Digital cameras and methods that provide for a rapid camera power-on sequence. A warm-sleep state is defined in which the camera and nearly all of its internal components are shut down, yet just enough information is retained within high speed volatile storage and processing units to rapidly return the camera to full operating state. The warm-sleep state is managed to consume a minimum amount of power to keep the vital information intact. Upon receipt of a power-on indication, the camera then transitions from the warm-sleep state to full operation by simply activating the processing units, and continuing operation from the state it was in immediately prior to the power-off request.