Shutter lag is arguably one of the biggest causes of frustration for digital camera owners.

(Now is the time in this article when I would ask you to imagine you’re at an important event and something is happening quickly and you pull out your camera as fast as you can and hit the shutter only to have your subject half out of the frame or not looking at the camera anymore or…you probably don’t have to imagine this because I’m about 99% positive this has happened to you at one point or another.)

What is shutter lag?

Shutter lag is the time that elapses between the moment you press the shutter button and the picture is captured.  This can range anywhere from unnoticeable milliseconds to a full second or more.  Digital SLRs don’t have much of a problem with shutter lag as they fall in the milliseconds range.

It’s the point and shoot digicams that have the biggest problems with shutter lag.  This is because the smaller cameras are having to process light and focus on the subject in order to render a good capture.

Reducing shutter lag

One thing you can do to reduce shutter lag is to try the two step shutter press technique (also known as the half press).  If you press the shutter halfway down you’ll tell the camera to lock in the focus and the exposure.  Then you can press the shutter the rest of the way when you’re ready to actually capture your image.  You’ll find that you’ve reduced the shutter lag considerably with this step.

Light is a factor.  The darker the scene the more time it takes for the camera to adjust settings so you’ll want to anticipate the action a little more when the scenes are darker.

Fully charged batteries also seem to help in reducing shutter lag.

Newer and more expensive digital point and shoot cameras tend to have less shutter lag as they are using faster processors inside the cameras.

Have you missed captured moments due to shutter lag?  Do you have techniques you use to reduce shutter lag in your digital point and shoot camera?

Photograph Shutter Lag by Sirelroka