Do you "chimp" too much?

[Paladin3]

Back when digital SLR cameras first came out I was a newspaper shooter and some of us were overly taken with the ability to instantly see our shots on the camera LCD screen. No sooner had we pressed the shutter release than we would automatically take the cameras away from our eye to review what we had just shot. The act was normally accompanied by lots of "ohhs" and "ahhhs" so we started calling the act "chimping", as in standing around making noise like a monkey with a new toy.

The problem was that any time spent chimping meant your eye was away from the viewfinder and your attention away from the subject. I found myself missing a lot of good shots because of chimping and I had to force myself to concentrate on the shot and to wait to review my work until later. It's a bad habit that I am still occasionally guilty of today.

Does anyone else find themselves chimping too much?

 

[nboy22]

I do it all the time, but then again I'm not doing professional photography yet so it really doesn't matter too much. I don't ohh and ahh though, just check out the focus and make sure the pictures were in focus so I know if I need to try again

 

[Krioni]

I don't.... i just try to compose stuff the best I can, then review when I get on a better screen in my office.

 

[weez82]

It's both good and bad. It depends on what type of photography you're doing. When Im out shooting nature shots (landscapes, waterfalls, forests, ect, ect) I find it very helpful to look at photo I just shot to see if I like the exposure, comp, ect. But If im out shooting things that are moving around a lot (people, sports, ect) than no, I just keep shooting

 

[xchangx]

I do it because there are certain shots I need to get (mainly players) I can check real quick if I got it. If I did, good... if not try again.

One other thing I do is review images while on the field. For example, during a football game, I usually review my images on the camera during timeouts or injuries. I have tight deadlines so I'll flag a few images during those breaks so that during halftime I won't have to look through the images. Just import, tag and upload.

 

[JohnnyRebel]

When setting up I take test shots and view the screen to see if any adjustments are called for. Once I start, I only look if it seems that conditions have changed. Otherwise, I trust that I set it all up correctly at the start. Learning to shoot film required a lot of preplanning, and those habits serve the digital age well.

 

[Throckmorton]

No. My camera is set to review for 2 seconds, and then the image is gone

 

[CuriousMike]

It depends on the situation.

Generally, no.

If I've asked someone to pose, I might to check focus and lighting.
If i'm in a tricky lighting situation, I might chimp to verify exposure.

 

[twistedlogic]

If I've asked someone to pose, I might to check focus and lighting.
If i'm in a tricky lighting situation, I might chimp to verify exposure.

Same here.

I have both my bodies set to not show the image preview after capture. Too many times I go to change settings only to find that I'm scrolling through my shots instead of adjusting the aperture.

 

[corkyg]

And, that's why some folks like Live View.

 

[Paladin3]

In retrospect, I might have started this thread more to see if the term 'chimping' was at all common than for any other reason. LoL.

Edit: Well, a quick trip to Google shows that it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimping. I can't remember where I heard the term first.

 

[GoSharks]

Rarely, and then only to check the histogram.