Nikon Coolpix S4000

[hln917]

I got the camera this past summer and finally trying to learn how to use it. My only gripe is that the manual is now a cd and not the old fashion booklet.

The camera takes forever to record each picture before I can take a second shot. If I do the continuous setting, the flash will not work. Does anyone have this camera and know which setting I would use?

 

[MikeScone]

hln917 wrote:

The camera takes forever to record each picture before I can take a second shot. If I do the continuous setting, the flash will not work.

I don't know much about the S4000, but in looking at the manual for the camera (I downloaded it from Nikon's site), it seems like there may be a few settings to look at.

First, how big an image are you taking? The bigger the image, the longer it takes to store. You don't need 12MP images unless you're planning on 13x19 prints or larger - for online pictures or snapshots, reduce the size down to 2048 x 1536 (3M) or 1024 x 768 (PC). You'll get good 4x6 or even 8x10 pictures at either size.

Then, I'd look at any mode which takes more than one picture - there seems to be a mode called "BSS", one of the continuous options, where every time you take a picture it takes up to 10 of them and then picks the best one. That has to eat up processor time. The same is true of blink mode, face recognition, etc - you don't really need any of them, especially with rabbits. The more processing you can eliminate, the faster the response will be.

And yes, according to the manual, flash cannot be used in continuous mode (page 58).

 

[kirbyultra]

MikeScone wrote:

First, how big an image are you taking? The bigger the image, the longer it takes to store. You don't need 12MP images unless you're planning on 13x19 prints or larger - for online pictures or snapshots, reduce the size down to 2048 x 1536 (3M) or 1024 x 768 (PC). You'll get good 4x6 or even 8x10 pictures at either size.

On that subject, do you think the class of the SD card might also play a factor? If the pic file size is big because of the Megapixel count is high, having a class 2 SD card (records at 2MB per sec) may not be fast enough maybe?

But for me, I notice that my digital cameras always slow to molasses during focus time due to lack of/terrible lighting. I'll be pressing and holding down that shutter and the picture just won't snap.

 

[hln917]

I couldn't get on the forum last nite. Thank you Mike for downloading the manual and reading up on my camera. That was very nice of you. I did change the settings down to 1024x768 and cleared up my SD card and it works! What happened to the good old days where the camera just snaps and shoots!:?



Helen~ aside from the size of the SD cards, I never knew their are different classes. What is the difference? We got a new one yesterday for hubby to use for his pictures and the camera worked faster since it was empty.

 

[MikeScone]

kirbyultra wrote:

But for me, I notice that my digital cameras always slow to molasses during focus time due to lack of/terrible lighting. I'll be pressing and holding down that shutter and the picture just won't snap.

That's a problem with automated cameras in general, and point'n'shoots in particular. There are usually two major elements to shutter lag (that is, delay before shooting, rather than delay in storage) - autoexposure lag and autofocus lag. With the really clever software they're putting in point'n'shoots these days I can only imagine what other delays are introduced - I think the S4000 has an option where the camera waits for a smile on a face before it shoots (that would really be a problem shooting disapproving rabbits).

The best workaround is to have the camera do as much as possible in advance.

Most of the time autoexposure lag isn't a really big deal, but some cameras seem prone to it. The autoexposure lag can be eliminated by using manual exposure - if the lighting's not changing much and is fairly even, as is most often true indoors where the low light becomes a problem, then you can take a picture on auto, see what the exposure was and set that in to the manual mode. Then the camera doesn't have to re-measure the light every time.

Autofocus lag can be a real problem. Again, it can be eliminated completely by using manual focus, but that can be a nuisance in itself (and some point'n'shoots don't offer manual focus). I've found that every camera I've used has a pre-focus mode, where you push the shutter button halfway down to focus (and, often, also set the exposure). Hold the shutter button there without releasing it until the image you want appears in the finder, then push the button the rest of the way. That will minimize the delay even on a slow camera.

 

[MikeScone]

hln917 wrote:

I did change the settings down to 1024x768 and cleared up my SD card and it works! What happened to the good old days where the camera just snaps and shoots!:?

I think they went away with the nasty-smelling chemicals we had to use to turn the plastic strips into negatives, which we had to print in a dark room on paper with more smelly chemicals... Don't get me wrong, I loved old-style photography, but with today's DSLRs and Photoshop, and the ability to instantly see if a picture turned out, I really don't have the slightest urge to clean out the darkroom and try film again.

I never knew their are different classes. What is the difference?

SD cards are rated in "classes", which roughly corresponds to write speed - class 2 is 2 megabytes per second, class 4 is 4MB/sec, and so on. I'm not sure how much overhead there is - many "MB/sec" ratings are wildly optimistic because the data being exchanged is more than just the raw bits - but if you took a picture at 12MP, that could wind up two or three megabytes in JPG, which would take at least a second or two to write on a class 2 card.

Don't use the camera's memory card for long-term storage, as that will slow down the camera operation significantly. Download the images to the computer, then reformat the card in the camera as soon as you've verified that the copies on the computer hard drive are OK (and never delete pictures on the card using the computer!). The more data you have on the card, and the longer you go between reformats, the harder the camera has to work to find a space to store each picture (or, it has to break the image file up into smaller chunks scattered around the card, which slows things down more).

 

[kirbyultra]

LOL - the smile function with disapproving rabbits would *indeed* be a pickle.

Helen - most bargain SD cards are class 2. I bought a class 6 card for my cameras only because I found the storage time for video was ridiculously on the class 2 cards shooting in HD. As far as pictures, I haven't personally seen too much of a difference. But since part of your problem was indeed the size (MP) of your pic and making the pic smaller helped speed, maybe a faster class SD would have helped as well. But as Mike said, nobody seriously needs 14 MP pictures unless you plan on blowing up that pic to plaster on a building in Times Sq

Mike, I never knew you shouldn't delete files on the computer! Why is that? Does it have something to do with the way the camera recognizes disk space? Very interesting!

 

[MikeScone]

kirbyultra wrote:

Mike, I never knew you shouldn't delete files on the computer! Why is that? Does it have something to do with the way the camera recognizes disk space? Very interesting!

As I understand it, yes. In order to implement the "recycle bin", computers handle deleting images differently than cameras - the files aren't really deleted until you empty the bin. Then, at least with some camera/computer combinations, the computer can return the space the images were taking up in a way which corrupts the file system for the camera. At best, you don't recover the space. At worst, you can wind up with a card which your camera won't recognize. I had it happen on my Fuji S2 - I had a CF card that looked fine on the computer, but the S2 wouldn't read it or write to it. Oddly, the S3 would recognize the card, so it's very camera dependent.

The best route is to format the card in the camera every time you use it. That will make sure that any bad areas are locked out, and the file system is right for that camera.

 

[kirbyultra]

Hmm that is good to know. But oh boy, I have to be special and I own a Eye-fi SD card. It's really cool in that it is wifi enabled (I do not have to pull the card out of the camera or plug any wires into the camera to transfer files to my computer as long as the camera is within reach of my wifi). I know there is something about that card that sorta has this split partition in it; part of it is a drive for storage and the other part is used to actual store information like my wifi key, how to actually operate as a wifi card.... if I format the card, I dont know how it will work. I better read up on whether this file deletion on the computer has any sort of impact on storage recognition. I haven't noticed any problems but it's always good to know what I own.

The other thing I was thinking was, that happened to you on a CF card which is another beast altogether.

 

[MikeScone]

kirbyultra wrote:

The other thing I was thinking was, that happened to you on a CF card which is another beast altogether.

There are differences between CF and SD cards, but not, I think, in the file system as such. Cameras do differ as to which FAT system they support (FAT 12 or 16 is common in older SD cameras, which means they can't use larger than a 2GB card, for example) but that's a matter of how large a space can be addressed. The file allocation itself is the same, to the best of my knowledge. If a computer's going to read the card at all, it has to use a computer-type file system.

I think the potential problems would be there equally for SD or CF or, for that matter, any other type of card.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

MikeScone wrote:

The best route is to format the card in the camera every time you use it. That will make sure that any bad areas are locked out, and the file system is right for that camera.

Just get into a habit,after you download your pictures to the computer, put your card back into the camera,and reformat the card.

There were times I didn't put the card back into the camera, and when I went out to take pictures, I couldn't because there was no card in the camera. :headsmack

 

[slavetoabunny]

LOL, I can't tell you how many times that I've been chastised for not putting the card back into the camera!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

slavetoabunny wrote:

I've been chastised for not putting the card back into the camera!

I get so paranoid about not having a card in the camera now, that I always carry a spare card in the camera bag, and a spare card inmy camera waist pouch.

 

[MikeScone]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

There were times I didn't put the card back into the camera, and when I went out to take pictures, I couldn't because there was no card in the camera. :headsmack

Maybe that's another reason to use the USB cord instead of the card reader...

 

[kirbyultra]

#1 reason I bought the Eye Fi card... no cords, no card readers. Card never leaves the camera. I, too, was notorious for bringing a camera with no storage

 

[hln917]

Mike and all ~ thanks so much for your help on my camera! I did everything, deleted pictures, (so hard to delete the bun's pic even if it's in the computer now!) changed the pixel size and it's works great now! However still trying to learn how to use it. I thought I had fully charged it yesterday than saw a perfect bun photo opportunity and sure enough, battery exhausted! :X