Dealing with Digital Camera Shutter Lag
The most common complaint I hear about digital cameras is this: “There’s a long pause between when I press the shutter release and when the picture is actually taken.” The result: when trying to take an action shot, the subject sometimes moves before you can take the picture.
Indeed, that pause is responsible for more frustration than all of the world’s child-safe medicine bottles combined. Older digital cameras had a “shutter lag” that lasted nearly a second, but even the newest digital cameras have some lag.
Shutter lag happens because digital cameras have a veritable checklist of tasks to perform when you press the shutter release. Not only does the camera need to measure the distance to the subject and lock in the proper focus, but it has to measure the ambient light, calculate the best exposure, and lock in an aperture setting and shutter speed. It also has computer-like “housekeeping” chores to perform, like initializing the sensor chip, flushing buffers, and reading white level.
If your camera’s lag doesn’t bother you, fine. But if you want to minimize the lag, there are a few things you can do. The biggest time-saver is auto focus. If you pre-focus your picture, you can save valuable milliseconds of lag (see the discussion of the two-step shutter: “How To… Capture the Moment”). If you’re more adventurous, you can also try pre-setting the camera’s white balance. If the white balance is set on auto, the camera will have to adjust the colors in the image each and every time you take a picture. Instead, you can use the camera’s menu to set the white balance for whatever lighting conditions you’re actually shooting in, such as daylight, night time, fluorescent, or incandescent lighting. Just remember to change the white balance for every new lighting situation you find yourself in.
