I know theres always a slight delay, but I'm wondering if its makes a difference depending on the quality I select? I.e. does the delay affect the actual photo? It seems silly to have a camera able to take photos with a shutter speed of 1/1000th sec, but have an additonal delay.

Its a Fuji branded 256MB XD card so it should be faster than a Microdrive I would have though.

Anyone with any knowledge?

Oh yeah, I was thinking 12 will just about do the job - nothing quite like 35mm though.