Digital cameras and shutter lag time...

London50

ringo_24601 wrote: »

From what i've read, card speed doesn't matter for the first few shots, since it's writing to the camera's cache memory (which is far quicker than your memory card).. after that it starts transferring it over to the card, in which case, the faster the card the better. Your 3 or 4 shots might fit into the cache.. so the card you use might not matter..

I've got a much of SD cards, tempted to do a speed test..

I've always seen shutter lag as a bit of a fake statistics.. it's more important how quickly your camera can focus on something and snap. Eg. if you're dSLR is on manual focus, you're likely to see a much quicker initial first photo.

My L10 has 3 settings for focus - manual, auto and 'auto with movement'

To be honest, memory is so cheap these days, you might as well buy a decent class in case you decide to pop the card in a video camera one day

Yes Ringo
I would agree with you on all your points. It is vey seldom that I would use auto focus as {for me} it is too slow for some of my shots. Like you I have never bothered with speed tests with my cards either and as you say the price of cards these days are so cheap. I think like you do that so many "beginners" believe that they need the latest camera with the fastest cards to give that perfect shot every time but we all have to learn Photography is a long learning proccess that {even with me after 50 years taking pictures} you never stop learning. Still I think we can bring this chat to an end now as I wonder if it is helping the person that started the thread off or they are scratching thier head and thinking about taking up painting instead :rotfl:

lemonade_lifestyle

Hehe, thank you all for your input. I wanted the camera really for pics of family and kids, with kids they have such a short attention span that if you blink you can miss it.

I have taken on board everything evryone has said, and will head to the shops tomorrow armed with the info.

Just my old camera was rubbish, and I have missed quite a few good pics on DS.

Thank you again, P.S, I quite like painting too!!!:rotfl:

marleyboy

Painting might prove quicker than the latest cameras :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[Deleted User]

For general 'family photography, i'd go for a medium sized camera, possibly with good video also (lots of them can record at DVD quality now).

The general rule of thumb is bigger camera > bigger lens > better image quality. Don't be tempted by an 'el cheapo no-name brand with a giant mega-pixel count..

This camera got a very good write up (including special mention for very low shutter lag) and also seems very cheap! http://www.cameras.co.uk/reviews/samsung-digimax-s760.cfm

What is your budget, out of interest?

lemonade_lifestyle

Possibly upto £150 i think

[Deleted User]

No time to look too hard today.. but here's a good place to start looking for discounted cameras.. http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/best-offers/108/digital-cameras

suelees1

Did you get one L_L? I'm looking for the same - I've dozens of pictures of the tops or backs of ankle biters heads and want to be able to catch their faces in future.

OddjobKIA

DO NOT GET A

fujifilm finepix s5700 I have and its rubbish..............as a family snap fine but otherwise rubbish

frogbottler

OddjobKIA wrote: »

DO NOT GET A

fujifilm finepix s5700 I have and its rubbish..............as a family snap fine but otherwise rubbish

I disagree.

The S5700 is capable of much more than family snaps.
Have a look at the reviews and some of the photos on www.flickr.com and www.myfuji.co.uk taken with S5700 cameras for a better idea of its capabilities. The S5700 is not perfect but what camera is?

My advice to the op is similar to Ringo's: decide what type of photography the camera is to be used for and how much you want to pay. Then read the reviews and draw up a short list. Compare review sample images for each camera on your short list and also look for your shortlisted cameras on flickr using keywords etc to find the types of photo that you will be taking.

Good luck with your search