A77 long processing time

[aaz]

Hello,

I am new here so bear with me if I posted this one in the wrong forum.

I have just acquired my first Sony SLT A77 and I am stuck with a problem that I cannot figure out the solution.
In Manual mode (which I prefer to shoot) and S and A modes, each time I press the release button to take a shot,
it takes AGES to process and the long wait causes me to miss some critical moments during concert photography.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Derrel]

I would try resetting the camera to its default settings. My guess? Maybe noise reduction is on and some other settings regarding JPEG processing are enabled.

From a FLickr thread discussing this: "

[h=4]Gary Dalton says:[/h]I found this thread on youtube........ Here's how to reset the camera, it may start working properly again: 1. Turn off A77. 2. Take out battery. 3. Insert battery again. 4. Press these 3 buttons (Menu+Movie+Ael) simultaneously. 5. Turn on A77 and keep the 3 buttons pressed for 5 seconds. There will be a green spot "blinks" on the lower left corner of the LCD screen. Then "alpha logo" should show up again."

 

[Kolia]

Set the preview to OFF so the camera doesn't try to show your the shoot you just took.

What memory card do you have ? 20MB per image, more if you shoot RAW+JPEG adds up to quite a large amount of data to write.

 

[BGeise]

Sounds like you have the shutter speed really slow. If you turn it to auto does it behave correctly

 

[aaz]

Derrel, I have tried twice, adhering to your instructions and no green spot after any second. Held all three buttons at the same time.

Koila, I set the preview off, problem still persisting. I use SanDisk extreme 30MB always JPG extra fine

BGeise, shutter speed is just fine, How do you set the shutter speed to Auto??

I hope you will continue to help ... many thanks in advance

 

[Derrel]

Do you have the manual? Perhaps there is another way to re-set the camera to defaults. I have read that removing the camera's battery for a full day, to as long as five days, can re-set the camera by allowing the internal "clock battery" to die. My assumption is that there must be an internal clock battery that draws power from the main battery.

My feeling is that "something" is being processed by the camera; noise reduction, or vignetting removal, or "something" is being done to the file after it's shot, and that is slowing down the writes to the card. Long exposure noise reduction, or High ISO noise reduction, various types of image 'optimization', and so on--those types of things can slow a camera down. I would go through the set-up menu and turn OFF extra things like that, and see if it speeds up the write times.

 

[ConradM]

Hmm... what firmware are you on? Aside from burst or a bracketing type mode there should be 0 lag...

 

[aaz]

Conrad, 1.07, I believe this is the latest. As I mentioned initially, this happens only in M, S, A, P modes.
I am shooting 99% Manual. The problem however, does not happen using MR and the Auto+ and Auto modes.

Derrel, Finally, I reset the camera through the tool tab.
There is an option called "Initialize" and when you select it, it offers you three options:

Reset Default
Rec mode Reset
Custom Reset

I chose initially Custom reset but nothing changed. Then I went back and changed to Reset Default and ...
The problem is solved, albeit at the cost of not knowing the reason

You guys are wonderful!! thank you all

 

[ConradM]

Good to hear... Hopefully it doesn't return.

 

[BGeise]

Conrad, 1.07, I believe this is the latest. As I mentioned initially, this happens only in M, S, A, P modes.
I am shooting 99% Manual. The problem however, does not happen using MR and the Auto+ and Auto modes.

Derrel, Finally, I reset the camera through the tool tab.
There is an option called "Initialize" and when you select it, it offers you three options:

Reset Default
Rec mode Reset
Custom Reset

I chose initially Custom reset but nothing changed. Then I went back and changed to Reset Default and ...
The problem is solved, albeit at the cost of not knowing the reason

You guys are wonderful!! thank you all

Your shutter speed was turned way too slow. You can't adjust shutter speed in auto and auto+. Memory recall or MR probably just had a setting that had a faster shutter. The reason i had you use it in auto was to see if the camera was the problem or if it was just a setting. If you are using shutter priority mode or S or using aperture mode A you have to adjust accordingly with the front and rear wheels

 

[aaz]

sorry that I have to insist, it is not the shutter speed.
I have checked all the photos taken: speed ranged between 1/20 to 1/250 - nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[FilledwLight]

When I have my a77 in high iso or low shutter noise reduction, or any other way the camera has to process the image differently from RAW, it takes extra time for it to finish the jpeg. If it happens again, try switching to RAW only and see if it still happens. If not, and you want to shoot jpegs, look for these ways the camera has to process the jpeg before giving you the preview and letting you shoot again.