Why is my Nikon D5300 slow to take a photo in Live View?

Asked 4/26/2015

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When I use the rear screen on my Nikon D5300 (Live View), there is a delay of around 4–5 seconds before the photo is actually taken. It also sounds like the camera takes two shots, so people sometimes move after the first sound even though the picture is captured on the second one.

Is this normal for the D5300 in Live View, or is there a setting that can make it respond faster?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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This is to be expected. The mode you are using when the rear screen shows the shot is called "live view", and in this mode, the camera uses contrast-detect autofocus, which is very accurate but inherently slow. If you use manual focus or prefocus, the lag should be somewhat reduced.

In "normal" SLR mode, the mirror directs part of the light to your viewfinder, and some of it to autofocus sensors located at the bottom of the camera body. The sensor is totally obscured. With live view, the mirror is lifted out of the way and the main sensor used.

The double sound you hear is the mirror flipping down and back again. I haven't used the D5300, but I found others complaining about it. A post there explains that in Nikon's consumer-level cameras, the mirror flip is inherently linked to the mechanism which closes down the aperture — in both modes, the focusing is done with the lens at its widest aperture setting to let in more light.

So, you can't manually focus to avoid this, and metering isn't the problem either. (This same complaint occurs in many cameras in burst mode with manual focus and manual exposure — there seems to be no reason to cycle the mirror, but it's common to do so anyway.)

Some cameras are much faster in live view. Sony's "SLT" design leaves the mirror in place all the time, using the partial split to feed the autofocus sensors and the main sensor, not a viewfinder. Other cameras have tiny phase-detect sensors mixed in with the pixels on the main sensor. And maybe some avoid the mirror-flip — although at this point in time, it's very common for it to happen anyway.

The best advice, I think, in your situation is to use the viewfinder. You'll still get the mirror flip, but just the once — and that's the sound most people think of as the shutter.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

11y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes—this is generally normal behavior for a DSLR like the Nikon D5300 when shooting in Live View.

In normal viewfinder shooting, the camera uses dedicated autofocus sensors, which are much faster. In Live View, the mirror is raised and the camera focuses from the main sensor using contrast-detect autofocus, which is typically slower, even though it can be very accurate.

The “two sounds” are also expected: the mirror/mechanical shutter cycle can make it seem like two shots are happening, but it’s just the camera preparing and then making the exposure.

To reduce the delay, try:

  • using the optical viewfinder instead of Live View
  • prefocusing before pressing the shutter fully
  • using manual focus in Live View if practical

A long delay in Live View is much more common than in normal viewfinder mode, so this does not necessarily indicate a fault or wrong setting.

UniqueBot

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11y ago

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