Nikon 4300

Question about delay? Do all digital cameras have an annoying delay? If not, where to go from here. Camera make and model.

in all digital cameras there is going to be a delay the difference in teh delay is if you half press the shutter first for auto focus and then press the shutter when your ready(once half pressed the shutter lag will be very minimal <.1 sec) now if you just press it all the way down its going to take a bit longer because its doing eerything at once.

the newer generations of cameras are getting much better at shutter lag but will most likely never be close to those of a SLR (except for high end prosumer or DSLRs)

now for a little tech explination of the shutter lag
shutter lag is related to the imaging sensor and how fast it can zero the voltage on the imager before it can take the image (voltage on the imager has to be zero before it can takethe picture) this is was contributes gretly to the lag in a shot. This also has to deal with the fact that there is a live prview LCD on the camera that is taking raw video off the imager to display to you (DSLRs dont have this that this is why the lag is much less <.01 of a second) and when you press the shutter to take the shot it turns off the live preview and zeros the voltage and take the image (also during this process the focus is being set) and this is what causes the shot blackout period on your LCD screen. and then once the shot is done being captured and buffered your lcd goes back to live preview mode.

imager or imaging sensor would be the CCD or CMOS sensor used to take the image


did i go over your head with the tech info ?

FWIW

Thank you for the explination. That .1 sec. seems to be a year when your subject is swimming away. It seems that I've heard Olimpus mentioned several tiimes. Is that the preferred brand for U/W Photography and is the delay less than the 4300?

i relly dont know on the lag time difference if you go to www.dpreview.com and look under the cameras section and read the reviews it should tell you the shutter lags for each camera.

i know what you mean by that wait time

Megaixel.net also has good reviews of a lot of different cameras.

The Oly does seem to be the popular camera, but (I think) Dee said that the PT housing for the 4000 is being discontinued.

About shutter lag. I have an SLR, Minolta 7000 AF. Even with it, if I just raise the camera and push the button, it takes it a second to focus and release the shutter, so it's not really something I see as a drawback because I'm used to it pausing for a sec or 2. Now a manual focus SLR will drop the shutter the instant you press the release, but it may be in focus..maybe not. That's why the have the fieldgoal posts for the macro lenses. The focal lenght is set, you just frame the shot with the guides and hit it.

Again, I don't worry about shutter lag that much, I have a 512mb card, I just take picture after picture until I get the shot that I want, then move to the next object. It's still way cheaper than shooting a 24 shot roll to find 23 fish butts and 1 face out of focus.

Thank you great reference.

my friend bought the 4300 (or was it a 3400, any way it was a nikon with those numbers) while we were out in italy and you could see a considerable difference in the picture quality between his and my 5050.

in bright conditions his was ok, but when it got a little darker i.e. in a building (church) and we were taking pictures of the ceilings and walls, he ditched all his and copied mine.

so go to a shop and test drive well!!!

Ya know what I find annoying? The shadow in the lower left corner of very close macro shots. The lens extends out on power up...no biggie, but when you get close, like within 1.5 inches, and take a picture, the lens is in the way of the (built in) flash and creates a shadow. ARGH! I know an external strobe will take care of that and I shoot zero macro shots on land so I'm really just whining to whine.
I also find that I have to step down the exposure 1 and sometimes 2 full steps to keep from getting burn out. I can live with that, but it would be nice if the fantasea housing had a button for the flash setting so you could turn it off, or better yet, if the 4300 would let you step the flash down, but I geuss that's kinda what I'm doing by stepping the exposure down....shrug
I'm also used to having the zoom near the shutter release so I use my index finger to zoom and hit the shutter. On the 4300 the zoom is in the back so you use your thumb. Honestly, I really don't use zoom, I'm just being *****y tonight

I'm contemplating taking it back and exchanging it for the Oly 4000. The 4300 just feels so good in my hand for land pics and the grip on the 4000 feels akward to me, I just can't make myself do it yet.

go on do it, do it!

you can't beat an oly underwater