looking for high quality point and shoot with short lag time

A mom looking for the best point and shoot (35 mm quality photos) with
the shortest lag time? What are your recommendations?

 

for a short lag, my recomendation is Sony, avoid Canon. The lag-time
difference is getting smaller with time, so check also other aspects of
the cameras you are choosing.

 

Yes. I am getting good results with my Sony Cybershot DSCP200. Fast it
is!

 

Sony Cybershot Enthusiast are probably the best for that.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...meras_CybershotProDigitalCameras&Dept=cameras

 

Are you planning on shooting your child's sports activities? If so,
avoid the P+s cameras.

 

Good advice.

If shooting kid sports, or active, moving stuff at all...she'll be FAR
happier with the very cheapest DSLR she can find (including used at real
bargain prices), and will get absolutely superior images.

 

Example of used Digital Rebel:
http://tinyurl.com/7qcsy

Add a $100 lens, and you'll beat the pants off of ANY point-and-shoot.

 

I still stick by the Sony models.

Full AF shutter lag of .03 in a sub $500 model with 10x zoom is hard to
argue with.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H1/H1DAT.HTM

Of course you only get 1.3 frames per second, but for the price it's
pretty great. I doubt this lady wan't to spend $800 on a camera and
lens, even used.

 

And the new D50 only has a .265 shutter lag from full AF.

That's 9 times higher shutter lag.

Cycle time is better at 2.47 frames per sec.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D50/D50A11.HTM

 

Actually, if you buy a Sony, then set the camera to fixed focus mode at
1m, 3m or whatever resonable distance the kid will be away from you
(typically 3m is good), then you will have eliminated that big lag time
due to autofocusing completely.

What you do get is nearly instant shutter response, and a nice, clear
photo w/o worry. Indoors, simply set to fixed focus and flash always on
and you'll have the same.

Completely solved my problem re: running kids and/or indoor/low-light
missed shots.

Sony P200/T33/T7/W7 series all have this capability.

Otherwise, they are quick with typical 1/3rd sec AF times according to
various reviews.

---

As for the dSLR beating any P&S, well, remember than even they have AF
lag times.

For example, the Sony P200 full AF shutter lag time at wideangle
reported by imaging-resource.com is 0.30 seconds; the Rebel XT with
default lens is 0.24 seconds.

Yes, the dSLR beats the P&S, but a 0.06 second difference is hardly
anything to consider significant.

Where it is interesting is if you pre-focus both on a subject with full AF.

Sony P200 shutter lag of 0.013 seconds pre-focused; Rebel XT at 0.095
seconds! Yes, a P&S beating a dSLR!

Keep in mind that the smaller lenses on the P&S are easier to drive
(less motor required) a shorter distance to fully AF vs a larger dSLR lens.

---

Now, let's compare a Sony T33 to the dSLR (a very nice P&S with big 2.5"
LCD screen for mom's):

Full AF lag T33 = 0.24 seconds; Canon Rebel XT at 0.24 seconds!
Prefocused T33 = 0.011 seconds; Canon Rebel XT at 0.095 seconds!

Further advantage of the T33 vs dSLR?

You can stick the T33 into a shirt pocket or purse, even on, w/o
worrying about breaking off a typical zoom lens - why? No external zoom
lens! It's a folded, internal zoom lens that keeps the entire camera
slim and safe no matter how hurried you might get.

---

 

I have to say, if shutter lag is really a problem, the dSLR's will beat
anything else, hands down.

But, if $800+ for a digicam is not in your future, consider cameras
like the Fuji F10 (~$300); very fast, and resonably useable ISO 400-800
for low light. Or perhaps the Casio Exilim EX-P700 (~$400-450);
supposed to be fast, and it's got a decent "burst" of 5 shots in 1.5
seconds. It also has a connector for an external flash; useful for
indoor kiddie shots. Check out reviews at places like www.dpreview.com
, www.steves-digital.com or www.imaging-resource.com .

Sony does make good cameras, I own a Sony miniDV Camcorder that I
really appreciate. The only issue might be the proprietary Memory Stick
flash memory; it's expensive and the technology is not holding up well
over time. There are two "new" memory stick formats that are not
necessarily backwards compatible. (and before the flames start, I'll
direct y'all to here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_stick )

"35mm quality" doesn't tell us much about what you want; most digicams
with 3 megapixels or more will take better pics than the ol' 35mm point
& shoot with drugstore-brand film, but that's not saying much. Do you
want 4x6" snapshots, or 11X17" gallery-quality prints? In general, any
good-quality name-brand P&S with 4-7 Mpixels, and an optical (NOT
digital) zoom of at least 3X will do a good job for up to 8X10" prints.

Good Luck!
ECM

 

What I have been saying is that most low end dSLR's actually don't beat
the top end Sony models when it comes to full AF press shutter release
lag times.

The DSC-H1 and DSC-v3 both beat the D50 hands down, not the other way
around. Just go to imaging-resource.com and check the times.

This is the real reason that Konica Minolta and Sony have teamed up.
Sony wanted SLR body, lens, camera control engineering and ergonomics,
and CCD shift Anti-shake from Konica, and Konica wants Sony's laser
range finder for focusing (in complete darkness even), better CMOS and
CCD sensors, internal electronics and software experience.

Alot of people have discounted this team-up, but I imagine that they
will be a force to be reckoned with.

 

Some of the newer cameras are starting to do MUCH better.... a trend I
really hope continues. But the published times aren't everything,
there's also the "feel" of the camera. I've tried out (for example) the
Fuji F10; the numbers (on dpreview, IIRC; they're down this am) say
it's ~1/2 second for "full press" lag, so including autofocus, exposure
metering, and image capture but not storage - faster than, for example,
the Canon dRebel. However, get it in your hands and it's not as good as
the numbers say; it still has a noticable (and irritating) lag. Maybe
the new Sony's are different, I haven't tried them. The Canon dRebel I
borrowed last Christmas, OTOH, felt as close to my old manual Nikon SLR
as I've been in a looong time..... I know, it's not the fastest, but
it's the one I've had my hands on. I guess the word I'd use is it felt
a lot more "responsive". Subjective impression, yes; it doesn't make a
lot of sense. But it's enough that this old scientist is willing to
abandon the empirical method, and wait until he can afford a dSLR.

I think this is an awesome team-up, I think that there's been a lot of
sour grapes - worried they'll have to upgrade too soon? Not invested in
Minolta lenses? The Maxxum 5D is ALMOST enough to make me invest,
but.... I don't know. There's no reviews yet, we'll have to see. I
started in photography with a Minolta Hi-Matic F viewfinder camera, so
I'm very fond of Minolta's lenses. And as I've said, Sony puts together
quality products - if only they didn't stick to their proprietary
memory....

Frankly, things are so tough in the digital camera arena right now, I'd
not be surprised to see a Nikon-Samsung or Pentax-Canon (or whatever,
I'm picking them out of the hat) in the near future. There's already
the Olympus-Panasonic team that has the potential to do great things,
as long as they survive the next few years.

ECM