A closer look at shutter lag

A closer look at shutter lag
Typically, the snapshooter can finally coax a
niece or nephew into smiling and press the shutter
release to capture the moment. Or a batter
swings lustily at a fat pitch and lofts the gamewinning
run into the stands just when the photographer
presses the shutter button. However,
the crucial moment is never captured on pixels.
Instead, the digicam’s autofocus and autoexposure
mechanisms make some last-minute
adjustments, a bunch of electronic components
process some algorithms, and (eventually) the
camera takes the picture. This period of time is
measured in ohnoseconds; ohnoseconds are
the interval between when you want to take the
picture and when you actually hear the shutterclick
sound that your camera emits. I’ve tested
hundreds of digital cameras, and the actual
elapsed time for non-SLRs ranges from 0.6
seconds to 1.2 seconds under bright, contrasty
lighting conditions, or up to 1 to 2 seconds in
dimmer lighting. It just seems even longer than
that.

Article From : Digital SLR Cameras and Photography For Dummies 3rd Ed. (Book)