Red eye reduction? Turn it off
Thursday, December 3rd 2009 @ 3:55 PM (not yet rated)
What causes red eye in photographs?
It is caused by the on-camera flash reflecting off the retina at the back of the eye and only occurs with on- camera flash because the flash is so close to the lens. You will never have red eye with off camera flash.
Red eye reduction is a common feature on modern cameras. It works by putting out a bright light prior to taking the photograph, causing the pupils to constrict and reducing the chance of red eye. It does not eliminate red eye, however, and it can cause problems.
The first problem is that the people you are photographing may interpret the red eye reduction light as the flash and will look away just as you take the "real" picture.
Red eye reduction causes a lag between the time you press the button and the actual taking of the photograph so if you are trying to capture that perfect moment, it is long gone by the time the shutter opens.
Fixing red eye after the fact is not that hard. We can teach you how to do that here at MPM, so our advice is to turn off the red eye reduction on the camera.
