In photography, shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually recorded, which includes all lag between when the shutter button is pressed and when the photo is taken, including metering and focus lag. it can be mitigated to an extent by pre-focusing and readying for action.

Film cameras

In film cameras, the delay is caused by the mechanism inside the camera that opens the shutter, exposing the film. Because the process is mechanical, however, and relatively brief, shutter lag in film cameras is often only noticeable (and of any concern) to professionals. SLRs have a slight additional lag due to the time it takes to move the mirror out of the way.

Digital cameras

Shutter lag is much more of a problem with digital cameras, although higher cost models tend to have less lag.

The comet-tail artifact that early CCD sensors suffered from was significantly reduced by the invention of the pinned photodiode (PPD). It was invented by Nobukazu Teranishi, Hiromitsu Shiraki and Yasuo Ishihara at NEC in 1980. The "pinned photodiode" is a photodetector structure used in almost all charge-coupled device (CCD) and CMOS image sensors (CIS) due to its low noise, high quantum efficiency and low dark current.

|-

| Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80

| Point-and-shoot (digital)

| 150

|-

| Pentax MZ-50

|SLR (Film)

| 120

|-

| Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D

| SLR (digital, APS-C, built-in image stabilization)

| 117

|-

|Fujifilm GFX 100

|EVIL (44mm)

|105

|-

|Fujifilm GFX 50R

|EVIL (44mm)

|102

|-

|

| SLR (Film)

| 90

|-

| Leica M8

| Rangefinder (Digital, APS-H)

| 80<!-- according to Leica? -->

|-

| Leica M9

| Rangefinder (Digital, 35mm)

| 80<!-- according to Leica? -->

|-

| Sony A850

| SLR (digital, 35mm, built-in image stabilization)

| 74 and 56 respectively, 69-70 both

|-

|Canon EOS-5D Mark IV and 5DS

|SLR (digital, 35mm)

|57, 61-63

|-

|Nikon Df

|SLR (digital, 35mm)

|55-57 40

|-

| Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

|SLR (digital, APS-H)

| 49

|-

|Leica SL 601

|EVIL (35mm)

|46

|-

|Nikon D700 and 800

|SLR (digital, 35mm)

|44, 43-57

|-

| Nikon F6

|SLR (Film)

| 37

|-

| Contax RTS33

|SLR (Film)

| 22

|-

| Sony A7 and A7 III

| EVIL (35mm)

| 21-25,

|-

| Sony NEX-7, NEX-5N, a6x00 series

| EVIL (APS)

| 20-25, 21-26 = manufacturer claim. Note that Sony claims the same 9 ms for models P93, T33 and W1; ImagingResource tested them at 11 ms

|-

| Canon EOS RT

|SLR (Film)

| 8

|-

| Canon EOS-1N RS

|SLR (Film)

| 6

|}

References

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  • Shutter lag comparison chart for digital P&S
  • Imaging Resource camera reviews often with measured shutter lag times
  • NY Times article on shutter lag
  • Photographer's Article on Shutter Lag
  • What is Zero Shutter Delay (ZSD) on your mobile camera