One of my major gripes with digital cameras was the painful delay between the moment the shutter was pressed and when the camera would actually take the picture. On 35mm or other conventional cameras, this delay is nonexistent in all but the most demanding situations. I read an excellent article in the New York Times recently that is a godsend: Less Cursing, Better Pictures: 10 Suggestions. The trick is to hold in the shutter half way:
“You can usually eliminate the shutter lag by half-pressing the shutter button before the action begins. The camera prefocuses, precalculates and locks in those settings as long as you continue to half-press. Then, when [you want to capture the action], you press the rest of the way down to capture the shot. No lag – no lie.”
I can’t believe I didn’t know about this earlier. I used this tip yesterday to take some pictures of our dogs playing in the pool, mid-air water droplets and all.