Burst rate becomes especially crucial in sports and fashion photography where a fast recycle time is essential. Since a digital camera has to actually write an image file every time you take a picture, you usually have between 4-8 seconds of dead time between shots.

A Split Second of Surfing Shot with a Digital SLR ©Jim Miotke

Some cameras overcome this problem to a certain degree by adding RAM to the camera which acts as a buffer. In this way, you can take several shots before having to wait 10-20 seconds while the images write.

If you are going to be shooting fast-moving subjects, pay especially close attention to this spec. Be sure you get a camera with as fast of a burst rate as you can.

Digital Camera Comparison
After you read these pages, remember to try our digital camera calculators or our digital camera comparison charts - which make finding the best digital cameras easy.