Looking for a Compact digital WITHOUT shutter lag

<p>Casio EX series is the only thing i've found... i want to like the Canon S90 but the shutter lag is a real turn-off. <br>

any suggestions?</p>

<p>also, is there a resource that compares shutter lag of all cameras?</p>

<p>Kodak Easyshare C315</p>

<p>The subject is more complex. It is not just the shutter lag, but more importantly the ability to auto focus in low light, and also auto focus on moving subjects.</p>

<p>Not sure if such a comparison exists, and if exists, if is of any good. Generally reading camera reviews e.g. on Amazon, can give you ideas of people's complaints, and praises. There is no one pocket camera that would be complaints free.</p>

<p>While few Canons I had , S50/S70, SD990 IS, were too slow, the Panasonix Lumix DMC-TS1 is much faster. It allows shooting from a moving car and instantly focuses in good to semi-poor lighting. When is very dark, then you need more potent focusing engine, like one in top Nikon DSLR cameras.</p>

 

<p>i settled on the sony wx 1...</p>

 

<p>Compact cameras all have very deep depth of field due to the extremely short focal lengths. Just set the focus manually at approximately where you need it, and press the button. No autofocus needed. Turn off any other unecessary gimmicks as well. Now, you can't overcome inherent limitations of sensors in terms of continuous shooting, but you can definitely get it down to very minimal shutter lug for single shots... assuming the camera has practical manual controls for these things.</p>

<p>An interesting development by Fuji:</p>

<p>http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10080505fujifilmpd.asp</p>

 

<p>I hope you can shut off AF in the WX1 else its AF lag isn't great. I concur with Pierre.</p>

<p>Ricoh GRD3 does it with its snap focus setting. Fastest compact I've ever laid hands on. Not done any techy comparisons but it must be as fast to operate as a some dslr's, and if you keep it pressed it takes a bunch of frames in a couple of seconds. Takes an age to write them to the card mind you, but hopefully you got the shot by then.</p>

What Rob said. Imaging-resource.com (probably the most trustworthy source) measured Sony WX1 shutter lag at .27 to .58 second. Fuji says shutter lag for the F300EXR will be as fast as 0.158 second, though slower with face detection and so forth. Maybe you can't wait until September, however.

<p>Assuming you're profocused and have locked in exposure with a half-press of the shutter button, the remaining perceived shutter lag is actually LCD lag. It takes a short period of time to process a frame of information from the sensor and display it on the LCD, so the LCD is not quite real-time. By contrast, an optical viewfinder works literally at the speed of light, so if you're correctly focused and exposed, the shutter trip is instantaneous with what you're seeing. The solution is to use a compact with an optical viewfinder, for instance like one of Canon's G-series cameras.</p>

<p>There are a few magazines that have testyed many P&S digital cameras (and others) for shutter lag. One is "Consumer's Reports" in the USA (I don't have the copy, but you can try their website and search either shutter lag or shutter delay) that includes this test with their comparative reports, the other is a French periodical, either "Chasseur d'Images" or "Réponses Photo", two photographic magazines. I cannot remember which of the two. I would suggest trying CR via their website.</p>

<p>You won't get a super fast response time with a digital P&S, as the autofocus and exposure determination requires a bit of time to achieve. One way to cut down on the time in some cases is to press the shutter release partially, in order to enact these two functions, then take the photo when ready.</p>

<p>It's still the LCD lag. Everyone looks at the LCD panel when shooting a pic. When the moment comes, they click, and then the review shows they missed the shot by a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second is the LCD lag. The moment had already passed when the shutter button was pressed. If you don't have an optical viewfinder, you can avoid the so-called "shutter lag" on almost any P&S simply by framing up the shot with the LCD, focusing and metering with a half press of the shutter button, looking directly at the subject, rather than at the LCD, and then tripping the shutter when the right moment comes. No more "shutter lag." It's magic.</p>

Sarah, according to dpreview.com testing the G11's "LCD lag" as you call it, the difference in half-to-full-press lag between LCD and optical viewfinder, is only about .07 second.

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong11/page5.asp

<p>"according to dpreview.com testing the G11's "LCD lag" as you call it, the difference in half-to-full-press lag between LCD and optical viewfinder, is only about .07 second."<br>

Doesn't sound much but it is time enough for an Olympic 100m sprinter in full flight to travel 8 or 10 cm - enough to ruin a shot, or miss the exact expression or arrangement that you wanted to capture. In the same time a drag car will move something like 10 metres - so it won't even be in the frame!<br>

There is a lot to be said for an optical viewfinder, pre-focussing, and a near-instant shutter action.</p>

<p>"Doesn't sound much but it is time enough for an Olympic 100m sprinter in full flight to travel 8 or 10 cm"</p>

<p><strong>Correction </strong>(I knew it seemed wrong): He will have travelled getting on for one metre. </p>

Well certainly .07 second is something Tom, but what about the other 1.0 - 1.3 second that the G11 takes to autofocus at full zoom? Almost 19 meters! (I don't believe the G11 is really that bad, but those are the numbers at DPreview.)

 

I am looking forward to buying the Fuji F300EXR in September!

<p>I use a 'toss the ball' test. If I can shoot it before my cat/dog catches it the camera passes.<br>

The G11 like my other G's failed.<br>

The Lumix LX3 passed and accepts viewfinders via the hot shoe.</p>

<p>Imaging-resource.com has the pre-focused lag times listed, the LX3 is .012, faster than alot of DSLR models</p>