please help with shutter question for beginner

[photogurl-85]

hi i am new to photography and i can not find the answer im looking for so im hoping someone can help me i need to know what is the PAUSE called when u push the shutter release button down when u take a picture as in i push the shutter and it takes a second for the photo to capture whats that called is that shutter lag or shutter delay also what is the camera doing in this shutter lag time ?? any help would be great thanks heaps

[Woody]

Hello and welcome to DPS.

See the following link for information on shutter lag.

What type and model is your camera? This might help to get things started.


Pre-Focus to Combat Shutter Lag


Cheers,

John W

[photogurl-85]

hi thanks for the link i will check it out now i have a nikon D5000 hopeing to upgrade soon but i need to know how to use this one b4 i do

[RichardTaylor]

That shouldn't really be noticeable on a DSLR, unless shooting in very low light and the camera has trouble focussing.

Just make sure the self timer is not turned on.

[photogurl-85]

no this is not a problem i am having with my camera thanks for the advice though its a question for my photography course i need to know what is the camera actually doing when it has the pause if it does have one is the camera focusing during the shutter lag??

[RichardTaylor]

With a point camera it may be just just poor design (including slow focussing trying to focus on a subject)

From personal experience with SLRS it is when a poorly designed, or cheap lens, is trying to acquire focus (usually in dim light or a difficult subject that has little contrast), or the photographer has the self timer activated.
.

[milosh]

It sounds to me that you're referring to shutter speed (the time it takes for your camera to make an exposure). If that's the case, then it depends on the amount of available light and shooting settings (change your shutter speed in manual mode to see if the "pause" changes).

Otherwise, it's either the time needed for the camera to focus (which can be long in low light situations), or the so called shutter lag (the tiny fraction of time between pressing the shutter button and camera actually taking the photo). Shutter lag can be very annoying in P&S cameras, but you shouldn't really notice it with a dSLR.