For the most part, I suspect it is because they either don’t know how to turn the flash off, or can’t be bothered, or don’t realise it won’t affect the distant subject, or that their camera has no facility to suppress the flash (rare).
However, exposure considerations aside, the photos will be different if they include some near objects, such as people in the crowd - a photo without the flash will tend to show these as dark - almost silhouettes, whereas a photo taken with the flash will ‘fill’ the foreground. Either type of photograph may be the desired end result and so I would venture to suggest that some(although probably not many) people actually want to get parts of the nearby crowd in their shot (perhaps to capture the atmosphere of the event) and are deliberately using the flash to this end.
This is yet again another wonderful “smart” feature combined with dumb users. If you press the button down fully and then let go, the camera will take about 2 seconds to autofocus and adujst the light levels and then shoot. The correct procedure is to aim at the target and press the button half-way until the focus is correct and then push it down fully when you want the photo. Of course, nobody ever reads instruction manuals so 90% of camera users don’t do this and take pictures of what happens 2 seconds after the big event.
While I agree with the most of the posts here, I have to defend some of the ‘clueless’. My wifes P&S will default to flash if the exposure looks dark and the picture would otherwise be subject to motion blur. If you pull it out and take a shot, then the flash will fire. You have to make a conscious effort to turn off the flash.
Sometimes you can get decent pics when using a flash at a distance of a dark subject, since it forces the camera to use a 1/60 second exposure for the flash and you won’t get any motion blur. The exposure will be underexposed, but often the lab will push the development of the print to show some of the detail.
As to the delay, I recently bought a Fuji S7000 and the delay that the autofocus performs is annoying. It is difficult to use in the same manner as a P&S when you are trying to get candid shots. There is a couple second delay while the lens motor whirs back and forth to find the right focus, which is not conducive to taking a picture of the kids running towards you. There is a manual focus ring, but it is by-wire and not mechanical which also takes some time to use. For the better shots I half-press the shutter to lock the exposure and focus and then frame and wait for the right moment to shoot.
The nice thing about digital is that I can take a hundred shots in an outing without worrying about the film and processing costs. The time that it takes to select and post-process the images is another matter…
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was at the summit of Haleakala on Maui. It had just gotten dark, and everyone was watching the spectacular Milky Way, with thousands of stars so dense that it seemed like a long cloud across the sky. Sure enough, people were photographing it with flashes. I wonder how many of them actually thought that the light from their flash was reaching these distant stars (instantaneously), and enhancing their light for a better picture.
Isn’t there a battery commercial out there now that shows a bunch of flashes going off in a stadium and all but one stop flashing… proving that these batteries last longer in digital cameras?
That one cracks me up. Those batteries would last a helluva lot longer if you turned the damn thing off.
Yes, I was referring to the cameras with red-eye reducers. Press the buttons, set off a mini-rave in your hand, and a eventually you’ve get a real flash with exposure. When Barry’s halfway to first.