rscheffler Offline Upload & Sell: Off
|
gdanmitchell wrote:
But blackout is not a new thing. SLR and DSLR cameras have always had a blackout as the mirror flipped up at the time of exposure.
I think one reason that people seem to be more concerned about it with EVFs is that they just aren't used to a monitor that temporarily loses the image — the issue isn't the presence of the blackout itself, but just that we haven't adapted to it initially to the same level that we have with SLR/DSLR designs.
I'll try to better explain how the blackout differs based on my experiences with the 1DX series and the R6II (and also R6 and R5 - I had less time with the R3 and not side by side with any of the other R cameras to compare).
With the DSLR being based on an optical viewfinder, the only distortion of the image seen through the viewfinder is determined by the speed and smoothness of the mirror system. There is a momentary blackout, obviously, then the mirror returns to viewing position and you see the image again. With a 1DX camera, the mirror return is very fast, well dampened and therefore very smooth. It's very easy to continue following moving subjects and keeping them where you want them in the composition while shooting a sequence. There is only the momentary blackout to deal with.
With the R6 (not R6II), in EFC or full mechanical shutter, as with the DSLR, there is a momentary blackout, because the shutter blades block the sensor. Similarly to the DSLR, the blackout is brief. When the live view resumes after the exposure, there is a tendency for the image to momentary jump, which disrupts the smoothness of the image feed and is somewhat disorienting when following fast and especially erratic subjects. It's more likely for the subject to drift away from where I want them in the composition, especially after multiple images in a burst. The R6II has a new sensor and newer processor, but the same EVF panel as the R6, yet the resumption of the live feed after each frame or at the end of a burst is smoother than the R6 and it was one of the reasons I opted for the R6II over the R6 as my primary camera for sports/action. But there is still some jump/jitter that continues to be bothersome for me.
In e-shutter at the high frame rates, like 20 or 40 fps, there is still frame insertion to mask the momentary blackout when the still image is pulled off the sensor and it's not processing the live feed. This experience is smoother than EFC/mechanical shutter but the still frame insertion becomes cumulative on longer bursts, by which I mean if the subject if moving across the field of view and you're panning with them, it feels like you progressively fall behind and they move closer to the edge of the frame.
Plus there is lag to deal with. The time it takes to process the live feed off the sensor. With the 1DX series shooting hockey, I could reliably do single frames of slap shots with the stick on the puck at the moment of impact. I can't do it reliably with the R6II. It's necessary to press the shutter release a lot farther in advance.
Faster image processing would help minimize this, though I doubt it will ever be entirely eliminated because there is always a slight delay caused by image processing.
Does it have to be stacked sensor? I don't know. So far Canon have shown they can make relatively fast non-stacked sensors, as used in the R5/6/6II/8 which are faster than the BSI sensors in the a7/a7R/z6/z7 series cameras. But those are still only at best two times slower than the original a9 from 2017 and four times slower than that in the a1/z8/z9.
As I've said before, I can live with momentary blackout but the resumption of the live feed needs to be smooth. But no blackout would be ideal.
Another small feature improvement I'd like to see in the R5II is the ability to dial in whatever frame rate you want in e-shutter (assuming there is still a mechanical shutter option too). Lots of times I'd like something in the 7-10 fps range but on the R6II the e-shutter options are only 5, 20 and 40. That's why I often use EFCS where H+ is ~12fps and H is ~7fps.
|