V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 421
The shutter releases control the activation of the camera’s
metering system and (usually) the start of autofocus (basically,
all systems that need to be “active” during shooting). A partial
press of the shutter release turns metering ON and activates
the autofocus system. Unlike consumer cameras, holding a
shutter release partway doesn’t lock exposure (unless you’ve
set Custom Setting #C1). As long as you hold the shutter
release partway down, the camera stays active (and uses
considerably more power, see “Battery Life” on page <96>).
If you let go of the shutter release after pushing it partway, the
camera stays active based upon how Custom Setting #C2 is
set (see “Meter/Camera Active Time” on page <545>). By
default, this is six seconds.
Shutter Lag
One thing that catches D300 users unawares is the potential
for “lag” in the time between pressing the shutter release and
the picture being taken. Since many users purchase the D300
for its speed, this can be a frustrating aspect of the camera, at
least until you understand that the settings you choose
contribute to the problem.
In manual focus and manual exposure mode with no images
in the internal memory buffer, the shutter lag on a D300 is
actually only a bit longer than that of the D2 series (45ms on
the D300 compared to the D2 series’ 37 ms). That’s still better
than most other Nikon bodies, and pretty much matches what
the F5’s shutter lag was. In short, the D300 has very little
shutter lag.
However, as you turn on automated features or put images
into the buffer, the lag may actually become significant and
difficult to predict.
Here’s a partial list of things that contribute to shutter lag:
• The camera needs to clear the buffer
. In the Continuous
release shooting method (see “Shooting Method (and
