Digital Camera Processing time

[superfan99]

I have been a traditional 35mm camera person and really trying to get a a grasp on this Digital Picture age. One thing i have noticed is that it takes a while between shots before you can take another. Is this just the cameras i have owened or is it this way on all digital cameras. I have both the pentax optio 5si and the Kodak 7940 .

I just would like something that i can take pictures at my rate ( like i was with 35mm) and not at the cameras rate

[Norm in Fujino]

I have been a traditional 35mm camera person and really trying to get a a grasp on this Digital Picture age. One thing i have noticed is that it takes a while between shots before you can take another.

Well, you can never get beyond the "camera's rate," but you can get a camera that has a faster rate :D . Actually, the speed at which you can take consecutive shots depends primarily on two things:
1) Picture quality setting (RAW, TIFF, high, medium, low, etc.): higher quality pictures use larger files, so require more time to write to memory For example, my Olympus C-755 produces files of about 2Mb at the highest JPEG quality setting, but if I shoot TIFF, the file size jumps to about 14MP, requiring a looot more time to record to the memory card. Similiarly, my E-300 produces files less than 1MB size at the lowest quality SQ setting, but 13.7MB when shooting RAW.
2) Size of the camera's buffer memory. The buffer is a very fast memory that allows almost instantaneous recording up to its maximum capacity. As soon as a photo is taken it is recorded in this buffer, and simultaneously it immediately begins writing to the memory card, which takes some time. This kind of memory is rather expensive, so in very general terms, more expensive cameras will have bigger buffers.

A third factor that should also be mentioned is the speed of the memory card itself. Very high speed cards like the recent Sandisk Extreme III will allow MUCH, MUCH faster file transfer (recording) if the camera supports the speed.

Best thing to advise is to read a lot of reviews before buying a camera, and look for how fast the camera can record consecutive shots. I would guess (haven't looked recently) that most average digicams have a buffer that can accept at least 3 or 4 shots at high resolution before needing some time to flush them to the memory card. Digital SLR cameras generally have the deepest buffers, and can use faster memory cards, so it may be possible to shoot continuously at some quality settings until you completely fill up the card. It should also be noted that it may be able to upgrade a camera to support larger or faster memory cards by a firmware update from the manufacturer.