Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Point and shoot without a delay!?!?

Jul 16, 2011 12:28PM PDT

I recently purchased the Canon 300 hs and it does not fit my needs as well as I hoped. I love the HD quality video and the zooming feature. However the big bust for me is the shutter lag. There seems to be at least a 2 second delay when taking pictures of my son. My old camera - the canon SD600 did not have much of a delay at all.

So my question is as you may have guessed - what is the best point and shoot camera on the market with the least delay? I would like to stay under $300.

Thank you!!

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Shutter Lag
Jul 17, 2011 1:12AM PDT

Independent testing shows the 300 HS to have only marginally more shutter delay than the SD600; 0.54 seconds vs. 0.39 seconds at the widest lens setting. To my knowledge the fastest on the market are the Nikon S8100/9100. Tested numbers are best case scenario though. If a camera can't lock focus, a fast shutter response won't mean anything.

- Collapse -
Answer
Try a different card
Jul 22, 2011 11:01AM PDT

Your camera is designed to use SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, MMCplus, HCMMCplus. Make sure that your using the fastest memory card type possible. Your camera will not be able to take the next photograph because it's still writing the last one to the card. Upgrade your card first and remember the higher the number the faster the write speed. That's a good quality camera you have and it would be a shame to change due to problem with the memory card type.

- Collapse -
Answer
Shutter Lag - Make it go away
Jul 22, 2011 1:48PM PDT

My early experience with digital point and shoot was very similar. Really liked the low hassle and high flexibility of digital pictures. Cursed the camera every time the lag caused me to miss a good picture.

- Collapse -
Answer
You can have "no shutter delay" with any point-and-shoot!
Jul 25, 2011 6:22AM PDT

As a fishing guide, I need to capture the image of a jumping salmon while it is being
played; so I aim the camera toward where the fish will jump, then half-depress the shutter
button(this locks the focus). When the fish jumps, I then fully depress the shutter and "Voila"
no shutter delay! The reason for the delay is the time it takes for the camera to focus before
the shutter is released.

You're Welcome Cool