[James Edward]

I currently own an Olympus digital camera vintage 2004. I hate how long it takes between shutter press and actual photo taken. My various film SLR's seem lightening fast in comparison.

I am looking to get a much quicker camera, and am willing to pay for minimal shutter lag.

The Canon G9 appeals to me in price and features, however, it shows a full half-second delay in bright light, and more than one second in low light.

Is an SLR the only way to go?

Feel free to speak in old-school photography terms in your answer- I have been using cameras in one form or another for nearly forty years.

Within reason, price is not an object- though I'd like to keep the price under 1500 dollars.

Thanks for any responses...

[Scott Merryfield]

A digital SLR will eliminate the shutter lag issue for you. Some of the newer point & shoots may be getting better, but that is something that always bugged me with the p&S cameras I've used in the past. You should also get almost instant startup time with a dSRL, too. My old Canon Powershot G3 (a great p&s, IMO) was slow at startup, too. Most dSLR's have a startup time of less that half a second -- it will take you longer than that to raise the camera to look through the viewfinder.

You can get a starter dSLR with a kit lens starting at around $600. The big cost with dSLR will be additional lenses. I've spent about 5 times as much on lenses as my Canon Rebel XT camera body cost, and I still plan on adding a couple more lenses eventually.

[Man-Fai Wong]

If you want as fast as possible, you'll probably want a DSLR w/ whatever USM/AFS/HSM/etc. (ie. built-in, silent wave AF motor) lenses to go w/ it although some camera+lens combos can still be quite fast w/out those.

OTOH, you kinda *need* the extra AF speed on DSLRs since DoF is shallower and so you'll often require faster, more accurate focusing for useable shots.

One thing. Nowadays, makers are starting to come out w/ USM/AFS/etc. lenses that don't actually focus fast. For instance, the relatively new (and cheap) Nikon 55-200 AFS VR is not fast at all like what one normally expects from Nikon AFS lenses. It was designed mainly to cater to all the D40/D40x buyers since those cameras no longer come w/ their own internal AF motors like all other Nikon AF SLR bodies.

Also, some folks feel the Nikon D200/D300 semi-pro series come w/ modestly faster internal AF motors than the lower Nikons. I haven't really noticed myself regarding AF speed though the D200 does definitely feel faster (and more capable) overall than the D70, and there's also the fact that Nikon does indeed use more powerful, faster AF motors in the pro single digit D1/D2/D3 series. On the Canon side (and others), don't really know if you'll get the same kind of difference between the 20D/30D/40D and the Digital Rebel series...

_Man_

[Michael Harris]

I'm no great camera techy but I had great results with my Nikon D-70 at the Athens 2004 Olympics. I used it to photograph indoor track cycling at a rapid pace with no shutter lag. Not a single blurred shot. DSLR is the way to go.

[motegi]

Having been through a large number of digital cameras including one of the higher-end fixed lens offerings, the Fuji S7000, I now use only DSLRs for my serious photos.

When compactness matters more than the art I still make good use of my Canon Powershots

[Marko Berg]

Quote:

I hate how long it takes between shutter press and actual photo taken.

In addition to the technical specs of the various digital cameras that others have mentioned, make sure you get a memory card for your new camera that will not cause a lag. Some memory cards take longer to write to than others, and this can be annoying if you want to take several photos in a sequence.

[Man-Fai Wong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marko Berg

In addition to the technical specs of the various digital cameras that others have mentioned, make sure you get a memory card for your new camera that will not cause a lag. Some memory cards take longer to write to than others, and this can be annoying if you want to take several photos in a sequence.

A good, fast camera will normally come w/ an internal buffer to accommodate that w/in reason. It's still good to have a fast card, particularly if you tend to use your camera like a machine gun, but otherwise, a moderate speed card should usually be fast enough for normal shooting - there will often be some other limiting factor involved too like the camera's own transfer speed from internal buffer to card. For most people, you're more likely to make regular use of fast card speed when you transfer files via fast card reader.

_Man_

[homevideo45]

Fuji S7000 is qutie good and fast camera ,you can have a look at it .