taking pictures before you press the shutter

[David Martin]

Or so they claim for the new Nikon P90. This looks like a stunning bit of kit.

Nikon unveils Coolpix P90 24X superzoom: Digital Photography Review

[pcolbeck]

Ooh me want one.

[Rob S]

Taking a pic before the shutter has been pressed isn't exactly new, and the LCD tilt isn't as useful as one that can be turned like many other cams....but at least it has a smile timer

[mike]

holy cow - that's an amazing frame rate!!  It's more like a high definition video camera, limited to 3 second bursts!

do you think they'll be able to build the same into an SLR body?  with better lenses, that'd be a great (cheap!) replacement for a canon 1D.

[David Martin]

The sensor is one of the smallest in class so it might not have as good quality, especially at high iso, as you might like.

However, it does look fun.

[Rob S]

holy cow - that's an amazing frame rate!!  It's more like a high definition video camera, limited to 3 second bursts!

I'd love to know what the resolution is for these 45 pics at 15fps...I doubt it's 12MP!!

[Biggsy]

holy cow - that's an amazing frame rate!!  It's more like a high definition video camera, limited to 3 second bursts!

do you think they'll be able to build the same into an SLR body?  with better lenses, that'd be a great (cheap!) replacement for a canon 1D.

Pentax K20D (dSLR) Burst Mode does 21fps at 1536x1024 for 115 frames (5.5 seconds).

[mike]

holy cow - that's an amazing frame rate!!  It's more like a high definition video camera, limited to 3 second bursts!

do you think they'll be able to build the same into an SLR body?  with better lenses, that'd be a great (cheap!) replacement for a canon 1D.

Pentax K20D (dSLR) Burst Mode does 21fps at 1536x1024 for 115 frames (5.5 seconds).

that's only 1.5MP though..

[Biggsy]

That's a decent resolution for a computer monitor or television.

The limitation for high resolution at high speed is the size of the buffer and the speed of writing to the memory card.  I'm sure better could be done with better hardware - but it would be overkill to have such hardware in a camera mainly used for normal stills.  It would make the camera more expensive, and perhaps larger and heavier as well, especially if a larger battery was needed.

[mike]

...it would make the camera more expensive, and perhaps larger and heavier as well, especially if a larger battery was needed.

yup.  My old canon 1D is enormous and weighs a ton! I got it cheap on ebay because it was battered but it works beautifully -  8 frames a second at 8MP.  Its too big and heavy to carry about so I bought a small body on ebay for travelling with, but the 1D is amazing to use.

[Biggsy]

I guess the 8 fps uses the mechanical shutter - which is amazing if the mirror is flipping up and down with it as well.  The Pentax can only manage 3 fps like that - not bad, really.

Burst modes use an electronic shutter, so it's more like a video camera in that mode, with the performance being purely down to the electronics rather than needing super good mechanics (as well as good electronics) like you must have in the 1D.  The resolution is bound to increase in future without an increase in bulk as hardware gets increasingly more efficient.

Just had a look at the 1D prices via Google Products

[andrew_s]

The 1DIII does 10fps at full resolution with the mirror flapping up & down.
I bet it's a bit unsubtle noisy

[LEE]

My Sony Ericsson Phone has "Best Shot" and takes photos 'before' you press the shutter as well as some afterwards.  It's an absolutely superb feature and all cameras should have it.

It dispenses with any issues of shutter-lag (becasue the shutter fires before you even thought about pressing the shutter release button).

[andyoxon]

The sensor is one of the smallest in class so it might not have as good quality, especially at high iso, as you might like.

That's the thing, the Lumix superzoom I have, is great at ISO80 - I wouldn't generally touch IS0 200 or 400; but then it does have quite a fast lens and IS, as does this Nikon - which helps.

[mike]

Just had a look at the 1D prices via Google Products

new ones are incredibly dear, the old ones like mine are more reasonable, thankfully! (even more so if you get them 2nd hand in New York, when you're there on business and 'happen to have an afternoon free')