Everyone wants to get into the picture, you may have noticed. Even the photographer. So rare is the digicam that does not have a self-timer, delaying the shutter release either 2 or 10 seconds after you press the shutter button.
Ten seconds is enough time for even the graceful to sashay their way from the back of the camera into the group shot (front center, usually). The rest of us feel obliged to scamper, which also obliges us to try to smile as we're catching our breath and everyone else is asking, through gritted teeth, when the shutter is going to trip.
But two seconds is too fast for even action photographers to leap into the group. The two-second self-timer has another purpose -- and one that's easy to overlook.
That short delay is ideal for preventing those blurry shots you get in poorly lighted places when you can't use flash. A long delay works, too, but the short delay is a little easier to predict.
When your camera is set to Auto mode, a dark scene will slow the shutter to at least 1/60 second and maybe even slower. One-sixtieth second is fast enough to hold your camera steady without a tripod, but it gets chancy after that. Even at 1/60 second, though, the mere act of pushing the shutter button can introduce camera shake, capturing a blurred image at best.
Camera shake caused by pressing the shutter button is just what the short self-timer can prevent. Activate the self-timer function, press the shutter and by the time the shutter trips, you'll have steadied the camera again.
The only disadvantage is that two seconds is a little beyond the ability of most of us to foretell the future. So it works best with subjects that don't move.
The next time you get blurry shots from having to shoot a dark scene without flash, remember the second way to use the self-timer. Timing, after all, is everything.
-- Imaging Resource
Just a quick note to help all those picture takers that drop their digital camera in the water. Quickly remove batteries, card and open camera to dry. Let sit for about two months. Then put batteries in, tap the camera lightly and it will probably work. All this presumes that the camera was in water less than a minute or two. Sure was surprised when mine started working again. Of course this happened after I purchased a replacement. The camera was a Kodak DX4330. Who says cameras can't swim!
-- Bob Daly
The D70 has a motor drive or burst mode, meaning that it can keep firing away several shots per second as long as you're pressing the shutter button. If your camera has such a feature, you might never think of using it for portraits.
But you should, for two reasons. First, there may be a world of difference between a half-smile and a quarter-smile. By using the motor drive, you'll catch all of the variations, and later, you can pick out the best one.
Second, in low light, the first squeeze of the shutter button may jiggle the camera, resulting in a blurry shot (because the shutter remains open longer in low light). But if you use the motor drive, the second and third shots have a better chance of being steady, because your shutter finger is no longer in motion.
David Pogue - NYTimes