Log in

View Full Version : Shopping for a Camera with Low Shutter Lag is Harder than You Think


Chris Gohlke
05-11-2007, 10:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/technology/10basics.html?ex=1336449600&en=a91989bdc392c208&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/technology/10basics.html?ex=1336449600&en=a91989bdc392c208&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink</a><br /><br /></div><i>"DIGITAL cameras are amazing. Even compact digital cameras selling for less than $100 take photographs with great resolution. The point-and-shoot cameras are great, that is, as long as the subject of the photo is not moving very fast. But if the photographer is trying to catch the moment that the little soccer player kicks in his first goal or when the black Labrador leaps in the air to snag the Frisbee, then he may find a picture of an empty field or a blue sky. The compact digital camera can take so long to react after you snap the shutter release button that the moment has passed and the desired image is never captured. The problem is called shutter lag. “It’s the No. 1 dissatisfier that we hear about,” said Bob Gann, Hewlett-Packard’s digital imaging systems architect. But avoiding it, or minimizing it in the next camera you buy — well, that is a tricky problem."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/10basic.190.jpg" /><br /><br />I agree 1000%. My wife has a Polaroid camera that cost under $100 that take pretty nice shots, but like most cheaper cameras, the shutter lag is a killer. We take a lot of pictures of our three four-legged children and I can't tell you how often we miss the really great shot by a 1/4 second.

Jason Dunn
05-14-2007, 07:10 PM
Shutter lag is killer on almost all consumer-grade cameras. A big part of the problem is the auto-focus...the best way to minimize this is to press and hold the button down half-way before you want to take the photo so that the focus is prepped, the flash is charged, etc...then you just press down to take the picture.

This is one reason why I looooove my DSLR. ;-)