shutter lag on digital camera

[looobylooo]

hi,

i have an olympus digital 8mp camera.

would getting an H type XD memory card (higher speed) help to quicken the shutter lag ?

ive read up on such cards and it says they have a quicker read and write speed.

so id like to know if it would improve the slowish shutter lag my camera has.

thanks in advance

:o)

(my camera is compatible with the H type card)

[abby2203]

do u mean the shutter speed?

[looobylooo]

im not sure to be honest lol.

i think i remember someone telling me the shutter lag and shutter speed are two different things...?

[ACtheTROLL]

you can't speed up shutter lag
digitals all suffer to some extent ....

you can speed up the time between shots with a faster card
but I wish I had a quid for every shot I've missed waiting for the shutter to open (even in multishot mode the first one is always the longest)

[ACtheTROLL]

don't know about shutter lag ...
there were no answers when I started typing.
(Ray Mears is to blame)

[looobylooo]

thanks AC,
would you recommend i get an H type then? for the speed between each shot etc, or do you think just an normal M type would do me?
any help.. advice.. guidance.. whatever is greatly appreciated please!

[Hymie]

Using a faster memory card may not improve the time a camera takes to write a photo to memory (and therefore ready to take the next photo), if the camera's writing (to memory) speed is the limiting factor � rather than the speed of the memory card.

If a maximum time between shots is critical, reduce the amount of memory/photo. Unless you are after excellent photo quality, 2MB is adequate for most applications.

[ACtheTROLL]

I tend to agree with hymie about reducing the DPI setting
http://www.westcoastimaging.com/wci/page/info/ FAQ/uploadfaq/printsize.html

however ... I doubt that your oly will suffer from write lag (I had to re-read that answer about four times 'till the penny dropped!)

you will get an increase ... but just how much is debatable ... unless you were a pro taking lots and lots of pikkies - doing sporty stuff or recording movies.

I'd be tempted to try a lower resolution first (I use 2Mp as a general setting ... and an A4 print is still pretty sharp.

when you "overblow" a pikkie ... the advantage is lost when you print a 50x72" print onto a4 sheet ... because the driver has to decide which pixels to throw away.
so a 4Mp print could actually be clearer than an 8mp one

[looobylooo]

thanks for all your helpful and very knowledgeable answers! - most grateful, thank you.

im no pro piccy taker lol. im just a point and shooter! but i do like to see good quality photos even so.

sooooo, my question is - do i or do i not buy an M or an H card? lol

[Hymie]

Memory cards are now so cheap, you might as well buy the fastest card and then you will know that this is not the limiting factor in your camera�s write speed � but as stated, you might not notice any difference in speed, for the reasons given above.

[looobylooo]

yeah, youre right hymie, i might aswell mighten i?

i just need to find a reputable site online now as the xd cards in the shops are really expensive! - any recommendations?

right, so, i can choose between an olympus xd card or a fuji xd. card..ok.......

i can get a high speed fuji card no probs,
but,
i cant seem to find a high speed olympus card which has some extra functions on it, ie - panoramic and art work - you can change your photo into an oil painting or a water colour, which i thought would be fun to have....?

soooo, i either choose a slower M type olympus card also with these features
or,
a higher speed fuji card without these features.

gawd - what a dilemma!!! lol

[Hymie]

You can buy a 1GB H type XD card via Amazon for around �12 incl p&p.

Not bad, when you consider that not many years ago, I paid over �50 for a 128MB Compact Flash card.

For what its worth, a year or so back I bought a 2GB Sony memory stick from a man in china via ebay - it was so cheap that it must be a copy. It is still going strong.

[looobylooo]

thanks again for your input hymie,

im just looking online now, so will have a look at your suggestion of amazon in a min.

ive seen a couple so far around that price, one being on a site called mymemory, so im just checking out the reviews about them.

thanks again!