Shutter lag

[Elan Feingold]

Any chance shutter lag in the 880 will be improved with a firmware update? Also, can anyone explain exactly what causes shutter lag? I can't imagine what it's doing between pushing the button and opening the shutter.

Thanks,

-elan

 

[dan23614]

The lag is caused by the camera focusing - approx 1 second from button press to shutter opening according to Phil's review. Some amount of lag is unavoidable with autofocus cameras (or manual ones for that matter). You can eliminate some of the lag by having the camera in continuous autofocus (reduces to 0.5 seconds) You can eliminate almost all of the lag by half pressing the shutter button which causes the camera to prefocus. Then pressing the rest of the way takes the picture almost instanteously (0.1 seconds).

Any chance shutter lag in the 880 will be improved with a firmware
update? Also, can anyone explain exactly what causes shutter lag?
I can't imagine what it's doing between pushing the button and
opening the shutter.

Thanks,

-elan

 

[Pat Traynor]

It's got to be more than that. My film camera is a Canon EOS. The zoom lens I have for that weighs more than my entire CP990, but it manages to auto-focus that lens and take the shot in about a tenth of a second.

The very top of my wishlist would be a handy button on the camera (not a menu option) that would do all that prefocusing exposure-setting that needs to be done before the picture is taken so that when I push the shutter release, it would take the picture THEN. Sometimes I'll be shooting at parties, and that perfect moment when everyone looks just right will be long gone after that "one-thousand-one" count.

Any chance shutter lag in the 880 will be improved with a firmware
update? Also, can anyone explain exactly what causes shutter lag?
I can't imagine what it's doing between pushing the button and
opening the shutter.

Thanks,

-elan

 

[Steve Mason]

I shoot with my EOS and my 950 the same way, half-press, wait for focus confirmation, and then press. I often leave my EOS in center target focus mode, focus on the subject, re-compose, and shoot. Yes my EOS focusses way faster, but once you get used to the half press, there's not many shots missed. If I'm in low light (parties, receptions) where my 950 has trouble focussing, I switch to manual.

It's got to be more than that. My film camera is a Canon EOS. The
zoom lens I have for that weighs more than my entire CP990, but it
manages to auto-focus that lens and take the shot in about a tenth
of a second.

 

[steve chen]

Someone mentioned the autofocus of the EOS file camera is way faster. Are there digital cameras that focus as fast ? Do you have to go into the D1x/D1h category ?

 

[Tony Parakka]

Shutter lag has lost me umpteen "photographic moments" I did some looking and found, several things do go on from the time the button is pressed to actual shutter release. In the full auto mode, there is the focussing do be done as was mentioned here, but beyond that, camera has to adjust exposure, adjust balance, clear buffer.. in short, everything a "pro" does manually, the camera tries to do with its built-in algorithms! I found with higher resolution, the lag seems to increase.. With my CP5000 in full resolution, and auto mode.. when fully zoomed out, it is anywhere form 4 to 5 seconds of lag. In wide angle mode, it reduces to 3 to 4 seconds. I do not know the reason for this. In that time, never mind my subject having turned off his million $ smile, I actually shot his backside!!

Everyone talks about the half press method. It does wonders to the release time.. matter of fact, when we half press the button, the camera locks focus, calculates exposure, does most of the detail work and is pretty much ready for the shot to be taken! Shutter lag thus is minimal. Doingthe half press however assumes, the subject will be where the autofocus was done, lighting will not have changed etc.. etc...

I have found, going into full manual mode and actually programming the focus distance -ie. doing all the detail work yourself, pretty near eliminates the shutter-lag! But I am no pro, my pictures in manual mode come out over-exposed, underexposed -almost never properly exposed :-0
yes.. yes.. I am till tryingto figure out this 1000$ gadget

My 2 cents worth..

The very top of my wishlist would be a handy button on the camera
(not a menu option) that would do all that prefocusing
exposure-setting that needs to be done before the picture is taken
so that when I push the shutter release, it would take the picture
THEN. Sometimes I'll be shooting at parties, and that perfect
moment when everyone looks just right will be long gone after that
"one-thousand-one" count.

Any chance shutter lag in the 880 will be improved with a firmware
update? Also, can anyone explain exactly what causes shutter lag?
I can't imagine what it's doing between pushing the button and
opening the shutter.

Thanks,

-elan