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Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom

Olympus packs a 10x zoom lens into an amazingly small body, for an amazingly low price.

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Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests
Review First Posted: 5/31/2001

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 almost never reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, we now routinely measure it using Imaging Resource proprietary testing.

Olympus C700 Ultra Zoom Timings

Operation Time (secs)
Normal Card Notes

Power On -> First shot 5.1
Time is total time from power on to first picture, not just time to telescope lens. Fairly fast for a camera with a telescoping lens.

Shutdown 3.4
Time to retract lens, ready to put away.

Play to Record, first shot 2.2
Time to first shot when switching from playback mode. (Fairly fast)

Record to play (max/min res) 2.0-6.2/2.0-2.0
First time is for switch from record to play with no image being processed, second time is measured from shutter press to image ready to display.

Shutter lag, full autofocus 1.0 A bit slower than average in high-end cameras. (Average in high-end consumer cameras is about 0.8 seconds)

Shutter lag, manual focus 0.68 A bit slower than average. (Average for manual focus in high end consumer cameras is about 0.5 seconds.)

Shutter lag, prefocus 0.30 About average.

Cycle time, large/fine files 2.2/6.5 Shorter time is for first 2-3 shots, then need to wait for the buffer to clear before taking next shots. Fairly fast for first 2-3 shots.

Cycle time, small/basic files 2.3 Fairly fast. No slowdown due to buffer fill for at least 30 shots. (See below, likely 50 shot buffer limit.)

Cycle time, Continuous Mode 0.97/0.77/6.71 Minor pause between first two shots, then faster for third. 6.7 seconds for buffer to clear. (3 max-res shots buffer capacity, ~50 on small/basic quality.)

Overall, the C700 UltraZoom is a fairly speedy camera, with cycle times of just over two seconds, even for full resolution files, and a buffer that lets you shoot two or three images before having to wait for it to empty. The shutter delay is a bit slower than normal among higher-end cameras, but the prefocus delay (lag time when the camera is prefocused by half-pressing the shutter button prior to the exposure itself) is about average. Startup and shutdown times are also fairly fast for a camera having a telescoping lens design.

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Olympus C700 Ultra Zoom Timings
Operation	Time (secs) Normal Card	Notes
Power On -> First shot	5.1	Time is total time from power on to first picture, not just time to telescope lens. Fairly fast for a camera with a telescoping lens.
Shutdown	3.4	Time to retract lens, ready to put away.
Play to Record, first shot	2.2	Time to first shot when switching from playback mode. (Fairly fast)
Record to play (max/min res)	2.0-6.2/2.0-2.0	First time is for switch from record to play with no image being processed, second time is measured from shutter press to image ready to display.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	1.0	A bit slower than average in high-end cameras. (Average in high-end consumer cameras is about 0.8 seconds)
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.68	A bit slower than average. (Average for manual focus in high end consumer cameras is about 0.5 seconds.)
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.30	About average.
Cycle time, large/fine files	2.2/6.5	Shorter time is for first 2-3 shots, then need to wait for the buffer to clear before taking next shots. Fairly fast for first 2-3 shots.
Cycle time, small/basic files	2.3	Fairly fast. No slowdown due to buffer fill for at least 30 shots. (See below, likely 50 shot buffer limit.)
Cycle time, Continuous Mode	0.97/0.77/6.71	Minor pause between first two shots, then faster for third. 6.7 seconds for buffer to clear. (3 max-res shots buffer capacity, ~50 on small/basic quality.)