Shutter lag -- need advice

My son-in-law wants advice on buying my daughter a point and shoot. A number of years ago we bought her a Cannon 2MP point and shoot and she's liked it very much.

Since it's been several years since I've bought one -- I remember they used to have quite a problem with shutter lag. Do the newer point and shoot camera's still have that shutter lag or has it gotten better?

I have a Cannon SLR that has virtually no shutter lag but she doesn't want a SLR but something more compact that she can put in her purse.

I'm aware of all the other issues to look for but need advice on the shutter lag.

Any recommendations?

Shutter lag on even the most entry level consumer digicams has improved *dramatically*. You should expect closer to small fractions of a second. They would *certainly* be many times faster than her old 2mp canon. I picked up one of my old 1 megapixel digicam's, I felt like I should make a sandwich in the time waiting for the shutter to release, perhaps I've been spoiled.

The thing that will continue to cause 'shutter lag' (or, longer shutter cycle rather), is the flash recharge rate. Some camera's are faster then others, but using the flash you should still expect the recharge delay. Best way to avoid this in digicams is to force flash off and increase the ISO setting (easy on some, a chore on others). If this is a big issue for you (or her), I'd try a few out, and see how the flash recharge rates handle.

Yes... you'll never get rid of shutter lag on even the best P&S cameras. I agree that flash charging is probably the single biggest contributor, but there are some other things you can consider, too. Such as... faster storage cards, lower photo resolution, turning off instant review, or even turning off the LCD completely (assuming you can), setting the camera to automatically take several shots in a burst. Of course, you'll have to balance all these with your requirements.