lcd preview?

tr0gd0o0r · May 20, 2004

For all you digi cam users out there, i've got a question to ask just out of curiosity. A while back, I was watching a photographer at a concert and noticed he had the instat preview turned off on his DSLR. I realized this was 1 he didin't look at the photos after every shot and 2 it speed up write time a little bit. Do y'all use the instant preview or just go back and look at your convenience?

markc · May 20, 2004

I have the LCD off. I only use it of I want to specifically check something about a shot. If the lighting changes, I'll view a couple to make sure my exposure is good, but then I'll only look back at them if I take a breather.

Harpper · May 21, 2004

It depends on the type of shots but I usually always have it on. I my opinion the LCD preview is one of the great things about digital. I don't check necessarily for a second look at my composition but rather it's for all the useful data that's given to me. For example, the historgram and highlights feature are the two most useful preview features for me.

I usually leave my LCD preview set to show me highlights so that I can see if there are too many unacceptable hot pots. Sometimes I forget to meter the bright areas in my picture so the highlight feature is a great warning device for me to retake the shot.

The other reason why I use the LCD preview is because I usually drive a long way to get to my destination and I definitely want to make sure I got the picture right before leaving. Most LCD previews allow you to zoom in on the picture so that you can really see the quality of your shot before leaving. There was a time when I didn't use the preview and when I came home there was too much of me saying, "I wish I would have taken the pictures in a different way". I either preview the shots right after one another or in a group after filling up my card, but I never go home until I've previewed all my shots. The only time I don't preview my shots right after each one is when I'm taking action pictures.

The pictures I see in the viewfinder aren't always what the camera captures due to DOF and differences in how the camera captures light so yes I usually always check. It also allows me to experiment with my shots and then quickly adjust my results if I don't like what I see. For me, it's a very valuable tool.

mrsid99 · May 22, 2004

Normally leave it on, jogs the old memory if I forget something especially if I've been playing with aperture (DOF of course) and forget to check shutter speed.

photogoddess · May 22, 2004

I leave mine on but I only look at if I have a concern about whether or not I got the shot. I don't rely on it to tell me if my exposure is on or off because it just isn't reliable.

Harpper · May 22, 2004

photogoddess said:
I don't rely on it to tell me if my exposure is on or off because it just isn't reliable.

I've had that problem too but I've gotten pretty close to the correct exposure by adjusting the LCD brightness to closely match my current environment. I still don't rely on it completely but it does help when I'm experimenting with exposure because some pictures look better over or underexposed. The LCD gives me a general idea if I'm going in the right direction with my experimentations.

I can see how certain types of photography wouldn't allow one to check the preview much. If I did a lot of preview checking for portrait work, the person I was shooting would quickly get bored. I still, however, would take a few test shots to see if my settings are correct and then start firing away...just in case I had my settings horribly wrong.

Most of my work is either landscape or still photography as opposed to action or unique one time events so it's a lot easier to constantly check the LCD preview.

DanielK · May 22, 2004

I leave it on and use it on every shot because I don't feel like I'm good enough yet to turn it off. I feel like I have to double check. And it helps with models to do a quick check to see if I caught a blink or a goofy look or something.

Maybe someday I weel feel confident enough in my abilities to not use it as much, but on the other hand, it's a convenience that's available, so why not?

If I were shooting sports or a concert or something, I probably wouldn't use it as much, though. Gotta be quick.

Daniel

photong · May 22, 2004

It depends what I'm shooting. Plus, it is a bit of a habit.

Jeff Canes · May 22, 2004

No, IMO on the 10D its to darn small to be of any good for reviewing shots

Also IMO that is the one number design failure on the 10D

craig · May 22, 2004

I have my preview set to include the histogram as well as the image.(Nikon D1). Seeing the levels really helps out the exposure. I learned that from this forum! Anyway, I constantly check it in the studio, but rarely check it when I am doing my personal work.

Sharkbait · May 22, 2004

I'm with craig. I leave mine on with the histogram set to come up. I'll check every shot of the first 5 or 10 to verify exposure settings, then just every now and then if I'm not sure I got the shot or not.