How to Avoid Shutter Lag and Speed Up Your Shots

Dear Reader,

If your digital camera takes photos the second AFTER you press the shutter button, that’s called shutter lag. Here are three ways to avoid shutter lag…

Avoid Shutter Lag: How to speed up your shots when you’re on the go

You know how it goes: You see something happening, you grab your camera, you hit the shutter, and… you missed it. Why? Because even though your finger pressed the trigger, your camera took its sweet time to fire.

That’s shutter lag. Shutter lag is the delay between the time you press the shutter button and the time it takes to save your image to your memory card. It’s different from camera to camera. And it can be frustrating when you’re trying to catch something mid-action or you’re taking pictures of pets or people.

Here are five tips to avoid shutter lag:

** 1. Make sure you’re using fresh batteries.

** 2. When you’re taking pictures, set your focus and exposure first by holding the shutter button halfway down then recomposing and waiting for the right moment before pressing the rest of the way.

** 3. Turn off the instant-review mode on your camera so you can shoot continuously.

** 4. At night, put your camera on manual focus so that it doesn’t waste time searching for a focus point in an all black sky.

** 5. Before you buy a new camera, check how it compares to others in shutter lag (see link below).

Note: if you missed our other travel tips this week, you’ll find them below.

— Lori
Lori Allen
Director, Great Escape Publishing

P.S. If you missed any of our travel tips this week, you’ll find them here…
Save wet electronics with rice…
Store your earrings in a button…
Recycle your wine corks…
Six Odd Travel Uses for Toothpaste…

Further resources:

Avoid shutter lag when you buy a new camera with this comparison chart.
More on how to avoid shutter lag in the New York Times.

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]