...when some of us are more deliberate. There is a reason that first shot is usually the one, I wonder if you know what it is ...?
You can burst away afterward, there are no rules and we all find our way I suppose but if there is an opportunity for another photo of the same scene some of us use that time to move our feet to stay ahead of the action as it sometimes continues to unfold. To be honest I cannot think of a single photo of mine that is from after something happened and only one where it is a scene of the same thing happening multiple times and I took them using single shots. If you are just bursting away at random than thats what your photos will be and the mood wont be there either, its will be sloppy and happy go lucky like shooting ducks with a machine gun.
Think about shooting ducks for a moment, imagine yourself with a sniper scope and the intensity of it in your mind ...now imagine yourself happygolucky with a machine gun, that difference is what you need to learn and then learn to maintain even when there are no ducks. There is more to learn than just pushing a button and it all involves the photographer and not the camera.
You can burst mode all you want but any beginners should take it as bad advice. It prevents you from being focused and means you are not properly connected to the scene. The luck in street is what comes to you, not what burst captures like a trawler. Of course burst can be used as one of the techniques but it should not be all of them and it should be used sparingly.
For example, modern street shooters who use film. Yes, I can appreciate the joy that comes with the challenge of getting a great street film shot. Film also has pleasant aesthetic qualities. But, it becomes quite obvious that when using film, street shooters are often MISSING the moment they really wanted to catch. The same film shooters also often shoot digital, and it's obvious they have more success at catching the intended moments.
Well thats just not true and for exactly the reasons above. If you are a burst style of photographer then you will suffer this but to say ...
it becomes quite obvious that when using film, street shooters are often MISSING the moment they really wanted to catch
is a load of bunkum and again its exactly why your burst advice is bad.
I shoot film as well and I shoot digital exactly the same way. I've never counted burst and volume as a benefit of digital but the internet seems to be buried in it. My camera is set at single shot because I need to be in control each time I deliberately press the shutter. You have to stay in control and when you don't and you get tired you take a break and then work your way into it again. In terms of technique I also use exposure lock on the shutter, its likely the most useful feature a camera can have for street.
With my old Canon S100, RAW continuous shooting was a pathetic 1 shot per second. I managed to get good street shots, but there is no question I get more "decisive moments" with the GM1's faster burst shooting. No professional photographer that catches dynamic action (news, sports, unposed wedding photos, etc.) shoots single shots, because it would be silly to.
They are not street photographers and its often proven when they try their hand at it. It also sounds like you have been doing these burst shots for a long time.
Seriously, you have gone from focus speed to burst when what you need to do is be sharp and intuitive. Street photography is nothing about the camera and I can only think of two features it must have, no shutter or focus lag but other than these the effort needs to be increasing the skill of the photographer not silly features on a camera. You call it old school as though these new compact cameras replaces the old photographer ...
It seems to me that you are trying to overcome the limitations of these compacts and that sounds bad for the photographer.
On an slr or rf we use Aperture and manual modes, iso (I dont use auto just as I also set one film speed per roll), exp comp, exposure lock and thats it. With manual lenses we use the aperture ring and the focus ring ....
With these compacts you seem to want features that make them usable but take you even further away from street photography.
