Fireworks Photos Processing Delay: I was preparing to take some nice fireworks photos at Niagara Falls last week and so I preped myself by taking 8 sec exposures on my G7 & OMD EM5.

joegim Loc: Long Island, NY

I was preparing to take some nice fireworks photos at Niagara Falls last week and so I preped myself by taking 8 sec exposures on my G7 & OMD EM5. Settings were manual focus, shutter priority, f8, ASA 200. After the exposure it took both cameras about another 8 seconds to process the image. If I had used the cameras to take long exposures then I would have missed a lot of the fireworks display so I ended up taking videos. Is this typical for micro 4/3 cameras? Does this happen also with APS-C & FF sensors?

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

You probably want to turn long exposure noise reduction off to eliminate the delay.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The cameras I've used see
M to have write times commensurate with exposure times.
--Bob

joegim wrote:

I was preparing to take some nice fireworks photos... (show quote)

joegim Loc: Long Island, NY

BassmanBruce wrote:

You probably want to turn long exposure noise reduction off to eliminate the delay.

The Lumix says "long shutter noise reduction" after the exposure is finished. I saw the menu item "Long Shtr NR" and I set it off and that took care of that. On the OMD -EM5 it was on the Custom G menu "Noise Reduct". Turned it off and that removed the delay.

Thank you for the help!

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

BassmanBruce wrote:

You probably want to turn long exposure noise reduction off to eliminate the delay.

joegim Loc: Long Island, NY

BassmanBruce wrote:

You probably want to turn long exposure noise reduction off to eliminate the delay.

A follow up question. Will noise reduction done in post-processing be just as effective as in-camera noise reduction?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BassmanBruce wrote:

You probably want to turn long exposure noise reduction off to eliminate the delay.

Right. That's why I never use long exposure noise reduction. It's easier to clean up any noise in post.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

joegim wrote:

I was preparing to take some nice fireworks photos... (show quote)

Only if you set it that way! You probably had your long-exposure-noise-removal set ! What it does, it takes a second recording, matching the first in time, creating a map of the noise created in the first recording, and than subtract the "map"image from the first, hence, removing the noise recorded! And during the time of the second "recording" the camera can not be operated (because it is busy creating the "map"!

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

Definitely use the in camera long exposure noise reduction when you are not in a hurry like with the fireworks. The camera uses a black frame subtraction process for identifying and removing noise that is superior to what we can do without loosing sharpness, etc.

joegim Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice.

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

Check the recent fireworks shot on my flickr page, link below. Rather than setting the exposure normally, use a remote release with shutter on Bulb mode. Notice how on that shot of mine, I ended the exposure before it got messy. That way you open the shutter when the burst goes up, and simply close the shutter when you release the remote button. Also try setting the camera for 2 multiple exposures and you can get some interesting layered effects.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

speters wrote:

Only if you set it that way! You probably had your long-exposure-noise-removal set ! What it does, it takes a second recording, matching the first in time, creating a map of the noise created in the first recording, and than subtract the "map"image from the first, hence, removing the noise recorded! And during the time of the second "recording" the camera can not be operated (because it is busy creating the "map"!

How does this method work when the true scene is changing during the recording??

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

rehess wrote:

How does this method work when the true scene is changing during the recording??

Well you are watching the action as you start and end the exposure manually in bulb mode so you have some human input rather than a fixed shutter speed. With either method the results will be mixed and somewhat hit and miss. Fortunately the fireworks usually last a while and we can get some great exposures.

Or perhaps you asked how the multiple exposure mode works as the scene is changing? Again, there is a bit of luck involved as to how the 2 exposures will blend and look, but it is a lot of fun and can be another creative tool for fireworks. The results are most interesting.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Ernie Misner wrote:

Or perhaps you asked how the multiple exposure mode works as the scene is changing? Again, there is a bit of luck involved as to how the 2 exposures will blend and look, but it is a lot of fun and can be another creative tool for fireworks. The results are most interesting.

The method used by Pentax is a variant of HDR. They take two exposures and then combine them; noise should differ between the two, so should be washed out, but I would expect funky results from anything involving "motion". That was the basis of my question. Do they use a method similar to what Pentax does, and if so, how does it handle "motion" - when the primary part of the image is changing between the two exposures?

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

rehess wrote:

The method used by Pentax is a variant of HDR. They take two exposures and then combine them; noise should differ between the two, so should be washed out, but I would expect funky results from anything involving "motion". That was the basis of my question. Do they use a method similar to what Pentax does, and if so, how does it handle "motion" - when the primary part of the image is changing between the two exposures?

I see what you mean about the Pentax variant of HDR method. I think that is best for static subjects that are not moving. The Pentax might have a standard type of multiple exposure setting as well, and that is what I use with my Nikons. When I have it set for multiple exposure and set the number of exposures to 2, I open the shutter for one fireworks burst then close the shutter. For the 2nd burst of fireworks (that will be exposed onto the same frame) I wait until a burst goes up that will be in a slightly different location and then expose that 2nd shot. This is totally different from non-moving HDR type of exposure or merges. With standard multiple exposures you can use a couple of exposures that have moving car headlights, or static non moving subjects, doesn't matter.

Another common use for multiple exposures is shooting flowers - take one shot with the flower sharp, then zoom in a bit and take a 2nd exposure with the flower out of focus. There are many uses, whatever you can think of and it is a lot of fun.