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Jet lag: Cameras with a short shutter delay

Lori Grunin Lori Grunin, Senior Editor December 4, 2009

Everyone's looking for a point-and-shoot camera fast enough to catch Sally making the winning goal or Fido catching a Frisbee in midair. There are two main factors that affect your camera's speed: the time it takes to lock focus, which affects how fast the camera captures an image after you press the shutter button; and processing and write speeds, which affect how fast you can shoot the next image after you've just taken a picture. In our reviews, we refer to the first factor as shutter lag and measure it in both high-contrast and low-contrast situations. We call the second factor shot-to-shot time. Here are five of the fastest we've seen, with shot-to-shot times (in good light) of 1.5 seconds or less and shutter lags of 0.5 second or shorter in high-contrast conditions and 1.2 seconds or less in dim conditions.

What's really interesting--and frustrating--is that with the barrage of snapshot cameras that ship every year and how vocal consumers are about how slow point-and-shoot models are, very few models are available that meet these pretty basic performance criteria.

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Review date July 16, 2009 April 15, 2009 January 14, 2009 June 11, 2009 December 02, 2009 December 04, 2009
The Bottom Line Don't let its new sensor technology scare you off: the Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR is an excellent compact camera with shooting features for just about every type of user. The Kodak EasyShare M1093 IS is a perfectly capable, inexpensive ultracompact point-and-shoot camera. Although its tiny size and just-average image quality may be dealbreakers for some, the Casio Exilim EX-S10 comes equipped with tons of features that will appeal to snapshooters who want an easy-to-use camera that delivers more than simply point-and-shoot control. Though some will be disappointed by its photo quality, the barely there, high-tech Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900 is a very good ultracompact camera. A compact megazoom with a lot to offer, the Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR is very good for its class, but with a few limitations. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 is a first-rate ultracompact party companion that excels at snapshots, but those expecting superb photo quality for its price should pass on it.
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Features
Lens apertureF/3.3-5.1
F/3.1-5.7
F/2.8-5.3
F/3.5-4.6
F/3.3-5.6
F/3.5-4.6
Equivalent 35mm focal length28 - 140 mm
35 - 105 mm
36 - 108 mm
35 - 140 mm
27 - 270 mm
35 - 140 mm
Optical zoom5 x
3 x
3 x
4 x
10 x
4 x
Light sensitivityISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO auto
ISO 6400 (6Mpix)
ISO 12800 (3Mpix)
ISO 64
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
ISO auto (64-3200)
ISO 50
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO auto
ISO 80
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO auto
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO auto
ISO 3200 (5Mpix)
ISO 6400 (3Mpix)
ISO 12800 (3Mpix)
ISO 125
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO auto
Display (projector) technologyTFT active matrix
TFT active matrix
TFT active matrix
TFT active matrix
TFT active matrix
TFT active matrix
Video input typeDigital camera
Digital camera
Digital camera
Digital camera
Digital camera
Digital camera
Digital zoom4.4 x
5 x
4 x
2 x
4 x
2 x
Weight6.2 oz
4.8 oz
4 oz
5.2 oz
6.3 oz
5 oz
Effective sensor resolution12,000,000 pixels
10,100,000 pixels
10,100,000 pixels
12,100,000 pixels
10,000,000 pixels
10,200,000 pixels
Still image formatJPEG
JPEG
JPEG
JPEG
JPEG
JPEG
Display (projector) diagonal size3 in
3 in
2.6 in
3.5 in
2.7 in
3 in
Manual focusAutomatic
Automatic
Manual
Automatic
Manual
Automatic
Automatic
Automatic
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