I bought my wife a nice Nikon digital camera two years ago. It’s a great camera, but it has one flaw she doesn’t like…..it takes much too long for the picture to “capture/take/flash” once she depresses the button to “take” the picture.
By the time she selects her shot and tries to capture it, the person has already moved in many cases.
I’d like to buy her a “fast” camera but I don’t know what I should be looking for.
Can someone advise me on what I need to look for in a “quick” responding digital camera?
This morning I saw a Kodak camera that has a “Shutter Speed of 4 – 1/1400s”…..whatever that means????
Is this Kodak a “fast” camera?
Thanks to all that respond.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
The problem you have described is one classic difference between compact digital cameras and SLR (single lens reflex) designs. Compact digitals often have slow-updating LCD screens (that are typically used by the photographer to aim and frame) and are slow to focus and measure exposure before taking the picture. The result is that they’re great as a pocket shooter of still subjects, but not so great with things that move.
If your wife is truly interested in “moving up” to capturing moving subjects you need to be shopping for a SLR design camera. The Nikon D40, for example.
Go to your local camera store and see for yourself. Try taking some pictures with a SLR, such as the D40. You’ll immediately recognize why a SLR design is more expensive than a compact camera.
– http://www.lenslenders.com
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 5.1-Megapixel Digital Camera – Fast and Easy to Use
The camera is extremely fast in operation. The camera takes less than a second to power itself on in either review or shooting mode. It feels almost instantaneous. It can capture images at about 1.2-1.7 per second in burst mode. In single-frame mode, the camera could snap pictures as fast as I could push the shutter release button – about one a second. The focusing takes much less than a second and the shutter lag (the time between the moment you push the button and the moment when the picture is taken), when pre-focused, is almost unnoticeable.
Recommendation: I recommend Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 if you want a cool yet capable camera with 5.1-megapixel resolution and huge LCD screen that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 11×14 inches. It is extremely fast and easy to use.
Sony cybershot…..above 6.mega pixel
Canon also ok..8.1 pixel
No.
What you quoted for the Kodak camera was the ‘shutter’ speed. That is, the amount of time the camera takes in light to the sensor. Modern digital cameras no longer have a classic film shutter, but the name carries on.
The important variables in how fast a digital camera can cycle through saving images to the memory card is the speed of the computer chip in the camera (a hard thing to find out about) and the type and speed of memory card the camera uses.
Generally speaking, the more complex and large the image size is, the more processing power you’ll need to process and save the image.
I now use Olympus digital cameras due to the price and the general quality of the hardware and image results. Their memory cards come in different ‘speeds’ as well, allowing large RAW images to save to memory as fast as possible.
When I shoot an 11 megabyte RAW format, it can take six seconds to save, but that’s offset by the ultra fine quality of the finished image.
Good luck with your choice!
No, the shutter speed has nothing to do with the experience you are referring to. There are three things you can measure that give you an estimate of how “quick-responding” a camera feels to the user:
1. The power-on time. The time it takes from the moment you press the On button, to the moment it’s ready to take the first picture.
2. The shutter lag. Measured from the moment you press the shutter release, to the moment it actually captures the picture.
3. The shot-to-shot time. This is what Floyd G is referring to in one of your other answers.
I think the most important measurement in your case is number 2 above. Actually, there are two ways to measure shutter lag. The first is the total time it takes the camera to focus on the subject and then take the picture. The second is the time it takes just to take the picture, after you have pre-focused the camera by pushing the shutter release half-way. If you are just a casual point-and-shooter, then the total time is what’s important to you.
You usually won’t find the shutter lag mentioned in the manufacturer’s specifications, except where a short shutter lag time is one of the selling features of the camera. Instead, you should look at reviews such as http://www.dpreview.com.
My recommendation for a camera with a short shutter lag time is the Fujifilm FinePix F30. Also, most cameras by Ricoh are also good in this respect. In fact, most of today’s cameras have lower shutter lag times than cameras of a few years ago. There are still a few that have long shutter lag, so be careful.