Recommend a digital camera?

The measurement you are looking for is called shutter lag. There are actually two different figures, one for half-press and one for full-press.

Most digicam users prime the focus and exposure by pressing the shutter button halfway. Then the lag time is much shorter when you take the picture.

Digital SLR s do not suffer from shutter lag like digital point & shoot cameras do. (Or did, that has improved quite a bit in the last couple of years)

Go to www.dpreview or www.stevesdigicams.com There you can research different cameras, see their features and read reviews from users and professionals.

I prefer cameras from the camera manufacturers rather than the electronic or computer makers. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Kodak and Fuji all make cameras from the simple to the almost pro and professional models. I am not a huge fan of Sony, HP, or Casio, but you will hear from many people who like their offerings.

When you narrow your search to a few models, go to the big box store or a camera store and try them out. You may find that one just feels better in your hand than another. Be aware, often retailers (especially at some mass market camera stores) will try to push a model at you. Ok to listen to what they say, but they are being paid to push model X this month and get a comission or bigger profit from selling X instead of Y or Z.

Good luck in finding the camera for you!

Ten years, that's a tough one, and it does depend on how much you shoot. A pro who might shoot 5000 images every month in some godforsaken place will wear out the mechanicals of a camera quite rapidly, in under 3 years. If it's hard use that you're subject your camera to, then you need to get a tank of a camera Nikon D3/3S/3X and Canon 1DmkIV and 1DsMkIII would be the type of camera you want. You'll need a weather sealed lens to go with it. Even then it's not going to be indestructible. If you're really willing to splash then a Leica M9 system may also be an option, the Leica is a more spartan camera which means less to go wrong. If you're going to use it in extreme conditions, then you have to look at pure mechanical cameras, and shooting film, maybe a Leica M3, which has no electronics to break. If you're going to baby your camera, and only take it out when the sun is shining, and the weather is warm then I'd imagine the current Canon 550D (or any other entry level SLR) and kit lens would probably do the job. Of course it goes without saying that between the 550D and the 1D there are a lot of cameras that can stand up to varying amount of abuse, so it really depends on how you want to use the camera.

Get a Nikon D50. There is no delay between pictures at all and no delay between the time you press the button and the camera takes the picture. It has a few "consumer friendly" automatic modes, including a "child" mode, that make it very easy to use, but still offers total photographic control when you are ready to take charge. The "kit" lens is a decent lens optically, but you might want to upgrade to the Nikkor AF-S 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G ED DX lens for a bit more range and a lot more durability. When you are ready to add lenses, the sky is the limit with Nikon.

Get a 1 GB memory card, such as the Sandisk "Ultra" for decent write speed.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_d50.asp

Circuit City has it for $700, with the lens.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Nikon-D50-Digital-Camera/sem/rpsm/oid/127029/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Walmart has it for $660.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4058046

The memory card will cost $50-60 or so, depending on sales or rebates.

Canon. It's amazing and the picture comes out crystal clear in flash mode, and you rarely receive redeye. I'd look up the latest version of it, it might be smaller than the originals. It's a really great camera. I use mine all the time.

This question has been asked many times. Check out the standard answer:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html