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I had Nikon D80 for past 4 to 5 years. I am thinking to upgrade it, I have nikon D90 in mind. Can people share some experience and give me some advise on this.

I was not happy with shutter lag with D80 and I don't want that to have in my new camera.

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Please see our FAQ - photo.stackexchange.com/faq#dontask – dpollitt Mar 23 '12 at 0:28
2  
There may be an interesting question hidden here about shutter lag in DSLRs. (I would guess that the D80 doesn't actually have much shutter lag, but maybe there's an AF setting inhibiting shutter release? Nikon users care to comment?) – coneslayer Mar 23 '12 at 0:31
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I'm not sure what OP means by shutter lag, but this could be a case where shutter release is set to focus release only. I do not have D80 but I hunted down PDF manual PAGE 29! If set to AF-A shutter will not release unless there is confirmed focus. – Alen Mar 23 '12 at 1:10
Hi Raama, welcome to PhotoSE. When it comes to extremely generalized equipment recommendations, those don't really fit well here on our forum. If you would like to get some interactive experience and tip sharing, you should head to our chatroom (See sidebar for link.) As for the shutter lag issue, I believe that is something you can affect through camera settings. I encourage you to create a new question explicitly asking about the shutter lag, as according to Alen, it sounds like its something you can resolve directly. I'm going to delete this question, as its not really a good fit here. – jrista♦ Mar 27 '12 at 20:44

closed as not constructive by dpollitt, John Cavan♦, MikeW, jrista♦ Mar 27 '12 at 20:45

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

1 Answer

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I can answer the part concerning the shutter lag, this is something I used to think my camera (Nikon D300) suffered from before learning why and how to overcome it.

When you push the shutter button there are two stages, the first stage being to activate the autofocus and the second stage actually firing the shutter. If the camera has problems focusing on a subject due to low light, rapid movement or complex scene, then it can take an extra period of time for the camera to confirm focus before it can then go to the second stage and fire the shutter.

There are two ways to overcome this issue ... firstly you can pre-focus by holding the shutter button half way down and hence giving it time to focus before you need the shutter to fire. The problem with this option is it does not allow for moving subjects as well and it can be tricky holding the button half way down to activate the focus early.

The second option is the most often used and certainly produces the best results, this is to separate the focus activation and the shutter activation on to two different buttons. This enables you to have one finger on a button that activates the focus and can keep it running while your normal shutter button is on another finger and can be fired at anytime. Now if you combine this with changing the focus mode to be continuos focusing and possibly utilize a single point of focus, then you have a system that can track a moving object very well by holding down the button dedicated to focus activation and then firing the shutter via the normal shutter button at anytime or multiple times for an instant in focus sharp picture.

On my D300 the focus activation is moved to the AF-ON button allowing me to activate this with my right thumb while simultaneously firing the shutter button with my right index finger whenever I wish and as often as I wish.

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This is exactly how I have my D300 set up! And D700 for that matter! It gives you soooo much more control! – Alen Mar 23 '12 at 1:24
Canon shooters can do the same thing. Its great. – Pat Farrell Mar 23 '12 at 2:34
Pentax as well. The K-5 has a dedicated AF button, so I disable the half press on the shutter. Mind you, I've never noticed any real lag on the Pentax cameras, but this is still a better model IMHO. – John Cavan♦ Mar 23 '12 at 2:44

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