[Turias]

I have had a Nikon Coolpix 995 for about three years, and don't get me wrong, it's a great camera, but I have an issue with it. It's not the shutter speed that bothers me. Instead, it seems like there is quite a long time between the moment my finger presses down on the shutter button and the moment at which the picture is actually taken. This makes it quite difficult to take pictures of moving objects as well as quickly capture the perfect shot before the subject moves. Forget about trying to take x pictures a second without using a "take x shots with one press" feature.

I have heard that this is the case for most/all digital cameras. Is that true? Have cameras been getting better in this regard?

[Powaqqatsi]

I've got a 995 as well, great camera but it's speed sucks completely. It has to do with the extremely slow autofocus in the 995. Newer cameras will probably be faster. If you want real speed switch to a DSLR, like me (I'm selling my analog SLRs too). I'm buying the Nikon D70. But that's of course an expensive solution to the problem. I suggest you go to some shop that sell digital cameras en that you try out the autofocus speed. The processing time a digital camera needs to write the picture to the camera also slows it down but that's not much of an issue these days and what you are describing is just the slow autofocus on the 995.

[X-Ray]

What you are talking about is called lag time - the time between pushing the shutter button and when the exposure is taken. And yes, the newer cameras (generally the upper end models) are much better. You can also help in this regard by purchasing high speed storage cards. I aslo own a DSLR but they're not for everyone - only if you need to have several lenses. There are many non-DSLR models that would suit your needs. You might want to look at some of the socalled prosumer cameras. A site like dpreview is a good place to start:http://www.dpreview.com/

[OreoCookie]

It will continue to suck with almost all new consumer digital cameras. It only changes when you use expensive gear, such as my new toy, an Olympus E-20 which uses a phase-comparison system for bright light, like those used in SLRs.

This lack in spontaneity was exactly why I hated my Olympus C-4040. Maybe stuff like the Canon G5 and the likes is different, I haven't used them.

I could recommend the Nikon D70 (I bought the Olympus used for a third, I had no money for this really nice camera) which is similar to my old F80 (but obviously digital). Easy to use, fast autofocus, fast shutter, etc.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by X-Ray:
What you are talking about is called lag time

On the 995 it's not the lag time that is the problem, it's really the autofocus.

[tooki]

Obviously you can reduce the shutter lag substantially by pre-focusing: press and hold the shutter release halfway, to keep it focused, and then press fully when you want to take the pic. Or use manual focus.

Many newer digital cameras are better, but still lag far behind a good 35mm SLR in terms of responsiveness.

tooki

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
On the 995 it's not the lag time that is the problem, it's really the autofocus.

It's really both. The 995 is just slow.
No current digicams can compare to (D)SLRs in terms of lag speed, but the newer models ARE faster. I recently bought a Canon S60, which is a fantastic camera all around. It has a very low lag time for shutter release. As Tooki mentioned, pre-focusing helps a great deal, but there will still be a lag. My S60 is the first digicam I've ever used (and I've used a lot) to have an acceptably low lag.

[fiesta cat]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
It's really both. The 995 is just slow.
No current digicams can compare to (D)SLRs in terms of lag speed, but the newer models ARE faster.

I wouldn't be surprised to see digicams catch up to the DSLRs within a few years, speedwise at the low-end models.

There is a big difference. I had a Sony digicam and moved upto DSLR (Canon 300D) and the speed thing is noticeable (very fast focus and shoot), however I trained myself to take into account the lag when I had the Sony.

[itai195]

I haven't used a 995, but I did recently sell my Nikon 4300, which was a really slow camera IMO. I bought a Sony W1, and also tried out some Fuji cameras (the F700/710). These are easily the fastest digicams I've used, even compared to my old Canon cameras, which I thought were already fast. Digicam manufacturers are steadily improving the speed/responsiveness of their products. I'd imagine Canon will catch up with Sony and Fuji pretty soon. Personally (*dons flame suit*) I don't see Nikon continuing to be a big player in the consumer/prosumer digicam market for much longer, they've waited too long to tackle their electronics problems, including overall responsiveness.

I'd echo the suggestion of going to a camera shop and playing with a few models. There are some review sites (eg imaging-resource.com) that will provide information about camera speed, but you never really know until you have the camera in your hands. Though reviews rated my 4300 above average for speed, I found its real world performance maddeningly slow.

As others have mentioned, SLRs are faster. Of course, I'd love to have one sometime soon, but I have a more pressing need for a point and shoot.