Why Digital Cameras Often Shoot the Pony But Get Only the Tail

[Damion Chaplin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114860350277263753-lMyQjAxMDE2NDI4NjYyMDYzWj.html' target='_blank'>http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114860350277263753-lMyQjAxMDE2NDI4NjYyMDYzWj.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Glenn Maxwell vividly recalls the only whale-watching cruise he ever took, two years ago off Puerto Vallarta. As waves rocked the boat, he says, scores of the giant mammals leapt clear of the water. Alas, Mr. Maxwell's memories of his Mexican adventure are better than his snapshots. Knowing a photo opportunity when he saw one, the Detroit computer programmer took dozens of pictures with his $500 Olympus digital camera. But each time he pressed the button, the camera paused, the whale flopped back in the ocean, and, Mr. Maxwell says, "I only got sky or sea." Mr. Maxwell was the victim of "shutter lag" -- a maddening hesitation between the moment the button is pushed to take a picture and the time the picture is actually taken. Rarely an issue with traditional film photography, shutter lag is notorious among the 75 million owners of digital cameras, which use filmless imaging technology."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/PeacockDFC.jpg" /> <br /><br />Shutter lag was a HUGE problem when I got my first couple digital cameras, as the picture above illustrates. This peacock was facing me, very nicely filling the entire frame. Alas, by the time the camera took the picture, the peacock had lost interest/patience in me. :( My newer cameras are all Sonys, and while Sony is evil, they've always prided themselves on super-fast start-up. My main problem now is the write time after the picture was taken. Is shutter lag the bane of your existence? Have you learned to live with it, or overcome it? Tell us about it. :)

[Vincent Ferrari]

I absolutely got burned by it one too many times.

As my interest in photography (in particular lowlight street photography) grew, so did the number of occasions where my slow-assed p&amp;s digicam would not be able to take the pic I wanted. I can't even begin to tell you how many shots I missed.

I knew moving to an SLR would help, and it really did. I bought a 50mm f1.8 lens, and now I can take beautiful shots with a candle as my only light.

SLRs aren't for everyone, but if you're the kind of photog who is sick of being smacked by slow shutters, this may be a great option. Yes they're bigger. Yes they're more expensive.

One thing you'll always get, though, is the picture you want.

And yes, Sony not only has the fastest startup, but also the fastest shutters. Unfortunately, they're Sony, meaning you're committed to memory sticks and such. Sony is indeed evil.

[yada88]

I use a Canon powershot, and what I do is hold the shutter down half way, which engages the auto focus. Doing so allows me to wait for as long as I want to take the shot, with near instant shot taking as soon as I fully depress it.

[Vincent Ferrari]

As long as your subject is either standing still or at the same distance / focal length... Honestly, that is a very good solution, but more likely than not you want to catch a quick moment with very little setup, and that's hard to do with a p&amp;s.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

There's also skill and experience. :P

Most cameras are decently fast nowadays, not just Sonys. In fact Sonys and Nikons were among the worst during the times when a 2 megapixel camera was a big deal...

[David Horn]

Why aren't digital cameras continuously auto-focusing, so there's no issue with shutter lag? Problem solved. If a video camera can do it, surely a still camera can do the same thing?

[Vincent Ferrari]

I don't know how many P&amp;S cameras do it, but my Rebel XT has a mode called Servo mode where the camera continuously focuses. I don't know of a non SLR with similar functionality...

I reckon it has something to do with the fact that most P&amp;S cameras don't have multiple focal points, whereas my Rebel has 7...

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

No it doesn't work that way. It still needs to focus to the point which you want it to be focused, and until you get a camera that can read your mind 10 seconds ahead, Continous AF is not the answer.

Multiple focus points is easy to implement on digital P&amp;S because the same CCD used for capturing photos and providing the live view is also doing the AF via edge contrast detection. It's up to the manufacturer to implement the software to let you move the AF point around.