DSLR's, Live views for long exposures?


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benjicon

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Mar 31, 2009
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Hey everyone,

Some friends and I , who are far from expert photographers , were watching a sun rise the other morning , shooting some long exposures , and one of us posed the question ...

"Would it be possible to have a live view system incorporated into a Digital camera , where you can actually watch the exposure exposing as it happens , therefore allowing you to chose when to stop exposing the shot?"

I hope that makes sense ... as it is now , if we do a long exposure , the shutter opens , we wait with a black screen , it closes , processes , then the image appears .. if we mess it up we do it again .. If there were some sort of live view of the exposure happening ,, you could keep the shutter open , watch it being created , then when you like the shot / exposure , remotely close the shutter and viola , nice photo.

I am sure there is a reason this hasn't been done before .. but we couldn't think of it. :p

BenG.
 

I hope that makes sense ... as it is now , if we do a long exposure , the shutter opens , we wait with a black screen

Ehh, that's the answer... no, cannot. Mirror blackout translates to zero live view. Maybe in 2020... actually, no, I won't see it happening. Anyways, what might be of help is if you use Exposure Simulation function on your camera. It will simulate (duh) how the final picture will turn out to be based on your settings.
 

Aaah I see , Its not actually something I need or want , I was just wondering if its possible / plausible to do it , would be quite interesting to actually see it happen , almost like its being painted before your eyes as it exposes . :) My brain-fart for the day.

Thanks.
 

yes, it sounds possible. just have to wait for the makers to make something like this and that will be a new feature in their latest model.
 

On the Sony Liveview models, the LV display will simulate what the exposure will look like, just like a PnS. But it's not a "watch as it happens" process, as you need to remember that the final processing is only done *after* the image is taken.
 

Yes.. Possible and already happening at this age....

One is your eyes, one is video and one is painting like you said...
 

yes, it sounds possible. just have to wait for the makers to make something like this and that will be a new feature in their latest model.

...which worldwide maybe 20 people will actually care about and use.

Naaah, I think it's a "no point" feature if the Live View systems can already simulate the final exposure.
 

Yes.. Possible and already happening at this age....

One is your eyes, one is video and one is painting like you said...

1. No, our eyes don't work that way.
2. No, Video does not work that way.
3. Painting also does not work that way.

I do not think you understood his question at all.


The closest analogy is when you develop film, how long you leave it in the solution can affect the apparent exposure.
 

[QUOTE The closest analogy is when you develop film, how long you leave it in the solution can affect the apparent exposure.[/QUOTE]

Exactly . :)
 

Yes.. I understand..

I mean... if the main purpose of having this LiveView over long exposure, is to get the correct exposure, then our eyes are doing it constantly... getting the correct exposure at every image...

Only when we want to purposely underexposed or overexposed or do certain effect to the picture that this Long Exposure Liveview will be useful..
Well.. now i think of it... It is actually quite useful in a sense... say we wanna try HDR or B&W with Long Exposure LiveView.. We can see this develop over the camera processor over the several seconds that it is exposed for... and maybe even decide when we want to stop...

TS, hurry go discuss this idea with Nikon... I guess this will happen in the future... hopefully in my lifetime...
 

Yes.. I understand..

I mean... if the main purpose of having this LiveView over long exposure, is to get the correct exposure, then our eyes are doing it constantly... getting the correct exposure at every image...


That's what the camera's meter is for.

Only when we want to purposely underexposed or overexposed or do certain effect to the picture that this Long Exposure Liveview will be useful..

No, that's what the exposure compensation function is for.

Well.. now i think of it... It is actually quite useful in a sense... say we wanna try HDR or B&W with Long Exposure LiveView.. We can see this develop over the camera processor over the several seconds that it is exposed for... and maybe even decide when we want to stop...

You really don't understand how HDR works, huh? Having a "long exposure live view" will not give you HDR.

TS, hurry go discuss this idea with Nikon... I guess this will happen in the future... hopefully in my lifetime...

Hurry, go read more about exposure and how your camera works. Then you'll realize there's basically no point to investing so much technical effort into a feature that will only be used by 20 people, whose effects can already be achieved by even the simplest, cheapest DSLR available today and even then would be affected by the camera LCD's brightness, contrast and whenther or not it's being washed out by ambient light.
 

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actually... if you're taking enough night photos with long enough exposures, i bet you'll know which number to try even in Bulb mode... and those very experienced guys could guess it right in one or two tries... (newbies could rely on in-camera metering, or experts just know without the need to read a meter...)

also, using liveview when shooting sun / some other really bright light sources are not recommended... you'll have pretty good chance to fry the sensor and electronic parts around it...

so in short, not practical until today... frankly, i highly doubt those main camera manufacturers' research team would not think of this... but nothing come out yet means either technology not there yet, or simply can't rationalize the cost of implementing this "new" technology into their next products...
 

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All good comments.

After reading all that , I do think the gimmick would catch on , especially in the compact digital market .. people that don't want to read front to back of a DSLR manual , and don't want to understand the finer points on exposure , you know the sort , point and click and let the camera do all the work , actually being able to sit and watch the image expose till your happy with it , takes the time wasting guess work out for those casual photographers that want to catch the sunset or Moon or fireworks etc .

I wasn't aware that if you expose a sensor to direct light for a long time , you will wreck it .. is that true ? that probably has something to do with why its not been done .. I could also believe that the processing power would have to be pretty heavy duty to do it all in real time and let you chose when to stop .

Interesting to hear everyones thoughts .. Cheers.

BenG.
 

I wasn't aware that if you expose a sensor to direct light for a long time , you will wreck it .. is that true ? that probably has something to do with why its not been done .. I could also believe that the processing power would have to be pretty heavy duty to do it all in real time and let you chose when to stop .

BenG.

read elsewhere but never dare to try it out... under normal situations should be alright... since the focusing screen is blocking direct light towards sensor... and exposure won't last more than a second if you're pointing towards sun...

so anyone wanna try out to point at sun while using liveview?
 

1. No, our eyes don't work that way.
2. No, Video does not work that way.
3. Painting also does not work that way.

I do not think you understood his question at all.


The closest analogy is when you develop film, how long you leave it in the solution can affect the apparent exposure.

Goes to show how much junk info we have lurking around in our threads. Better to take everything in the forums with large doses of salt.
 

Goes to show how much junk info we have lurking around in our threads. Better to take everything in the forums with large doses of salt.

Hmm? In regards to...?
 

takes the time wasting guess work out for those casual photographers that want to catch the sunset or Moon or fireworks etc .

So why guess? Other than fireworks, your camera meter has no problems. As for sunset, you're aware that your shutter speed is so fast that a human controlling it will have a hard time reacting fast enough, right? Also remember that the LCD itself is backlit, and does not have the image quality to 100% accurately display the exposure, especially if your eyes are also compensating for ambient sunlight or a dark night.

I wasn't aware that if you expose a sensor to direct light for a long time , you will wreck it .. is that true ?

No, and it's been discussed on here to death.

that probably has something to do with why its not been done ..

No, it's because using a sunrise/sunset as example is flawed due to the already very very fast shutter speeds.
 

You wouldn't be doing a long exposure with a sunrise shot in the first place, unless the sun isn't revealed yet.
 

To TS, how long usually is your exposure time? I assumed the exposure for most cases will not be more than a minute. If that's the case, shoot, view result, not satisfy, adjust and shoot again. Like that then got the kick mah :bsmilie:

Too hi-tech also not good.
 

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