When using your digital camera, are your pictures blurry most of the time and you can’t figure out why? Are you “missing the shot” when taking action photos of your children? Are you getting pictures of the tail instead of the head when taking photos of your pet? Are you noticing that people are frowning instead of smiling in your pictures because it takes so long to take the picture?  If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may be a victim of shutter lag.

Shutter lag is the time delay between when you press the shutter release button and when the camera actually takes the picture. This is the result of several tasks that the camera must perform before recording the image.
 
The two most common reasons for shutter lag are the Auto Focus Time (the amount of time the camera takes to focus on the subject) and the Shutter Time (the time it takes the camera to open the shutter and to prepare the sensor to record the picture).

You can greatly reduce the time of shutter lag by applying the following techniques:

Focus Lock:  Frame the scene and then push your shutter release button down half way until the focus locks. Continue holding the shutter release half way down until the moment you want to take the picture and then press the shutter the rest of the way down.

Anticipate the Moment: Push the shutter release button down a little before the subject moves into the area where you want them to be when the picture is taken.

Pre-Focus: Choose an area where you expect your subject to move to and pre-focus on something in that area by pushing half way down on the shutter release button. Hold the button half way down until your subject moves into the pre-determined area and then push down the rest of the way to take the picture.

Another factor that contributes to shutter lag when using the flash is Red Eye Reduction. Red Eye Reduction causes the camera to send out a series of pre-flashes that slow the process of taking the picture down.