High shutter release lag in some DCS models?

[SQLGuy]

Had a bit of a contentious discussion with someone on the FB Vintage Digital Cameras forum recently about DCS shutter release lag. He insisted that all the DCS cameras were very laggy. When I asked for clarification about this, he said he meant exactly the definition that I was thinking of, "How long it takes between pressing the shutter release and the actual beginning of the exposure. With other factors, like AF time, eliminated."

Basically, he said that the DCS cameras were terrible to work with because of this, and because they couldn't do accurate OTF flash metering, and that this is why the Nikon D1 (even though it came out four years later) was such a revolution. I don't have a D1, but I have a D1x and I did some testing of manually focused shutter release lag between it and my 460c. I found that the 460c did not have noticeable release lag... it was maybe 17ms longer than the D1x.

I could see the 2 frames per 8 seconds of the 460c being a big difference, compared to the 4.5 FPS and 21 shot buffer depth of the D1. I could see the inactivity sleep of the 460c being a factor, too, since the digital back goes to sleep sooner than the rest of the camera body, and then won't actually take a shot if you hit the shutter release without a half-press first. But he insisted that, no, it was lag, and it was present in all the Nikon and Canon based DCS models except, apparently, for my 460c.

So, wondering from other users... especially those with 420s, nc2000s, 520s, etc... did those have some terrible shutter release lag?

He also said that the 420 had better low light capability than the 460. That surprised me, as I would have expected the larger sensor and better ability to use fast normal lenses to favor the 460. The pixel pitch of the two sensors is the same. I don't have a 420, so I can't compare this. Any experiences there?

Edit: Well, one thing I did not realize was that the 420 went up to ISO 400, while the 460 only does 80. Still... the sensor is 4X the size and a "normal" lens on a 460 would be a 35/2 versus a 20/2.8 on the 420... On the other hand, maybe if you're interested in a 135mm EFOV... then you could use a 50/1.4 on the 420 and you'd be stuck with a 105/2 on the 460... but, still, was the higher ISO of the 1" sensor really that clean?

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A7R4a with SAL2470Z (G1), 55Z, and a bunch of other adapted lenses (Canon FD, Minolta AF, Canon EF, Leica, Nikon...); A7R converted to IR. Many other old DSLRs.

 

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I simply can't recall my 460 units beyond the eternity they took to save a shot. That said, it's probably in the Good column that I don't recall a shutter lag. I had two 460 units (one color and the other monochrome) first alongside a Nikon E2 then a D1.

My 520c doesn't have much of a lag, and I'm still using that one on a microscope. So I didn't dismount it to try against anything else.

I don't recall a shutter lag from my 620x. That always seemed as fast as the D1 I had at the same time.

Same for the 560c and 660c I had alongside the Canon 1Ds and Nikon D1X, respectively.

I still have a D1H and 760c here. I fired a single shot off with each at the same time and didn't notice any difference. So, qualitative but not quantitative as I do not wish to set up a measurement system for this.

Now, trying to get a burst series out of any of the DCS...well...the best one for that was my 720x which was used for night racing alongside the D1H. And day racing with the D1H and 760c. But the 720x is a slowpoke compared to the D1H. But that's burst not single shot.

The best of the DCS was the F5 based ones I had the most of.

And I also tried the 760c against my F5 film camera in single shot and also don't detect a difference. So I think the gating factor here is the F5.

Stan

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73 de w2ck
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer
Once you start down the DSLR path, forever will it dominate your destiny! Consume
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