Shutter lag

I was in India a couple of months ago. We were driving down the highway
when some cow/bull/steer came running across the road in front of us and
knocked an oncoming Indian couple off a motorcycle right in front of us. I
grabbed my Sony DSC-F828 to quickly snap a photo but before the camera
turned itself on to the photo ready state, the couple had righted their
motorcycle and were back on it. I timed my camera then and it takes
probably 6 or 7 seconds from switch on to photo ready. A lot can happen
during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?

Geee, I hope the camera wasn't too shaken.. Did you ask them to do it
again only slower? |O:

Anyway, Sony F828 start-up-time is approximately 1.6 seconds. Get a
new stopwatch, or take it back, it's VERY faulty. (Don't believe me? -
check www.dpreview.com and there are other sources..)

The 828 has one of the fastest startup times of any prosumer, and its
(bright-light) shutter lag is also towards the best of the bunch. I
use this camera regularly in my work. It's not perfect by a long shot,
but if you want closer to instantaneous, forget prosumer and go SLR.

Ed Mullikin wrote:

A lot can happen
during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?

Start-up time and shutter lag are the main reasons I moved to dSLR,
especially for taking pictures of my infant son (and I suppose later
when he starts falling of his bike). I no longer have any gripes
whatsoever on start-up (instant) and lag. Only the autofocus is
sometimes a bit slow (hunting), but with the AF-S lens this is
not much of a problem. Sadly in low-light I tend to favour my
50mm f1.8 but that's not AF-S. Still, it's MILES different than
our other digital.

--
Ken Tough

For those of you who think of me as callous, I was in a moving van and in
six seconds or so they were up and back on the cycle. What would you asses
have me do?

"Ken Tough" wrote in message
...
Ed Mullikin wrote:

A lot can happen
during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?

Start-up time and shutter lag are the main reasons I moved to dSLR,
especially for taking pictures of my infant son (and I suppose later
when he starts falling of his bike). I no longer have any gripes
whatsoever on start-up (instant) and lag. Only the autofocus is
sometimes a bit slow (hunting), but with the AF-S lens this is
not much of a problem. Sadly in low-light I tend to favour my
50mm f1.8 but that's not AF-S. Still, it's MILES different than
our other digital.

--
Ken Tough

Ed Mullikin wrote:
For those of you who think of me as callous, I was in a moving van and in
six seconds or so they were up and back on the cycle. What would you asses
have me do?




Think of your first aid kit before thinking of the camera, I would
suspect....


--
Ron Hunter

"Ed Mullikin" wrote in message
news:Ga5Md.80358$Tf5.67939@lakeread03...
For those of you who think of me as callous, I was in a moving van and in
six seconds or so they were up and back on the cycle. What would you
asses
have me do?

It's sort of complicated. If the people were Untouchables, you did exactly
the right thing, but if they were of the Brahmin caste, you should have
stopped and offered to help. The humans were absolutely inconsequential,
though, as you really should have been concerned about the poor cow!

You're a marked man now in the sight of Vishnu. Good luck with that!

Ed Mullikin wrote:

For those of you who think of me as callous, I was in a moving van and in
six seconds or so they were up and back on the cycle. What would you asses
have me do?

Hey, mine was just a mild joke, I know there's nothing you
could have done in six seconds. I was giving an honest
reply about camera performance.

"Ken Tough" wrote
Ed Mullikin wrote:

A lot can happen
during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?

Start-up time and shutter lag are the main reasons I moved to dSLR,
especially for taking pictures of my infant son (and I suppose later
when he starts falling of his bike). I no longer have any gripes
whatsoever on start-up (instant) and lag. Only the autofocus is
sometimes a bit slow (hunting), but with the AF-S lens this is
not much of a problem. Sadly in low-light I tend to favour my
50mm f1.8 but that's not AF-S. Still, it's MILES different than
our other digital.

--
Ken Tough

Ed Mullikin wrote:

A lot can happen during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?

Only in point&shoot type of cameras, because of its design. DSLRs are
just like film cameras in shutter lag terms.

--
chidalgo

Ed Mullikin wrote:
I was in India a couple of months ago. We were driving down the highway
when some cow/bull/steer came running across the road in front of us and
knocked an oncoming Indian couple off a motorcycle right in front of us. I
grabbed my Sony DSC-F828 to quickly snap a photo but before the camera
turned itself on to the photo ready state, the couple had righted their
motorcycle and were back on it. I timed my camera then and it takes
probably 6 or 7 seconds from switch on to photo ready. A lot can happen
during that period of time. Is this time lag typical of most digital
cameras?


The Ricoh Caplio R1 and R1V are a LOT faster, 1-2 seconds max.

Tony M

chidalgo wrote:
Ed Mullikin wrote:

A lot can happen during that period of time. Is this time lag typical
of most digital cameras?


Only in point&shoot type of cameras, because of its design. DSLRs
are just like film cameras in shutter lag terms.

--
chidalgo

Even the new P&S cameras have very short shutter lags now. I have no
problem with it at all on my Kodak DX6440, and it is a year old.