wildlife shots

[tbrownarcher]

I know my camera (sp 550 uz) Olympus is not a point and shoot but there must be a setting where I can take quick shots.

I was out taking pictures of some very large deer and was trying to get a picture of them .. I had several oportunities that I could have gotten with film but this is digital and of course it's slower but 3 seconds to take a picture is not good.

I had the camera on full zoom because they were in the timber quite a way off and wanted to gather the 3enormity of the antlers but the camera sat there processing the focus and everything it processes before you actually take the picture and then when i pushed it all the way down it took too much time to actually begin the shot.

Of course this was just before sundown on a cloudy day but gee is this what it's supposed to do ? Isn't there another setting that is a bit quicker... everything considered by the time i decided to take a shot it was 3 seconds before i actually got a shot and the deer had wandered behind a tree or some other form of cover. They were in the open at first but how disappointing.

I know I should be anticipating the shot but with deer ya kinda got to take it when it's there.

If Anyone can help please do.

thanks,
Nate