technical reasons for shutter lag

[Nyberg]

hey there!
i'm new to this forum, so i don't know if this topic was perhaps discussed to death...

i just wanted to know if anyone with technical knowledge can tell me where "shutter lag" comes from. i've come across many threads in other forums where shutter lag was misunderstood as the time the camera needs to lock focus. so i'd be happy if anyone could tell me why we have to deal with this annoying "feature" in most cameras (perhaps except SLR's but i heard that even they arent entirely without any lag)

please let me learn ;)

[TheObiJuan]

The time it takes for the camera to respond to the push of the shutter varies with all camera manufacturers. With some, the sensitivity of the shutter, others, the time it takes for the processing of the signal so the CCD can be activated, others, the shutter lags from a very slow buffer. When taking many pics in a sequence, you hold the shutter down and it takes forever.

There is no shutter in p&s cameras, atleast the ones that use CCD. The CCD chip justs turns on and off for the duration of the exposure. So all of the lag comes from the processing.

[Nyberg]

The time it takes for the camera to respond to the push of the shutter varies with all camera manufacturers. With some, the sensitivity of the shutter, others, the time it takes for the processing of the signal so the CCD can be activated, others, the shutter lags from a very slow buffer. When taking many pics in a sequence, you hold the shutter down and it takes forever.

There is no shutter in p&s cameras, atleast the ones that use CCD. The CCD chip justs turns on and off for the duration of the exposure. So all of the lag comes from the processing.


that sounds plausible... thank you for your info!

[TheObiJuan]

When I said "hold the shutter down" I meant the shutter release button. P&Ss don't have shutters. :p

[timmciglobal]

The biggest "shutter lag" is the focusing. That accounts for most "shutter lag" the rest of the lag is for the electrical signal to either energize the CCD at the proper levels and being to record data or the physical shutter mechanism to be programmed and opened.

Most of so called shutter lag is AF and exposure issues though (the calculations and physical lens movement)

Tim

[ReF]

i thought there really was a shutter in p&s cams, though if there is one its open all the time during live preview. when my A80 starting having occasional problems, i woudn't hear a mechanical clicking noise and the pictures came out completely over-exposed. when it did click the pics came out fine. please note that i turned off all electronic beeps and fake shutter sounds. when i got it back from service it just said "imaging unit replaced" or something close to that, so i couldn't confirm the problem or whether there is a shutter or not.