Recovery Speed

[triemmy]

When I take a picture and then have to wait for the camera to recover for me to take another picture, what is this called? How will I know which cameras has a fast capability to do this. Any suggestions?

[N8TJG]

Before I purchased my Canon S3, I read a lot of on-line reviews. Most of them indicated the lag time you mentioned. Some were pretty bad. However, my S3, as long as you have a fast SD card, doesn't seem have a lag time.

[David Metsky]

Lag time (or shutter lag) often means the time between pushing the shutter release button and the picture being taken. Time between taking successive photos is often called shot-to-shot time.

Most cameras have a "burst" mode or continuous shooting mode. This will allow you to take many shots in short order, but the camera may set focus and apature settings on the first shot and keep it for the rest of the series. But if you are taking shots of someone or something in motion, this is the best way to capture things.

Memory card speed probably isn't a factor in most cases. It can show up in burst mode after several shots, but not between the first and second. The onboard cache will take care of that in most cameras.

-dave-

[Colin T]

Hi triemmy

One of the points not mentioned above is recharge time. If you are using a flash the camera will take a few seconds to recharge the flash before you can use it again. Many cameras have a default setting which prevents you taking another picture until the flash is fully recharged. Normal AA alkaline batteries will recharge a flash faster than rechargable batteries. However once the alkaline batteries are half used they slow down to about the same time as the rechargables. Some cameras recharge their flash quickly 3-4 seconds, while most take about 8-10 seconds.

re: which camera has the fastest capabilities. Get your local camera shop to take a few out and try them. Take a pic with and without the flash and see how long it takes to recharge. Make some notes on a piece of paper and compare the results.