What digital camera has the fastest shot to shot speed? Low end DLSR or high end P&S?
After the mess of trying to take shots of the kids opening gifts and running around, i've had it with our cheap Nikon cool pics camera. Almost every shot is blurry or it takes so long to get to be able to take the next shot, i've missed it alltogether. Not really looking to get into a complicated DLSR, but a hybrid that is larger than the point and shoot are fine.
What you may be asking is about what is called shutter lag.
P&S cameras shutter lag can be from 0.8 seconds to as much a 4 seconds when using the cameras flash.
dSLR cameras shutter lag is measured in milliseconds.
"Fast" shutter speeds have to do with how long the shutter is open during the exposure. The longest short shutter speed on entry level dSLR's is 1/4000th second. More advanced dSLR's have a shutter speed of 1/8000th second.
Here is a link that can help you reduce shutter lag when using P&S cameras.
Shutter lag in compact cameras is nothing new. And, as David eluded to, it's particularly bad as the quality of the camera goes down - quality of course equates directly to price. The more quality, the higher the price, simple as that.
Blurry, to me, says you're trying to shoot in low light and the shutter is remaining open for longer = than you expect = camera / subject movement = blur.
Low-end DSLR will win this hands down.
Most of the delay in camera response is from the autofocus system, which includes both out-of-focus detection of the electronics and focus response of the lens.
DSLRs use a different autofocus detection technology (phase detection) than P&S cameras (contrast detection), which allows them to autofocus much faster and much more reliably (typically in a second or less), and they also have much faster shot-to-shot speeds whether or not they autofocus between shots. The entry-level DSLRs typically have about a 3-shots-per-second continuous shooting mode, while most P&S cameras shoot less than 1 frame per second.
Autofocus speeds on DSLRs are also a function of the autofocus mechanism in the lens. Professional lenses, typically costing $400-500 or more for fixed focal length and $1000 and up for zooms, usually have faster in-lens focus motors than less expensive entry-level consumer zoom lenses that come with entry-level DSLRs.
If you prefocus a point-and-shoot camera, you can often get it to take a picture within a second after you push the shutter button, but if you have to wait for autofocus, it's usually more.
A low-end DSLR will nearly always be able to autofocus and shoot within one second using a consumer zoom lens in reasonably good light. An advanced amateur DSLR with a better lens can cut this to well under 1 second.
A professional DSLR camera (about $1, 800 and up for APS-C and $2, 500 and up for full frame) and a professional zoom ($1000 and up) will typically be able to shoot 5 or more frames per second and make the first exposure with autofocus within 1/3 second in good light. Poor light will mean longer reaction times for all DSLR autofocus systems.
The other thing that makes your shots blurry is subject motion. With a DSLR, which has about 10 times the sensor area of a P&S, you can usually set your ISO speed to 800 or 1600 to allow you to take shots with a higher shutter speed indoors with a reasonable amount of image noise, which will help stop those blurry kids. If you set ISO this high with a P&S, you will get very noisy shots from the sensor noise.
Right now, there's really no substitute for the larger sensor in getting good sharp photos of action in demanding lighting. The entry-level DSLRs tend to be no more expensive than the entry-level larger-format hybrid cameras like the Sony NEX, Olympus Pen E and Panasonic Lumix Girlfriend series, but these cameras (with which I have no personal experience) should be similar in performance to an entry-level DSLR for your needs.
I think you should go with Nikon Coolpix P7000 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Wide Zoom-Nikkor ED Lens and 3-Inch LCD
10.1-megapixel, large 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor
7.1x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom-Nikkor ED Glass Lens; 3-inch Ultra-High Resolution (921, 000-dot) Clear Color Display
HD (720p) movie with stereo, mic input jack and HDMI output
Dial controls for key functions including ISO, white balance, bracketing, exposure compensation and more
Capture images and video to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included)