How is the lag time between pictures? Can you take them fairly quickly, esp. when dealing with children.
1819837
See DP Review on SX230 @ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/3 In continuous mode it takes 3 pics/second. Since it has Shutter Priority (Tv) and takes very good pics @ISO400 or lower you can set it for a fast shutter (1/1000 or higher) and fire away at 3+ fps in outdoor lighting. If using a flash you're limited by the flash recharge time, as in all cameras of this type. If you're shooting in single shot mode it's ready to shoot again in a second or less. BTW, don't fret about "fast" SD cards. You won't see any increase in shot to shot speed as you go above Class 4, no need to waste money on faster cards. See DP Review on SX230 @ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/3 In continuous mode it takes 3 pics/second. Since it has Shutter Priority (Tv) and takes very good pics @ISO400 or lower you can set it for a fast shutter (1/1000 or higher) and fire away at 3+ fps in outdoor lighting. If using a flash you're limited by the flash recharge time, as in all cameras of this type. If you're shooting in single shot mode it's ready to shoot again in a second or less. BTW, don't fret about "fast" SD cards. You won't see any increase in shot to shot speed as you go above... » Read More See DP Review on SX230 @ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/3 In continuous mode it takes 3 pics/second. Since it has Shutter Priority (Tv) and takes very good pics @ISO400 or lower you can set it for a fast shutter (1/1000 or higher) and fire away at 3+ fps in outdoor lighting. If using a flash you're limited by the flash recharge time, as in all cameras of this type. If you're shooting in single shot mode it's ready to shoot again in a second or less. BTW, don't fret about "fast" SD cards. You won't see any increase in shot to shot speed as you go above Class 4, no need to waste money on faster cards. « Show Less
892117
There is no lag time on the shutter. It only takes a second to be ready for the next shot. Tough, compact, and great camera. Battery lasts through more than 200 photos. I have two and it is easy to load the new battery and keep on shooting. The battery charges in about an hour. I also have a car charger.
1788925
The lag can be as much as 15-20 seconds if you are using certain scene modes - for instance night shots. That is the primary reason I sold this camera on ebay a few months after I got it. It takes great photos, and some of the scene modes - like museum - are great, but I missed a ton of cool opportunities in the night markets in China because of slow processing. Much slower, in fact, that my 2005 era canon digital elph that I had hoped this camera would replace. :-/
434778
The shutter lag on this video camera in photo mode is not something you would like. I tried taking action shots of my son playing indoor soccer and the time between pressing the button and it taking a picture was long enough to miss the shot I wanted. This was indoors, but the lighting was decent. Perhaps outdoors it would be different, but I'm not counting on it. It takes decent pictures - not great though. Don't throw away your digital camera if you're getting this. I will do in a pinch for non-action photos if you have nothing else with you. The specs say it's 10 Mp - but that is 5Mp scaled up to 10Mp. Again, the pictures (even with flash) aren't too bad. But regular digital cameras have a lot of optional settings (for still photography) that are easily accessed - this does not. Good luck. Tony PS...I haven't tried getting stills from movies - but might give it a try using my Pinnacle movie editing software. The video sure looks stunning and the pictures from it..well....won't know unless I try.
638075
If you can get your toddler to be still it's great. Unfortunately for my toddlers who are constantly on the go, I get a lot of blurry pictures.
2239181
Hi Lisa, I took pictures at an indoor water park. The pictures came out okay. I just scrapbook the pictures, I don't typically blow them up to 5x7 or 8x10. So, for my use the pictures are fine. The fast movements were a little blurry. I have not taken any underwater pictures yet. I took the camera outside for our school snow days. Those pictures in the sunlight were bright and colorful. The fast movements came out okay. I have a few inside pictures during the day and they look pretty good. I have one picture taken at night in my bedroom. My navy blue shirt looks great, but my face is a little orange/yellow and the bedroom in the background is not crisp at all. I think the lighting is responsible for that. I have a few movies on the camera, but can't play them. They are MOV. I tried Quicktime, movie maker, media player. I'll have to play around with it. I hope I don't have to convert these. So, at the moment I can't give you any information on the movies. I wanted the camera to take out to the pool and so far it seems like it will work great for our use. Please let me know if I can help with any else. I'm not sure what you mean by artifacts. I don't think graininess is an issue, but I'm just a mom taking pictures of kids and my photography knowledge is limited.
172978
What if you're trying to take pics of kids who never slow down long enough for the shutter lag to catch up...is this a good camera for it?
1250118
I just got one of these cameras, and the lag is inconsequential. I set up one of the functions to take shots, and I was amazed at how fast this camera is. In fact, I'm so used to lags with digital cameras that I wasn't ready for the immediate response from the XZ-2.
223382
Shutter lag is ok..it's just the time it takes for for the camera reset to take the next photo that I am not happy with...I guess I should not have such high expectations for a $149 camera..
1754738
Taking the picture is quick, but I have noticed that it does take a minute for the picture to process after you take the picture. I personally like taking single pictures however there is a function to take continuous pictures so you don't miss the shot! :)
1560813
there is about a 1 second delay with taking pictures; at least, it is when i'm trying to take a picture of my dog. there is a mode to place the camera in for pets; i tried it once. i do believe there was still a delay but the picture wasn't blurry. hope this helps.
1403016
I haven't experienced any lag. It's been working quite well. I do a lot of Photoshop and Lightroom work with it.
900745
Pretty quick actually. My mom uses the cam to take pictures of my 6 year old brother so you can imagine how fast he moves. and the camera is able to capture it all so I'm pretty happy with that function.
2035315
It's not to bad, but I do wish it was faster. My Nikon 35mm has a faster shutter speed but, I have to wait for the film to develope for that.
971
I'll admit that I've never try to capture a fast moving toddler, but I've found the camera to be very responsive. I've done many candid photographs of adults with good success. Hope this helps.
646106
Thanks to this question, I just learned something about the camera. When I used the camera recently, I noticed I had to wait about five seconds between shots. I just discovered a button on the back that looks like a target. After taking a picture, I can press that button and shoot again immediately.
2136216
I thought that taking many photos to get one good picture is unavoidable when taking photos of children. I would like to have a camera with short recycle time(shot-to-shot time) in order to take many photos at the same situation. I thought that typical shot to shot time for this camera is not too bad, but it's very slow to recover when using flash. Is that true? How about if you use a continuous shooting mode? Is it slow even without flash?