Auto Review and Chimping

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

The first thing I do when I get a new camera is turn off Auto Review.

Auto Review is the camera setting that shows you the photo that you just took on the LCD or in the viewfinder of a mirrorless camera. On my Panasonic camera it’s set for two seconds. On a DSLR that doesn’t have a digital viewfinder you don’t have this option. With DSLR’s you often see people Chimping to check the photo they just shot on the cameras LCD monitor. It’s called “chimping” when you see people looking at the back of their camera after every photo they take.

It doesn’t matter if you see the image in the viewfinder or look at the LCD it causes you to take you attention away from the subject that you are photographing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sporting event or a portrait a lot is happening while you are looking at the previous image.

If you shoot with a Panasonic camera like I do you can find the setting to turn off Auto Review on the Custom Wrench Menu under Auto Review. Scroll down to 0 seconds and press Set. You can always check the exposure on the image you just shot by pressing the play button (and in effect “chimp.”—Joe) After you see that you have the correct exposure, just trust the camera and shoot.

Note from Joe: As sometimes happens, I have a completely different take on using Auto Review. Look for my take on this subject next week.