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How do I get rid of the delay on my digital camera?
Aberdeen Angus
20-06-2010
When I had my old 35mm I could take really good 'action' photo's. Now with my digital camera it seems to have a 1 second delay and therefore missing the 'action' shot. so any ideas on how to get rid of the delay?
MrKev
20-06-2010
Buy a better camera.

Shutter-lag is well known with digital cameras. Pay a bit more and you'll get one with less or imperceptible lag.
PrinceGaz
21-06-2010
Pre-focus by holding the shutter button halfway before actually taking the shot. If you don't prefocus, pretty much any digital camera will have noticeable lag, whereas once prefocused, most digicams (even cheap ones) will have almost negligible shutter lag.
Darthchaffinch
21-06-2010
buy a dslr
Aberdeen Angus
21-06-2010
Originally Posted by Darthchaffinch:
“buy a dslr”

Which one?
MrKev
21-06-2010
Plenty of info on Google and the various camera review sites. Difficult to tell you "which one" without any other details.
clonmult
21-06-2010
Originally Posted by Darthchaffinch:
“buy a dslr”

Won't get rid of the problem though.

Its just the focus "lag", that exists on all cameras, period. Although the differences in speed will vary. And its not specific to digital cameras - it existed before on auto focus SLRs and compacts. It didn't exist as such when everything was manual though.

As PrinceGaz said - prefocus is your answer. If you know where the action is going to be taking place, pre-focus on that area (hold the shutter button down halfway), and then when it happens, press the rest of the way.

I remember hearing about some people trying to take photos of the bikes at the TT - even with an SLR (and a good one), catching something flying past at 160+mph is practically impossible without pre-focusing.
Pucky
21-06-2010
The memory card you're using can also make a difference.. If you have a cheap no-brand card then it will be slower to write the information.

I do a lot of aviation photography with a Canon DSLR and have very little problem with lag - and I do a lot of pictures of fast jets - Typhoon, Red Arrows etc.
Smiley433
21-06-2010
Sorry, this is a bit OT.

I was using pre-focus when I was taking pictures of my brother water-skiing - taking pics from a moving speedboat is not the most stable of platforms. So I was pointing the camera slightly to the right with pre-focus and waited for him to come into shot before taking the picture. Most have turned out blurry as the camera was focussing on the banks of the loch and not the skier.
dodgygeeza
21-06-2010
Originally Posted by Pucky:
“The memory card you're using can also make a difference..”

True, but not relevant to what the OP is asking about. A faster memory card won't do anything to reduce focus / shutter lag

As PrinceGaz said, the delay you're talking about will be caused by focusing rather than the shutter itself. Also, bear in mind that if you're using a live view LCD rather than an optical viewfinder then you're introducing yet more delay as the screen updates slightly behind what the camera's sensor is seeing at that instant. An SLR is not the only way around that particlar problem but admittedly it's quite hard to find a compact with an optical viewfinder these days.

First thing to try is definitely get the hang of the two-stage shutter button. A half-press will engage autofocus so you have to focus first and wait for the action to happen with the button half-pressed. Then push it in all the way when you want to take the picture and you'll find it a lot faster.
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