Okay, so there's something that is really bugging me about this camera. Don't know if it's a property of the camera, m4/3, digital, or what. If I take very long exposures, why does it take proportionally long to write the exposure to card? Take fireworks tonight, for example. I'm using very long exposures, but I don't appreciate having a ten second blackout after a ten second exposure.

I mean, is this a problem with the body I've picked or is it a more general issue with digital?

I think it has to do with noise reduction. If you turn it off it should speed things up but your pics may be a little noisier. From what I've seen of my EPL1, I try not to take the ISO below 800 if I can help it.

I'll try it, though I was running at 125 and 200 tonight.

The e-pl1 does dark frame subtraction in order to reduce noise on long exposures when NR is set to ON in the dedicated menu. (taken from a review I found on the net)

So in effect the camera takes 2 pictures of equal duration, one with the shutter opened and another with the shutter closed.

Cheers,

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Yes, its the noise reduction. You can either switch it off in the settings or, if you need the extra speed quickly, switch to serial exposure. The NR is only active with long shutter timing and single shot mode.

Stefan

You can turn noise reduction off manually for most shooting through the G menu command, but if you're in the Fireworks Scene mode it turns it back on automatically.

I had my EPL1 set at ISO 100 to 200 and set up to take 2.5" to 3.5" exposures. The write speed took about the same amount of time as the exposure or a bit less. But the pictures are quite good, though.

Then at one point, I did a 50" exposure. Damn does it take a long time to write.


EPL1 + 14-42mm
ISO 100, 3.5" Exp, f/4.5

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