D90 Slow Response

[Joyce Matthews]

I was in the mountains taking pictures with my D90 using the 55-200 lens. When I pressed the shutter release there was a long delay before the picture was taken. I tried increasing the shutter speed and also tried different settings, manual, shutter prioity, etc, but it had no effect. The delay in the shutter release continued. When I got home, using the same lens, the shutter release is fast with no delay time. The temperature in the mountains where I was shooting was in the 45 - 55 degree range and at home it is in the 60-70 range. Could the lower temperature affect the battery and cause the delay? or could it be the lens that is a problem??????????

[OsmosisStudios]

Lemme guess: VR lens with VR on, shutterspeeds above 1/200s?

[Joyce Matthews]

Yes, I think you are right about the shutter speed. I took pictures with both auto focus and manual, but I can't remember if I turned off VR at any time. I am using the same shutter speeds at home and it works fine.

[OsmosisStudios]

VR does have a tendency to make the camera "sound" slower at high shutterspeeds. The camera's shutter mechanism sounds like it;s shooting at 1/15s but it's shooting at 1/500s. This is common and is a property of the VR system: turning it off should eliminate it.

if youre using the same settings at home, though, then it could be other things. Lower temperatures dont usually affect shutter lag (time between pressing the trigger and the camera firing). Are you sure you didnt have a timer on? It's easy enough to bump on the D80/90.

[Joyce Matthews]

Thank you for your help. I did check to make sure it was on single frame and not delayed. I didn't think the temperatures were low enough to affect the operation of the camera; but I couldn't find anything else at the time. I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again. If it does, I'll have to contact Nikon. Thanks again.

[dcclark]

To me it sounds like you were shooting in low light, and the lens may have been hunting to find focus. Were you in a low-ish light situation? (Note that this can even be indoors on a bright day, with lights on -- indoor lighting is usually pretty dim for cameras.) I've never had the VR trouble that OsmosisStudios mentioned (with the same lens).

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by dcclark

I've never had the VR trouble that OsmosisStudios mentioned (with the same lens).

It's an issue with VR lenses, though usually the longer ones.

VR's effectiveness has a Bell curve shape, meaning that it has a very tight sweet spot. The camera can tell when the VR is in the sweet spot and often delays the shutter activation just slightly to get it closer to that point. It's only just noticeable at higher shutterspeeds because it sounds like a much slower shutter activation than one would be accustomed.

[Joyce Matthews]

It's a puzzle to me. It was a sunny day but cold. I tried different focal lengths on both auto focus and manual focus. Because of the slow shutter release time, I had it on manual to select faster shutter speeds in an attempt to make a difference in the release response time. I also made sure it was not on a time delay. The problem seemed to be related only to that lens. Later in the day I switched to 15-55 lens and did not have the problem.

[OsmosisStudios]

What mode were you shooting in? Silly me: I assume M.
Did the slowness of the activation affect exposure at all?

[Joyce Matthews]

The exposure looked OK but blurred because I was hand holding the camera. I didn't have a tripod with me at the time. I was leaning on a rail hoping that would help.