Camera Speed

fatsheep · Jan 2, 2008

My Fujifilm Finepix S700 Digital just arrived today. It is my first camera. Overall, I am very pleased. It seems to take very high quality pictures and has a lot of manual features that I could make use of with more practice. However, one thing I was not expecting was the shutter delay (both in manual and auto modes). There is a significant amount of delay between when I depress the shutter button and when the picture is actually taken. It's just enough to get a bit annoying when I'm trying to snap a shot a good facial shot of a dog that never keeps its head still. I've put the camera in high speed shooting mode but that doesn't seem to reduce the delay by that much.

When I bought this camera, I thought the shutter speed was how long it took to take the picture. I saw that the camera had 1/1000 shutter speed so I thought that would be the amount of time between pressing the shutter button and the taking of the picture. However, that is obviously not the case.

How is the speed of a camera measured? How much would I have to spend to get a camera with little or no "delay"? Is what I have described above (the delay) common in digital cameras? Thanks,

- a newbie photographer

usayit · Jan 2, 2008

There are several things on a camera that can be explained in terms of "speed".

1) Maximum shutter - Fastest shutter setting on the camera ..The shortest amount of time the shutter is open allowing light to expose the film/sensor. In your camera's case, 1/1000 of second exposure time.

2) Frames per second - The fastest the camera can expose frames. Typically 2-3 frames per second. Higher end cameras are 7-10 frames per second.

3) Shutter lag - The amount of time between the press of the shutter button to the actual exposure on the film/sensor

4) Maximum ISO - How sensitive the film sensor can go to. ISO 100 is less sensitive than ISO 1600.

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. But all 4 are unrelated features of a camera. Your camera has the ability to obtain 1/1000 of second exposure (shortest time the shutter is open allowing light to pass). This is different from the time between the shutter press to the actual trip of the shutter.

Unfortunately, the shutter lag you experiencing is typical for a P&S camera. You would have to move to a Digital SLR in order to get almost instantaneous shutter reaction. Pretty much any DSLR will have very little shutter lag... choosing one is a topic that deserves a little research and/or its own thread.

Alphaem · Jan 2, 2008

Hello,
You would need to buy an SLR digital camera, that would cost you around $500.00. I believe the camera that you have has an electronic view finder, and it seems that all cameras with electronic viewfinders lag just a little bit when you press the shutter. The 1000th of a second shutter speed is how long the shutter stays open during exposure. The 1000th of a second is good for stopping action when you have an SLR, but the lag time that you get with your camera means that you miss the quick action sometimes. When you buy your next camera, talk to a couple of sales people or ask questions in this forum to help you understand some of the operations of the different types of cameras. Good Luck

fatsheep · Jan 2, 2008

So just about any DSLR camera would have little or no "shutter lag"? I've looked at several different cameras on newegg but I haven't found a shutter lag specification. For example, here's a Cannon Rebel (DSLR) but unless I'm missing something the "shutter lag" is not listed in the tech specs. How are you supposed to find out how much shutter lag there is on a camera?

Also, the S700 is listed as an "SLR-like" camera. Does this just mean it has more manual settings than most point and shoot cameras?

Lastly, I was thinking of getting this book. Does anyone here have it? If so would you recommend it for a beginner like myself?

usayit · Jan 2, 2008

You won't find shutter lag specifications in most published marketing numbers for various SLRs. For SLRs, it is so ever slight that generally it is not worth mentioning.

"SLR-like" is a marketing term... doesn't really hold any value in my opinion.

Yes.. thats a good book.

Happy Hour · Jan 2, 2008

Alphaem said:
Hello,
You would need to buy an SLR digital camera, that would cost you around $500.00. I believe the camera that you have has an electronic view finder, and it seems that all cameras with electronic viewfinders lag just a little bit when you press the shutter. The 1000th of a second shutter speed is how long the shutter stays open during exposure. The 1000th of a second is good for stopping action when you have an SLR, but the lag time that you get with your camera means that you miss the quick action sometimes. When you buy your next camera, talk to a couple of sales people or ask questions in this forum to help you understand some of the operations of the different types of cameras. Good Luck

this is true but one thing to add is you have to have good lenses with the dlsr. some of my crappier lenses have a real slow focus on it. which can also delay the shot.

Sideburns · Jan 2, 2008

Well, the shutter lag in SLR cameras is measured in 100ths of a second...so it's probably not published by the manufacturer...

But, the book you chose is probably one of the most popular books on this forum. I have it, and I like it a lot. Too bad there has been NO brother blue sky since I bought it about 2 weeks ago.