Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom4.0 megapixels, a sharp 10x zoom lens, tons of features, and an affordable price!<<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 03/02/2003, updated 10/17/03 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a
delay or lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time is to allow the
autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their work, and can amount
to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is almost never
reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I now
routinely measure it with a custom test system I constructed for the purpose.
(With crystal-controlled timing, accurate to 0.01% and with a timing resolution
of one millisecond.) Here are the figures I obtained in my testing of the C-750:
NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably
fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to
other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same
shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might
be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional
model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance
specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras,
rather than my purely qualitative comments.
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(secs) |
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| Power On -> First shot | |
Camera
has to extend lens first. Longer than average. |
| Shutdown | |
Time to retract camera lens. About average. |
| Play to Record, first shot | |
Time until
first shot is captured. Not as fast as I'd like. |
| Record to play | |
Time to
display a large/fine file after capture. Average to a bit slower than
average. |
| Shutter lag, full autofocus | |
First number is for wide-angle, second is for telephoto. On the slow side of average. (Not unusual for long zooms though.) |
| Shutter lag, manual focus | 0.70 | A fair bit slower than average. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus | |
Time to
capture, after half-pressing Shutter button. Very fast. |
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution | |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. The C750 seems to have only about a three-frame buffer memory when shooting large/fine files. After the first three shots, the cycle time stretches to between 6.5 and 7.3 seconds, although it varies quite a bit, as the buffer empties and fills. (Typical is 2 shots fast, then one very slow, one a bit faster, one vast, another slow again, etc.) Cycle time is quite competitive, but I'd like to see a bigger buffer on a camera of this caliber. |
| Cycle Time, normal continuous mode, max/min resolution | 0.90, 0.72 |
First numbers are for large/fine files, second numbers are for small/basic images. Buffer holds three shots at large/fine, 50+ at small/basic image size/quality. For both sizes of images, the interval between the first two shots is longer than between the second and third. First time shown for each size/quality is time between first two shots, second time is for subsequent. |
| Cycle Time, high-speed continuous mode, max/min resolution | 0.57/0.57 | In high-speed continuous mode, the interval between frames drops to 0.57 seconds, but only two frames fit in the buffer, regardless of image size. After those two shots, you'll wait 9.3 seconds for large/fine files to write to the card, or 3.6 seconds for small/basic ones. Very good speed, but again, I'd really like to see a bigger buffer. |
| Cycle Time, TIFF images | |
Fairly slow, but not unusual for a 4 MP TIFF image. |
The C-750 Ultra Zoom is quick enough, but far from a speed demon. Startup is leisurely, although shutdown is about average. Shutter lag is on the slow side of normal, but its prefocus lag is very fast. (In my experience, long-zoom cameras suffer somewhat in the shutter lag area, apparently because such lenses take longer to focus.) Cycle times are average for a good-performing upper midrange camera, but the 3-shot buffer memory is smaller than I'd ideally like to see. Overall, not a bad performance, but I'd like to see faster focusing and a deeper buffer.
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