Looking for help

[Peter Addor]

Recently I postet the following question in this forum:

I recently purchased a Sony alpha 6600 (I had a DSLR for years). When I press the shutter button, the camera stays locked for 2-3 seconds. Is this the case with mirrorless cameras? My DSLR was immediately ready for a new shot. If I take a picture of a flock of birds, for example, it has long since flown away by the time the camera allows a new picture. That can't be! In continuous shooting mode, the camera is capable of taking photos in quick succession. Why not in single-shot mode?

Nobody was able to help me. Is there a support somewhere on the web that helps me with my problem?

Thanks alot!

Peter

[Pieter]

Likely your camera is in some sort of shooting mode which causes a delay.

- 3 sec self timer? (orange light flashing on front-side of camera after pressing shutter button)

- some kind of HDR-mode? (You should hear several shutter clicks upon pressing the shutter button, after which the camera shortly goes black)

- some night-time photography mode (same as HDR-mode: several clicks followed by a short blackout)

A workaround for now: I always keep my camera in Continuous Shooting (Low) rather than Single Shot: if you press the shutter button once, it'll only take one shot. If you keep it pressed, it'll shoot at about 3 fps.

[Peter Addor]

Hi Pieter

It's very kind to hear from you! Thank you very much. 

No, nothing of that! I even reset my cam to factory setting. The problem remains. In the first moment I was glad to hear that this behaviour isn't normal. But then you are proposing a (rather ugly) workaround. Does this mean that you also encountered this behaviour in your 6600?

The workaround helps possibly only half. Immediately after I make a shot I'm not only not able to shoot again but I also cannot readjust the zoom. Everything is blocked! And even after switch on the cam it takes another 2 seconds until it is ready to take a shot. I think this will not be solved with the wokaround.

Regards,
Peter

[Peter Addor]

Pieter

I have to correct myself: I didn't do a reinitialisation of the cam but only a cam reset. Now when I did a reinitialisation the behaviour of the camera seems to be much better now.

Nevertheless after switch on the cam needs a lot of time to be ready for a shot. So if you see something that needs a very fast cam to get a quick shot the a6600 is definitely not the right cam! Would you agree?

Regards,
Peter

[Pieter]

Glad to hear things are working better now, as the behaviour you described definately isn't as it should be. I don't have an a6600 but an a6500, should behave pretty similar.

I do recognize that it may take some time for the camera to start after switching it on, especially when it has been off for a couple of days or if you just swapped the battery. On a bad day mine takes about 5 seconds to start. After this 'initial startup', the camera starts much faster, about 1-2 seconds.

If I want the camera to be ready to shoot (e.g. during a hike), it often helps to switch the camera on and off at the beginning of the event. Switching it on afterwards seems to be much more responsive.