On Photography
By Robert de Gast June 16, 2006


Without delay …

There are now more than 75 million digital camera users in the United States, and the annoying shutter delay that occurs with most of the cameras is the bane of many shutterbugs. Shutter delay is the time lag between pressing the shutter button and the camera's recording the picture. With point-and-shoot digital cameras you must wait after each shot as the camera processes the image.

This delay can be maddening and could be a major problem for recording fast-moving subjects such as animals, sports events and children. Most models let you shoot an image every second or so, but a few make you wait several seconds, or even more. This may frustrate you when you're taking photographs in sequence.

Digital cameras can readily be divided into three categories: The compact/subcompact point-and-shoot variety (US$150-$300) with shutter delays from two to three seconds; advanced compact cameras (US $300-$600) with delays of one to three seconds; and single-lens-reflex (SLR) cameras (US $800-$1,500), which have no noticeable shutter delay.

A small company in England has done all of us (well, some of us) a big service by publishing a Digital Camera Shutter Lag Comparison Table. Here are some of the worst offenders with delays of more than one second: Canon IXUS I Zoom; Canon Powershot 580; Fuji Finepix A350; Konica Minolta Dimage X1; Nikon Coolpix L4; Olympus C-180, FE110 and FE100 and Pentax Optio S50 and S6.

When shooting a sequence of five pictures, some cameras require more than 20 (!) seconds. The five worst were found to be the Konica Minolta Dimage X1; Olympus FE 110 and Pentax Optio S55, S6 and S60.

One way to speed the process somewhat is to pre-focus by pressing the shutter halfway down until a slight resistance is felt. Selecting "continuous" mode on some cameras can provide a "burst" that allows you to shoot several shots within a few seconds, giving you a better chance at capturing the action picture you wanted.

Using the shutter release button on digital cameras is quite different from using one on a film camera. With a film camera, the shutter is pressed in a single step. However, it's a two-step process when using a digicam. When the shutter release button is pressed halfway, both exposure and focus are locked for as long as you hold it in that position. This gives the sensor, the semiconductor that captures the image, a chance to do some of the preparatory work before you depress the shutter fully and actually take the picture. An indicator on the LCD screen, in the viewfinder or a small light near the optical viewfinder glows steadily when focus and exposure are confirmed. Some cameras won't let you take the picture until this has been achieved.

A recent front-page story in The Wall Street Journal noted the frustration of many shutterbugs. "I hate the delay on my camera," said Douglas Katz, a Boston neurologist and father of two. Since going digital, he says: "I have missed many perfect child expressions, only to get the top of a head of half a body" because the children moved before the camera clicked.

Camera makers say they have made digital shutter lag a lot shorter on their newest cameras, especially higher-priced models. "Shutter lag has been reduced dramatically," says Darin Pepple, marketing manager for Fujifilm USA. "But the lower you go in price, the lower the speed because there's less processing power."

Since there is no film cost involved, it pays to shoot off a few frames in the store before buying and check whether the delay is acceptable to you. For right now, if you refuse to deal with the frustration that goes with the digital revolution, the only way out is to buy an SLR. And you could do worse!


Robert de Gast lectures and offers short photography tutorials. He can be reached at 152-7396 or by email at robertdegast@hotmail.com.