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Nikon CoolPix 995

Nikon updates the hugely successful Coolpix 990, adding a pop-up flash and Type II CF support!

<<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>>
Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests
Review First Posted: 4/25/2001

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.

In the case of the Coolpix 995, we've gone a bit further with our timing measurements, as users of this camera are likely to be ones who'll push it to the limit in terms of shooting speed, cycle times, and memory capacity. Over time, we've received many emails asking about camera performance with the "high speed" cards marketed by several companies, most notably Lexar Media. In the past, there's been a limited number of cameras able to take advantage of the increased speed of these memory cards, but that's changing, and the 995 appears to be one of the cameras that can in fact accommodate the higher-speed cards. Accordingly, in this test, we measured several key performance parameters with both a generic 16 MB card and a high-speed "12x" card from Lexar. The results are in the table below:

Coolpix 995 Timings

Operation Time (secs)
Normal Card Time (secs)
Lexar 12x Notes

Power On -> First shot 5.5 -
Variable, depending on zoom startup setting, 5.5 seconds is about typical. A bit longer than average, the 995's zoom is a little slow racking out.

Shutdown 1-39 1-19
"Shutdown" can be zero if card isn't writing, as no external lens retraction to wait for. Longest time shown is when camera is writing a TIFF file, until card can be removed.

Play to Record, first shot 0.71/2.01/2.8 -
Shortest time is from quick review to first capture. Next time is for quick review/full screen to first capture. Longest time is from normal playback mode to first capture. All are quite fast.

Record to play (max/min res) 38/1.17/0.64 19/1.17/0.64
Longest time is for TIFF file format, shorter times are for max/min res JPEG formats. Note dramatic difference with fast CF card. JPEG times are quite fast overall.

Shutter lag, full autofocus 1.0 - A bit slower than average. (Average is about 0.75)

Shutter lag, continuous autofocus 0.68 - The same as Manual focus mode.

Shutter lag, manual focus 0.68 - A bit slower than average. (Average is about 0.50)

Shutter lag, prefocus 0.17 - Quite a bit faster than average. (Average is about 0.3)

Cycle time, large/fine files 2.1/11.2 1.9/6.1 Shorter time is for first two shots, then need to wait for the buffer to clear before taking next two shots. Note nearly 2x faster buffer clearing with 12x card.

Cycle time, small/basic files 1.8-2.2 1.8-2.2 Somewhat variable times, all quite fast. No advantage to 12x card in this mode.

Cycle time, TIFF files 38.6 (!) 18.5 TIFF mode files are huge, take a long time to write. 12x card cuts time more than in half.

Continuous mode, large files 0.8/6.9 0.8/4.1 First time is for first tree shots, then wait for buffer to clear. 55% speed advantage for faster card.

Continuous mode, small files 0.6 0.6 No buffer problems past at least 16 exposures (as far as we tested).

VGA Sequence 0.6 0.6

Ultra High Speed 0.0333
(30 frames/sec) 0.0333
(30 frames/sec)

Overall, the Coolpix 995 is a fairly fast-shooting camera, but its buffer memory limits it to only two rapid-fire shots in a row when you're shooting in the highest resolution/quality mode. Buffer recovery takes 11 seconds with a generic memory card, but drops to 6 seconds with a high-speed ("12x") CompactFlash memory card. Run length increases as image sizes decrease. TIFF files take very long to write, but again the 995 is well able to take advantage of high-speed memory cards.

Shutter lag is a bit longer than average in all conditions except when the camera is prefocused by half-pressing the shutter button, at which point it drops to only 0.17 seconds, quite a bit faster than the 0.3 second average we've found among cameras we've tested.

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Coolpix 995 Timings
Operation	Time (secs) Normal Card	Time (secs) Lexar 12x	Notes
Power On -> First shot	5.5	-	Variable, depending on zoom startup setting, 5.5 seconds is about typical. A bit longer than average, the 995's zoom is a little slow racking out.
Shutdown	1-39	1-19	"Shutdown" can be zero if card isn't writing, as no external lens retraction to wait for. Longest time shown is when camera is writing a TIFF file, until card can be removed.
Play to Record, first shot	0.71/2.01/2.8	-	Shortest time is from quick review to first capture. Next time is for quick review/full screen to first capture. Longest time is from normal playback mode to first capture. All are quite fast.
Record to play (max/min res)	38/1.17/0.64	19/1.17/0.64	Longest time is for TIFF file format, shorter times are for max/min res JPEG formats. Note dramatic difference with fast CF card. JPEG times are quite fast overall.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	1.0	-	A bit slower than average. (Average is about 0.75)
Shutter lag, continuous autofocus	0.68	-	The same as Manual focus mode.
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.68	-	A bit slower than average. (Average is about 0.50)
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.17	-	Quite a bit faster than average. (Average is about 0.3)
Cycle time, large/fine files	2.1/11.2	1.9/6.1	Shorter time is for first two shots, then need to wait for the buffer to clear before taking next two shots. Note nearly 2x faster buffer clearing with 12x card.
Cycle time, small/basic files	1.8-2.2	1.8-2.2	Somewhat variable times, all quite fast. No advantage to 12x card in this mode.
Cycle time, TIFF files	38.6 (!)	18.5	TIFF mode files are huge, take a long time to write. 12x card cuts time more than in half.
Continuous mode, large files	0.8/6.9	0.8/4.1	First time is for first tree shots, then wait for buffer to clear. 55% speed advantage for faster card.
Continuous mode, small files	0.6	0.6	No buffer problems past at least 16 exposures (as far as we tested).
VGA Sequence	0.6	0.6
Ultra High Speed	0.0333 (30 frames/sec)	0.0333 (30 frames/sec)