The curse of shutter lag
By Marc Perton
Good article in The Wall Street Journal about digicam shutter lag:
While there are ways around this problem—most notably the commonly used “half press” trick—consumers shouldn’t have to resort to workarounds when paying $500 for a digicam. And, the fact is, the compact digicam is now a relatively mature product, and there’s no excuse for this problem to still exist. Instead of cramming 8 megapixel sensors and useless high ISO functions into compacts, manufacturers should be tackling the shutter lag problem. It can be done. About two years ago, I picked up what is still one of my favorite subcompacts: a Kyocera SL400R. Not only was it incredibly small and sleek, but it had virtually no shutter lag, and had the most advanced burst mode available on any consumer digicam (and even many pro models): 3.5 fps until the card was full. Unfortunately, Kyocera later got out of the digicam business, and nobody bothered to pick up on the company’s tech. But if they could do this two years ago on a subcompact, others should be able to pick up the ball and run with it today.
Good article in The Wall Street Journal about digicam shutter lag:
Most digital cameras still don’t provide what every film camera does—the ability to time a shot by pressing the button at the moment the baby smiles, the cat pounces or the Little Leaguer hits the ball. ... Camera makers didn’t want to take the snap out of snapshots when they developed digital cameras. But to hold down costs, they needed to make the specialized semiconductor that captures the image do a lot of preparatory work, calculating light levels and focal distance. ... In the age of film, when the button was pressed, the picture was captured in an instant. In the vast majority of digital cameras, there’s a delay that can last as long as two seconds.
While there are ways around this problem—most notably the commonly used “half press” trick—consumers shouldn’t have to resort to workarounds when paying $500 for a digicam. And, the fact is, the compact digicam is now a relatively mature product, and there’s no excuse for this problem to still exist. Instead of cramming 8 megapixel sensors and useless high ISO functions into compacts, manufacturers should be tackling the shutter lag problem. It can be done. About two years ago, I picked up what is still one of my favorite subcompacts: a Kyocera SL400R. Not only was it incredibly small and sleek, but it had virtually no shutter lag, and had the most advanced burst mode available on any consumer digicam (and even many pro models): 3.5 fps until the card was full. Unfortunately, Kyocera later got out of the digicam business, and nobody bothered to pick up on the company’s tech. But if they could do this two years ago on a subcompact, others should be able to pick up the ball and run with it today.
