Shutter lag
Encyclopedia
In photography, shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

 is actually recorded. This is a common problem in the photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 of fast-moving objects or people in motion. The term narrowly refers only to shutter effects, but more broadly refers to all lag between when the button is pressed and when the photo is taken, including metering and focus lag.

Film cameras

In film cameras, the delay is caused by the mechanism inside the camera that opens the shutter
Shutter (photography)
In photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or a light-sensitive electronic sensor to light to capture a permanent image of a scene...

, exposing the film. Because the process is mechanical, however, and relatively brief, shutter lag in film cameras is often only noticeable (and of any concern) to professionals. SLR
Single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...

s have slightly longer shutter lag than rangefinders, because of the need to lift the mirror. Point and shoot film cameras often have significant shutter lag.

Digital cameras

Shutter lag is much more of a problem with digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...

s. In digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...

s, the delay results from the charging of the CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...

 and relatively slow transmission of its capture data to the circuitry of the camera for processing and storage. Recent improvements in technology, however, such as the speed, bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...

 and power consumption of processor chips and memory, as well as CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...

 technology, have made shutter lag less of a problem. As of 2007, the greatest advancements have been limited mostly to professional, "prosumer
Prosumer
Prosumer is a portmanteau formed by contracting either the word professional or less often, producer with the word consumer. For example, a prosumer grade digital camera is a "cross" between consumer grade and professional grade...

," and high-end consumer-grade digital cameras. Inexpensive (most "point-and-shoot") digital cameras, however, have even reduced the average shutter lag to half seconds, and higher-end "point-and-shoot" cameras have reduced this down to a quarter second or less.

AE & AF lag

However, what many people consider shutter lag is in fact the time the camera takes to meter (set the exposure
Exposure (photography)
In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value and scene luminance over a specified area.In photographic jargon, an exposure...

) and auto-focus, which is lag of a different cause but similar effect.

These causes of lag can be eliminated by pre-setting the exposure and focus, by either manually setting the exposure and focus, or by pre-exposing and pre-focusing. Pre-exposing and pre-focusing mean "using automatic exposure and autofocus, then fixing the settings so they do not change"; this can often be done by the shutter release halfway down, or by using a separate "AE / AF lock" button (useful if taking multiple photographs that are not in a burst), and means the subsequent photographs will be taken faster. These techniques can be combined – one can manually set the exposure and then use AF lock or conversely.

Examples of various shutter lag times

Camera Type Shutter Lag
Nikon Coolpix L3
Nikon Coolpix L3
The Coolpix L3 is a discontinued compact point-and-shoot digital camera produced by Nikon. It was branded as part of the "Life" or "L-series" cameras in the Coolpix family. It had a 5.1 megapixel maximum resolution, 2" TFT LCD monitor, 3x Optical Zoom, D-Lighting, and Face-priority AF.-External...

Digital Point and Shoot 1.800s
Nikon Coolpix S550 Digital Point and Shoot 0.590s
Panasonic DMC Lumix
Lumix
Lumix is Panasonic's brand of digital cameras, ranging from pocket point-and-shoot models to digital SLRs.Compact digital camera DMC-LC5 and DMC-F7 were the first products of the Lumix series released in 2001. They are equipped with Leica lenses....

 FS20
Digital Point and Shoot 0.480s
Canon PowerShot A
Canon PowerShot A
The Canon PowerShot A is a series of digital cameras released by Canon. The A-series is Canon's budget line of cameras, although its feature set has varied as cameras have ranged from low-end point-and-shoot cameras to high-end prosumer cameras capable of rivaling Canon's flagship...

590 IS
Digital Point and Shoot 0.350s
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 Advanced digital Point and Shoot 0.150s
Pentax MZ-50 Amateur 35mm film SLR 0.12s
Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
The Maxxum 7D, labelled Dynax 7D in Europe/Hong Kong and α-7 Digital in Japan and officially named "DG-7D", is a 6.1 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, or dSLR, produced by Konica Minolta...

Advanced amateur APS-C digital SLR with built-in image stabilization 0.117s
Sony NEX-5
Sony NEX-5
The Sony NEX-5 is a digital camera launched on 11 May 2010 . It is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with the body of a common point-and-shoot camera but with the sensor size and features of an APS-C-sized digital single-lens reflex camera...

Amateur APS-C digital compact camera 0.115s
Professional 35mm film SLR 0.090s
Leica M8
Leica M8
The Leica M8 is the first digital camera in the rangefinder M series introduced by Leica Camera AG on 14 September 2006. It uses a 10.3-megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor.As of 15/07/2011, the most recent firmware version is 2.014.-Features:...

Professional digital rangefinder 0.08s
Leica M9
Leica M9
The Leica M9 is the second digital camera in Leica Camera AG's rangefinder M series. It was introduced on 9 September 2009 and uses an 18.5-megapixel Kodak KAF-18500 Full Frame CCD image sensor....

Professional full-frame digital rangefinder 0.08s
Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 Professional full-frame digital SLR with built-in image stabilization 0.074s
Sony Alpha DSLR-A900 Professional full-frame digital SLR with built-in image stabilization 0.072s
Minolta XD-7
Minolta XD-7
The Minolta XD-7 was a 35mm SLR camera manufactured by Minolta and introduced in 1977. It was the first camera to feature both shutter priority and aperture priority automatic exposure modes. The camera also offered fully metered manual exposure as well as depth of field preview and an eyepiece...

Amateur 35mm film SLR 0.06s
Nikon D300s
Nikon D300S
The Nikon D300S is a 12.3 megapixel DX format digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaces the D300 as Nikon's DX format flagship DSLR adding HD video recording...

Amateur APS-C digital SLR 0.053s
Sony Alpha SLT-A77 Advanced amateur APS-C digital SLR-alike with built-in image stabilization and electronic 1st curtain 0.053s
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
The EOS-1D Mark IV is a professional 16.1 effective megapixels digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS-1D Mark IV is the successor of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and was announced on October 20, 2009, just four days after Nikon announced the D3s...

Professional APS-H digital SLR 0.049s
Nikon D3s
Nikon D3S
The Nikon D3S is a 12.1 megapixel professional-grade full frame digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon Corporation on 14 October 2009. The D3S is the fourth camera in Nikon's line to feature a full frame sensor, following the D3, D700 and D3X. It is also Nikon's first full frame...

Professional full-frame digital SLR 0.043s
Nikon D3x
Nikon D3X
The Nikon D3X is a 24.5 megapixel professional-grade full frame digital single-lens reflex camera announced by the Nikon Corporation on 1 December 2008. The D3X is the third camera in Nikon's line to offer a full frame sensor, following the D3 and D700...

Professional full-frame digital SLR 0.040s
Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Canon EOS-1D Mark II
The EOS 1D Mark II is a professional 8.2 megapixel digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 1D Mark II is the successor of the EOS 1D.-Features:The EOS 1D Mark II features:* 28.7 × 19.1 mm CMOS sensor...

Professional APS-H digital SLR 0.040s
Minolta XE-1 Amateur 35mm film SLR 0.038s
Nikon F6
Nikon F6
The Nikon F6 is a 35mm single-lens reflex camera body that became commercially available during 2004, and is the sixth top-of-the-line professional film camera in Nikon's line since the introduction of the Nikon F in 1959...

Professional 35mm film SLR 0.037s
Leica M7
Leica M7
The Leica M7 is a 35 mm camera by Leica AG introduced in 2002. It is the direct successor to the M6. The Leica M7 is a departure from previous mechanical designs for the M series....

Professional 35mm film rangefinder 0.025s
Sony Alpha NEX-5N Amateur APS-C digital compact camera with electronic 1st curtain 0.022s
Leica M3
Leica M3
The Leica M3 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG, introduced in 1954. It was a new starting point for Leitz, which until then had only produced screw-mount Leica cameras that were incremental improvements to its original Leica...

Professional 35mm film rangefinder 0.016s

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