Olympus Camedia C-765 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: 06/16/2004 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's generally 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 rarely reported (and even
more rarely reported accurately), and can significantly affect the picture taking
experience, I 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-765:
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(secs) |
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| Power On -> First shot |
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Camera has to extend lens first. Longer than average.
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| Shutdown |
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Time to retract camera lens. Fairly fast. |
| Play to Record, first shot |
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Time until first shot is captured. Not as fast as I'd like.
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| Record to play |
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Time to display a large/fine file after capture. First time is for immediate switch to playback after snapping a picture, second time is for switch with camera finished processing the prior image. Average to a bit slower than average.
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| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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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 | 0.68 | A fair bit slower than average. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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Time to capture, after half-pressing Shutter button. Very fast.
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| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
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First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. The C765 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 2.4 and 6.2 seconds, varying quite a bit, as the buffer empties and fills. (Typical is 2 shots fast, then one very slow, one a bit faster, one fast, 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 |
0.74/0.57 |
First numbers are for large/fine files, second numbers are for small/basic images. Buffer holds three shots at large/fine, 80+ 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. Buffer clears in about 8 seconds for large/fine files, upwards of 80 seconds for a long burst of small/basic ones. |
| Cycle Time, high-speed continuous mode, max/min resolution | 0.42/0.39 | In high-speed continuous mode, the interval between frames drops to ~0.4 seconds, but only two frames fit in the buffer, regardless of image size. After those two shots, you'll wait about 5 seconds for large/fine files to write to the card, or 2 seconds for small/basic ones. Very good speed, but again, I'd really like to see a bigger buffer. |
| Cycle Time, TIFF images |
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Fairly slow, but not unusual for a 4 MP TIFF image. |
The C-765 Ultra Zoom is fast 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 really like to see faster focusing and a deeper buffer.
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