Shutter lag and EVF blackout with E-P2

[rssarma]

Hi,

As some of you may know, I've recently acquired the E-P2 kit with the 14-42mm lens and I've been spending the past couple of days getting myself acclimatized to shooting with the EVF and of course a smaller camera.

So far the camera has felt good and I'm quite happy with the results, but the two things I'm finding bothersome are:

1.The shutter response or lack of it
2.The EVF blackout time.

Elaborating on the first point, I've noticed that there is a considerable time lag from the point when the shutter is fully depressed to the point where the shutter actually responds. Please note, this is after AF lock on half press. On my E-30, there is no lag, the shutter responds as soon as the button is pressed. Has anyone else noticed this and is this normal?

Coming to the second point, the time it takes for the EVF/LCD to come back to live view after a shot seems kind of sluggish when compared to the E-30 as well. Once again, is this what everyone else is experiencing as well and is this normal? I have rec review disabled.

Any inputs and help will be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[pete]

Hey there RS:

Im not a very techie guy but just tested my ep2 and here's what I can say.

there is no lag at all on the shutter response time, its almost instantaneous with the push of the button. And that is when its pushed half way for exposure, as I dont use the shutter button for focus.

and the evf does go black when a shot is taken but is back up within a second.

sorry I cant be more help. good luck. firmware issue maybe.

Pete

 

[BBW]

I've only experienced the "black out time" that was noticeable a handful of times. I've often wondered why it happened noticeably those times and not at others.

Perhaps someone who is a techie will come on later to expound.

 

[rssarma]

It does appear that my camera may have an issue, I plan to go into a camera store yesterday to check the cameras they have just to make sure. Also there is considerable lag when jumping between items in the super control panel.

 

[sfu_engineer]

Check if you're shooting Single or Continuous. I didn't read my manual but on my E-PL1 I had it set to something else that always added a 1 second lag before taking the photo.

 

[BBW]

rssarma, please let us know what you find out, OK?

sfu_engineer, that's interesting. I've never used Continuous, perhaps that's it?

 

[rssarma]

I think I found the issue...

I'd really like for all E-Pxx users to give this a shot and let me know what you find, this may be a possible bug.

Go to the "Cog" menu, scroll down Button/Dial>AEL/AFL>S-AF>Mode 2, now go back to using the camera, there is a noticeable delay from the time the shutter button is fully depressed (after AF) to the point where the shutter actually reacts.

Now, go back and set to "Mode 1" and this lag disappears!

It seems that the Mode 2 setting where the meter is active until the point of exposure is stressing the camera more and causing this delay. I went to the local camera store and tried the same with their camera and noticed the same behaviour, the dealer was surprised by the find. If you guys notice this, please post here.

 

[sfu_engineer]

@rssarma
I tried changing the settings from Mode 1 to Mode 2 and didn't notice any noticeable delay or lag?

I did take a closer look at the situation I was describing in my earlier post where I have experienced a lag from pressing the button to exposing the photo.

@BBW
Continuous is great! 3 frames per second means you will never miss an important moment.

---

Press the "Down" directional button (button with multiple frames and self timer image on it) and if you're on any of the "Anti Shock" modes (looks like a diamond) there is a huge delay in taking the photo. If you change the shooting mode to either Single or Continuous this camera is blazing fast especially coming from a Canon 5D2. When I first got this camera I had mistakenly set it to "Anti Shock" and thought my camera was broken because of this issue.

 

[texascbx]

Maybe it's your SD card. There are some fast ones and some very slow ones.

The G1 is faster if you turn of the review image after a shot. I don't know if your camera has that setting.

 

[BBW]

@BBW
Continuous is great! 3 frames per second means you will never miss an important moment.

---

Press the "Down" directional button (button with multiple frames and self timer image on it) and if you're on any of the "Anti Shock" modes (looks like a diamond) there is a huge delay in taking the photo. If you change the shooting mode to either Single or Continuous this camera is blazing fast especially coming from a Canon 5D2. When I first got this camera I had mistakenly set it to "Anti Shock" and thought my camera was broken because of this issue.

I do know about it but just never think of it - certainly it's the one I should be using when I try to catch my dog racing after his frisbee.

 

[BBW]

I'd really like for all E-Pxx users to give this a shot and let me know what you find, this may be a possible bug.

Go to the "Cog" menu, scroll down Button/Dial>AEL/AFL>S-AF>Mode 2, now go back to using the camera, there is a noticeable delay from the time the shutter button is fully depressed (after AF) to the point where the shutter actually reacts.

Now, go back and set to "Mode 1" and this lag disappears!

It seems that the Mode 2 setting where the meter is active until the point of exposure is stressing the camera more and causing this delay. I went to the local camera store and tried the same with their camera and noticed the same behaviour, the dealer was surprised by the find. If you guys notice this, please post here.

I'm afraid I didn't notice any change at all.

Now if what you mean is that the EVF goes dark for a second right after you take the photograph, that always happens on the single shot mode for me.

If you are saying that after a 1/2 press that the EVF goes dark - that does not happen to me.

(What I meant in my earlier post in this thread about "it" having happened a handful of times is something completely different, and I now really doesn't apply to this discussion.)

I do have one of those super fast SD cards.

 

[Amin]

Elaborating on the first point, I've noticed that there is a considerable time lag from the point when the shutter is fully depressed to the point where the shutter actually responds. Please note, this is after AF lock on half press. On my E-30, there is no lag, the shutter responds as soon as the button is pressed. Has anyone else noticed this and is this normal?

One of the nice things about Micro 4/3 is that none of the cameras have a significant shutter lag. In fact, the Leica M9 has a longer shutter lag than any of the MFT cameras.

 

[rssarma]

Batch issue?

I'm not sure how else to explain this, my camera and the two bodies at the dealer's store demonstrate this issue so this might be a batch issue. Mind you, this "issue" really is more obvious when comparing two bodies side by side as opposed to using just one body. In my case, the shutter lag is obvious when comparing my E-P2 to my E-30, however, what's interesting is when you take two E-P2s side by side and set them on different modes for AEL, this lag is more obvious.

At the end of the day this is not a deal-breaker and probably won't even be noticeable to someone using only m43 bodies. However, I may be accustomed to a higher level of performance due to my experience with bodies like the E-3 and E-30.

 

[rssarma]

Some further testing..

I've been doing some further testing and I've managed to isolate one particular scenario where the shutter lag is the maximum.

1. Use VF-2 and set the view to the live histogram.
2. Go into the "Cog" menu and then Button/Dial > AEL/AFL > S-AF and set this to "Mode 2".

Now go back to shooting; there is a very noticeable lag from the time the shutter button is fully depressed (after AF) to the point where the shutter actually reacts.

I'd really appreciate it if you good folks here could try this out and let me know what you find. If there is no lag for you, this is definitely a problem then with my camera.

Thanks!

 

[dcisive]

It would be natural to have "some" blackout after actuating the shutter to take a shot. My D700 has pretty much NONE but I'd expect that as with my D5000. However when taking shots with the PL1 and other other Pen's I've played with when you take a shot it blacks out the LCD momentarily. It should be the same on the VF as well. I'm getting my VF-2 tomorrow so I'll have a chance to check it out on Thursday night. I'll let you know if I think it's an issue beyond my expectations.

 

[rssarma]

Not worried about blackout

I'm more concerned with the shutter response, if you mimic the settings I've mentioned above, the time delay from when you actually fully depress the shutter button to when the shutter actually responds is substantial.

 

[deckitout]

Raj


I have just had a play with mine and I think there in more lag in mode 2 than mode 1, it took several goes to identify, it's not massive but it is there IMO
Seeing as I have mine set on 1 it's not a problem for me

Phil

I've been doing some further testing and I've managed to isolate one particular scenario where the shutter lag is the maximum.

1. Use VF-2 and set the view to the live histogram.
2. Go into the "Cog" menu and then Button/Dial > AEL/AFL > S-AF and set this to "Mode 2".

Now go back to shooting; there is a very noticeable lag from the time the shutter button is fully depressed (after AF) to the point where the shutter actually reacts.

I'd really appreciate it if you good folks here could try this out and let me know what you find. If there is no lag for you, this is definitely a problem then with my camera.

Thanks!

 

[Amin]

At the end of the day this is not a deal-breaker and probably won't even be noticeable to someone using only m43 bodies. However, I may be accustomed to a higher level of performance due to my experience with bodies like the E-3 and E-30.

I don't have an E-P2 to test, but none of the technical review sites have reported this. For example, Imaging Resource reports a 72 millisecond shutter lag for the E-P2 (prefocused) and a 76 millisecond shutter lag for the E-3. Virtually identical with both faring slightly better in this regard than "entry level" Canon and Nikon DSLRs such as the XS and D3000.

 

[cosinaphile]

your setting are wrong , i think, try setting the shooting on single, its in the quick menu , the first choice ,other sare sequencial 12 sec, 2 sec etc .....

i think you may have antishock single shot enabeled , which would cause the blackout and the delay

 

[rssarma]

Phil,
That's right, however the delay is exacerbated if you now enable the live histogram.

Amin,
This unfortunately shows that reviews don't paint the complete picture always and are not always a good indicator of real world usage.

Cosina,
Please read my post carefully, thanks.

P.S. I went to B&H and tried three different E-P2s out and all of them suffer from the same issue. This is NOT a single issue or a batch issue. The reps at B&H agreed with this problem and were amazed that it had gone unnoticed so far. Another point to be noted is that most reps at B&H encourage E-P2 buyers to look into the GF1 for its speed.

I'll be getting in touch with Olympus about this issue for sure.