Any keen photographers on here?.. Camera lens mounts question..

[schmenke]

Here we are:

Shutter lag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...

Good explanation. Thanks.

On the flip side (no pun intended), I believe most DSLRs have a function to purposely increase the shutter lag. This is typically used for extreme long exposures (e.g. “bulb” mode) to allow the camera to stabilize after the slight movement caused by the mechanics of the mirror flipping out of the way.

[Tazio]

Thanks for all the help dudes very informative

[Malbec]

Thanks for all the help dudes very informative

Just a word of caution, if you're buying the camera to get closeup pics of F1 cars in action forget it. You're better off getting a DSLR or even dusting off an old film SLR. The shutter lag will ruin anything you take unless you learn how to press the button in advance of the car getting into shot. And then there's the vibration, if you've got a serious zoom on your camera you'll need a tripod to keep it sharp.

[Tazio]

Just a word of caution, if you're buying the camera to get closeup pics of F1 cars in action forget it. You're better off getting a DSLR or even dusting off an old film SLR. The shutter lag will ruin anything you take unless you learn how to press the button in advance of the car getting into shot. And then there's the vibration, if you've got a serious zoom on your camera you'll need a tripod to keep it sharp.

TBH I'm starting to lean toward something a little less advanced. I am planning on taking it to Austin, however I am not going to delude myself that I will be able take professional grade pictures with my limited experience, I can always get those from others. I just need something that will chronicle my personal experience, yet has a decent enough zoom for imaging somewhat distant objects.

[MrJan]

Just a word of caution, if you're buying the camera to get closeup pics of F1 cars in action forget it. You're better off getting a DSLR or even dusting off an old film SLR. The shutter lag will ruin anything you take unless you learn how to press the button in advance of the car getting into shot. And then there's the vibration, if you've got a serious zoom on your camera you'll need a tripod to keep it sharp.

Not the type of photo you'd have in a magazine but I took this:

DSCF0512 by Jan Yeo, on Flickr

with one of these Fujifilm FinePix AV130 - Digital camera - compact

Zoomed right in, a heavy load of cropping when I got it on to the computer but all in all not too bad a shot. I'd have got a much better result with my DSLR if I'd had it (and I wouldn't have had to delete so many of the pictures I took), but it just goes to show that you can get a reasonable shot with a bargain camera.

[Tazio]

OK dudes this is what I settled on.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01...Z25ZS@)_Launch
ZS20 (Black) I decided to go for a Compact Zoom for convience. I have loaded the software and taken 2 pictures but I can't seem to get them to load from that software using our image format. At any rate this should be fun for a while! Thoughts?

[schmenke]

See my latest PM

[janneppi]

Next question: some digitals seem to have a time delay between pressing the button and actually taking the photo - difficult for action photographs of cars. Is this just my imagination?

I bought Nikon J1 couple of months ago, it's one these trendy half-dslr's. It's pretty fast for the price, I took it with me when I went to watch a Downhill race. I actually managed to get few decent shots of biker going fast close by. It's not as good a real dslr, but for the size and price it works out pretty well.

[schmenke]

I’ve owned an Olympus E-520 for a few years now. It’s an entry-level DSLR but I can’t figure out what features it doesn’t have that some of the higher priced Nikons and Cannons include. It’s quite a decent camera for the cost.

The only down-side to it is the relatively smaller sensor size due to the four thirds lens mount. This mount also restricts the availability of lenses, but as I’m not a professional photographer it suits me just fine.

[Tazio]

first pic with DMCZS20
Panasonic goes that bit further with DMC-ZS20 and ZS15 travel zooms: Digital Photography Review