Shutter lag might not mean much to the casual photographer but to a professional photographer, it can be the difference between a good and bad photograph.

Shutter lag is the time delay between the pressing of the shutter and the time the photograph is taken. This time is usually measured in milliseconds and even a few milliseconds of difference can have a remarkable difference in speed.

Shutter lag is caused by the number of calculations that the camera makes in those few milliseconds. The camera has focus on the subject, decide on the right level of exposure by giving a correct combination of the aperture and shutter speed, the white balance, the ISO and whole lot of other things in that small period of time.

We can reduce the shutter lag by reducing the number of calculations the camera has to make. The easiest way would be to set the white balance since one can easily estimate by observing the lighting conditions. The shutter speed can also be set at certain situations when we know that the subject might be similar. The aperture can generally be left to the camera but we can set it if required. The factor which can reduce the shutter lag by the highest amount would be setting the focus manually. The ISO can be left to the camera unless you are under low light situations.

In newer cameras, you have a half-press feature where you can ‘half-press’ the shutter button and let the camera set all the required settings and therefore, there isnt much delay when you press the shutter fully from the half-press mode. This is useful when you are anticipating a certain event and can keep the shutter half-pressed and press it fully when the event occurs.

Another interesting method is to use the ‘Burst’ method in the camera. Good cameras can have a speed of upto 3 - 5 fps (frames per second) and you can generally take upto around 7 -10 photographs while holding down the shutter and this would remove need for pressing the shutter at the right moment. The fastest camera right now is the Canon EOS 1D Mark III which can take upto 110 photographs at speeds of 10fps and at a resolution of 10 Megapixels.

Point and shoot cameras generally have a longer shutter lag and DSLRs are known for their minimal shutter lag.

I have outlined all the methods for reducing shutter lag and you can try experimenting with various methods on your own to reduce it. Thanks for taking time to read my article, please feel free to post your own ideas in the comments.

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