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Olympus C-4000 Zoom

Olympus introduces a top-of-the-line four-megapixel model with superb *configurability* great image quality, and an impressively low price.

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Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests
Review First Posted: 8/27/2002

Shutter Lag/Cycle Times

When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a 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 rarely reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I routinely measure it using a test setup I designed and built for the purpose. (The test system has a resolution of 0.001 second, and is crystal-controlled for long-term accuracy.) The results of my tests are listed in the following chart.

Olympus C-4000 Zoom Timings

Operation Time (secs) Notes

Power On -> First shot 8.5 Quite slow, even for a camera with a telescoping lens.

Shutdown 7.2 Time until lens retracted and ready to put away. Also rather leisurely.

Play to Record, first shot 2.4 Time until first shot is captured, from playback mode. About average.

Record to play (max/min res) 6.7/2.2
3.4/1.0 Top set of numbers for large/fine images, bottom set for small/normal. First time in each set is for immediate switch to record after shutter release in highest res mode. Second time is for switch to play after image saved to card. Slow on immediate switch, average after camera has saved image to card. BUT, camera displays just-captured image instantly, while it's being saved to the memory card, so the need for separate image review is greatly reduced.

Shutter lag, full autofocus 1.08-1.07 About average. Interestingly, wide angle and telephoto AF speed is virtually identical. (Usually, Tele is slower than Wide.)

Shutter lag, continuous autofocus 0.96 Very slightly faster than normal autofocus, but not much of a benefit.

Shutter lag, manual focus 0.78 Slower than average

Shutter lag, prefocus 0.26 A little faster than average across all cameras, a bit slower than average for full-featured models.

Cycle Time, max/min resolution 2.34-6.0
2.1-15.1
18.3 Faster than average. Full speed for first 3 shots, then wait about 6 seconds for buffer to clear, then 3 shots fast again. BUT, in large/normal (HQ) mode, you can shoot till the cows come home: I gave up trying to fill the buffer memory after 40 shots at a long-term average of one every 2.39 seconds. Quite impressive. Longest time shown is for full-resolution TIFF files. (There's no buffer when shooting TIFF format, you have to wait for the camera to finish saving each image before you can shoot the next.)

Cycle time, continuous mode 0.54-0.65sec
(1.84-1.54 fps) Pretty fast for a 4 megapixel camera. Bursts range from 3 frames at max res/quality to 200 frames in lowest res/quality mode. Dropping from SHQ to HQ mode (large/normal resolution) increases buffer capacity from 3 to 15 shots, a very respectable number. (2048x1536/normal resolution/quality gives up to 40 shots in sequence.) Buffer clearing times range from 6 seconds in large/fine mode to 63 seconds for 200-shot sequence in lowest res/quality mode.

Overall, the C-4000 Zoom is an about an average performer speed-wise. It starts up and shuts down rather slowly, but cycle time is pretty good, and buffer capacity is excellent for any size/quality setting other than SHQ mode. (In SHQ mode, you can snap 3 shots before waiting for the buffer to empty.) Shutter lag is on the slow side of average, particularly in manual-focus mode. Prefocus lag is just slightly faster than average across all cameras I've tested, but a bit slower than average when compared to current higher-end models.

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Olympus C-4000 Zoom Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	8.5	Quite slow, even for a camera with a telescoping lens.
Shutdown	7.2	Time until lens retracted and ready to put away. Also rather leisurely.
Play to Record, first shot	2.4	Time until first shot is captured, from playback mode. About average.
Record to play (max/min res)	6.7/2.2 3.4/1.0	Top set of numbers for large/fine images, bottom set for small/normal. First time in each set is for immediate switch to record after shutter release in highest res mode. Second time is for switch to play after image saved to card. Slow on immediate switch, average after camera has saved image to card. BUT, camera displays just-captured image instantly, while it's being saved to the memory card, so the need for separate image review is greatly reduced.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	1.08-1.07	About average. Interestingly, wide angle and telephoto AF speed is virtually identical. (Usually, Tele is slower than Wide.)
Shutter lag, continuous autofocus	0.96	Very slightly faster than normal autofocus, but not much of a benefit.
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.78	Slower than average
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.26	A little faster than average across all cameras, a bit slower than average for full-featured models.
Cycle Time, max/min resolution	2.34-6.0 2.1-15.1 18.3	Faster than average. Full speed for first 3 shots, then wait about 6 seconds for buffer to clear, then 3 shots fast again. BUT, in large/normal (HQ) mode, you can shoot till the cows come home: I gave up trying to fill the buffer memory after 40 shots at a long-term average of one every 2.39 seconds. Quite impressive. Longest time shown is for full-resolution TIFF files. (There's no buffer when shooting TIFF format, you have to wait for the camera to finish saving each image before you can shoot the next.)
Cycle time, continuous mode	0.54-0.65sec (1.84-1.54 fps)	Pretty fast for a 4 megapixel camera. Bursts range from 3 frames at max res/quality to 200 frames in lowest res/quality mode. Dropping from SHQ to HQ mode (large/normal resolution) increases buffer capacity from 3 to 15 shots, a very respectable number. (2048x1536/normal resolution/quality gives up to 40 shots in sequence.) Buffer clearing times range from 6 seconds in large/fine mode to 63 seconds for 200-shot sequence in lowest res/quality mode.