Do you think its faulty or just want sympathy? 😉
Slow focus aka shutter lag. You want to take a pic of mate as he rides over a log. Point camera at log and press shutter down halfway, camera should focus (prefocus) on log and charge the flash if needed, mine will beep when the flash is ready. Keep the buttom pressed halfway and the camera will remember the focus setting and when the rider comes into frame you’ll get an instant shot.
This is also useful if you want to get a blurred backround and crisp rider as they speed past…choose where you want to take the shot, then find something like a fencepost or rock on the trail (not the horizon) that is the same distance from you as the rider will be, and roughly the same brightness. Halfpress shutter to prefocus, then when the camera is ready, point at the rider and track him as he rides towards you. When he passes the chosen spot, take the photo whilst still following the rider.
If you want to trick the camera into turning off the flash, prefocus on something the correct distance away but is a little brighter than normal, to force flash on, point towards something darker to prefocus. This’ll change other settings like shutter time so might still result in a crappy shot.
Check your camera will prefocus like this in the manual before trying it, but all the ones I’ve used do it.
