how long to acclimate to a new camera?

[back alley]

went out shooting a bit today...so excited about new gear but could not see an image if i had a gun to my head.
my 'people' shots were all 'off' and i started to worry/think/realize that every new camera has a break in period where i have to get used to it before 'we' start to click.

i think it's mostly shutter lag/actual time of image caught and what i want to capture that needs to knit.
today, all my people shots were a second after what i wanted.

i'm not saying that the xpro has bad shutter lag, but it is different from my other cameras and now i need to 'learn' it.

i assume this is the same for most folks?
have you noticed it?
how long is your 'break in' time?

 

[paulfish4570]

well, i've had the x100 for just about a year now. i still ain't completely comfortable with it. time finding comfort with a film slr or rff? about one roll of film ... 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

well, i've had the x100 for just about a year now. i still ain't completely comfortable with it. time finding comfort with a film slr or rff? about one roll of film ... 🙂

I agree with Paul. It took me little or time to get up and running with 35mm and medium format film gear. With digital gear there are so many 'bells and whistles' that in most cases just create a much steeper learning curve. And the funny thing is that a huge portion of these bells and whistles are unnecessary if one is comfortable with light meter + aperture + shutter speed photography. 🙄

 

[FrankS]

Ironic, eh?

 

[Rob-F]

I agree with Paul. It took me little or time to get up and running with 35mm and medium format film gear. With digital gear there are so many 'bells and whistles' that in most cases just create a much steeper learning curve. And the funny thing is that a huge portion of these bells and whistles are unnecessary if one is comfortable with light meter + aperture + shutter speed photography. 🙄

I, too, find this to be true. One thing about the X100, though, is that at least the shutter speed dial and aperture ring are where they belong.

 

[Mystyler]

I took my Bronica EC out yesterday for the first time and I swear the 12 exposures I took at the beach were the hardest dozen I've ever had to take. The focus ring turns the "wrong" way, I don't particularly like the focusing screen it has and the image is backwards! God help me trying to get that horizon straight.
If I get one shot back that I like, I'll be happy...probably going to have to go through a pack of Velvia before I've found my feet with it. "Why isn't it firing?!?!?! Oh, the dark slide is still in." etc...

 

[Pablito]

Many would think that camera makers like Nikon would keep camera menus “extremely similar” within the professional camera models..

They do, relatively speaking. Try going from a Nikon to a Canon. Or the other way around, I'm sure.

One thing that helps to adapt to new cameras is to have a working method that basically eschews many of the automatic features. I use AF, but always use manual exposure. So, even if I'm using a high end DSLR, it's pretty much like using an FM2 - after setting up the camera how I want it, of course...

Also, I make very little use of the meter. Instead I just estimate the exposure, then check with the histogram. If there's not time for that, I'll generally use center weighted, like on the FM2...

 

[gb hill]

went out shooting a bit today...so excited about new gear but could not see an image if i had a gun to my head.
my 'people' shots were all 'off'
i think it's mostly shutter lag/actual time of image caught and what i want to capture that needs to knit.
today, all my people shots were a second after what i wanted.

This speaks of going back to the days of why we chose rf's over that mirror black out of the image on film slr's when pressing down the shutter doesn't it.😉

 

[froyd]

I don't use my cameras heavily; I average 2-3rrolls a month. Therefore, I give myself a year or so to see if I click with any new camera. That said, however, it's usually love at first sight for me. Took me less than two weeks to fall in love with my first RF, a little Bessa R2a, and even less for some other cameras I have owned, particularly the Rollei. On the other hand, I m still very far from comfortable using the M4 even a year after getting it and after one month I'm more frustrated than pleased by the Sony RX100.

And thenthere are odd all cases like the love/hate relationship with the Contax G system...now entering its Erd year!

 

[Richard G]

I am not using the X100 a lot lately and I can occasionally be bamboozled by the menus for turning off features in the OVF or forgetting that f2 won't give me 1/4000, which I usually remember. But it was actually great right from the start. My worst experience was with the M9, partly form the pressure of having to make shots that justified me owning such a thing. Maybe the X-Pro 1 is a bit similar, but that wouldn't necessarily account for your people shots being 'off'. The M9 has less options than the Fujis which was good. And essentially it should have been the same as using the M5 I'd used a lot up to March. But it just wasn't. Once I forgot about it being a digital Leica and just another Leica I relaxed and started taking some better pictures. With the X-Pro 1 being the core of your never to be revised see you out millennial kit, you may have too much at stake to start with.

 

[back alley]

I am not using the X100 a lot lately and I can occasionally be bamboozled by the menus for turning off features in the OVF or forgetting that f2 won't give me 1/4000, which I usually remember. But it was actually great right from the start. My worst experience was with the M9, partly form the pressure of having to make shots that justified me owning such a thing. Maybe the X-Pro 1 is a bit similar, but that wouldn't necessarily account for your people shots being 'off'. The M9 has less options than the Fujis which was good. And essentially it should have been the same as using the M5 I'd used a lot up to March. But it just wasn't. Once I forgot about it being a digital Leica and just another Leica I relaxed and started taking some better pictures. With the X-Pro 1 being the core of your never to be revised see you out millennial kit, you may have too much at stake to start with.

..With the X-Pro 1 being the core of your never to be revised see you out millennial kit, you may have too much at stake to start with....

just a little pressure...lol!

 

[Frontman]

Recently I acquired a Nikkor W 35/1.8 lens for my S3, and I have found myself fumbling a bit when trying to shoot. I have owned and used many Nikon rangefinder cameras, but I have only shot with various 50mm lenses. I am used to focusing with the focusing wheel, and using the 50mm frame lines. The 35mm lens mounts on the bayonet attachment on the front of the camera, and requires more strength to turn, so my focusing technique had to change, and getting used to the different frame lines takes an extra second when I am composing. But getting new gear is fun, I don't mind the time it takes to get used to it.

 

[gavinlg]

I find DSLR dials annoying to use, especially the basic models with the 1 dial and the exposure comp. button. I really think that even the 'pro' models control layout in the nikon/canon DSLRs is just a solution for a problem that never existed in the first place - you can't see the settings at a glance, there's no hard stops or positional cues to what setting you're at, and even using the lcd screen on the top can be like looking at an ancient egyptian tablet with the 10,000 pieces of information on there.
One of the big reasons I like the Fujis and leica M's so much.

Other than that, I tend to acclimatize to new cameras - film and digital in a matter of hours. For me the settings are always the same - RAW, manual mode, auto iso OFF - shoot it like a manual camera. Therefore it's only the controls that i need to get used to.

 

[GaryLH]

UI and shutter lag differences

UI and shutter lag differences

I think a lot has to do w/ what u were used to before. Things like the UI for the camera and the differences in shutter lag can affect your ability to quickly get used to the camera.

W/ shutter lag difference, a lot of your own programmed responses to right moment to press the shutter is affected. If u came from a camera w/ slower shutter lag u could be pressing shutter button way to early.

Gary

 

[GaryLH]

Joe

It took me about 2months to get used to the x100. I was able to apply most of the things I learned from the x100, but it still took me about a month to get comfortable w/ xp1 (that was pre fw update 2.0).

Btw I think I would have taken longer if I was mainly street shooter. But street is probably less than 10% of my shooting. On the other hand I am starting to get my interested in street, so we shall c 🙂

Gary

 

[_goodtimez]

I tend to be faster using basic tools. As an example I like to use pre-set on both focus (but I need a wide angle) and exposure (but I need a good dynamic range on film) on a screwmount.
The camera really becomes a point an shoot and I miss no picture.
With Digital DSLR this is always more complicated because of the busy finder and the AF.
When changing camera for another I adapt quickly, just a few minutes fiddling with the controls and I'm done.
My only digitals are an M8-2 and a small Samsung P&S, not difficult cameras for learning their menus.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Film cameras have 3 basic controls: Focus, Shutter Speed and Aperture, this assumes no auto anything. Film camera models were issued every 5-8 years or so, by the big camera makers. The learning curve was pretty quick and simple between camera models or camera makers. There was the shutter speed knob going in different directions with Nikon and Leica, but that can be learned. The cameras have a completely different feel when in hand – so the difference is tactile too.

Pro Digital cameras often have 100+ menu options. The menu is often difficult to see in bright sunlight. I find that to know a digital camera well enough to use it seamlessly – like driving a car – no thought to the position / direction of the cameras controls, finding each sub-menu quickly in sunlight, etc.- takes me one to two years of serious use. That’s why I find two identical cameras a necessary for everyday “work”.

I don’t make the switch to a new digital camera with out some serious thought. I often keep the previous pair of work cameras around for a few months before I’m comfortable switching to new cameras if they are different enough from my previous cameras.

Many would think that camera makers like Nikon would keep camera menus “extremely similar” within the professional camera models..

Overall: exactly. Highlight: also, unfortunately, between Leica and Leica. I am assured it would be a fairly trivial software fix, plus a new shutter speed dial, to make digi-M dials go the right way (as an option). I wish they would!

Cheers,

R.

 

[Damaso]

I'd say a few months to a few years. Seriously after shooting with SLRs my whole life five years after switching to rangefinders I'm still adjusting. Doesn't mean I don't make good pictures though...

 

[Joosep]

One good sleep with the camera by my side. 🙄

 

[thegman]

No time for me to adjust, but all my cameras are simple. The only one which catches me out is the Fotoman, as the shutter release/film wind on etc. are unconnected, like an Alpa, or large format camera.