"Picky Details" for the Kodak EasyShare DX6490 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)
Timing
I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, using a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the DX6490:
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.
| | ||
| | (secs) | |
| Power On -> First shot | | Time is for lens to extend fully. Slower than average. |
| Shutdown | | Lens has to retract. About average. |
| Play to Record, first shot | | Time until first shot is captured. About average. |
| Record to play | | Time to display a large/fine file after capture. Second time is for second display after processing has been completed. Fairly fast. |
| Shutter lag, full autofocus | | First time is for wide angle, second for telephoto. Roughly average for wide-angle, but quite slow for telephoto. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus | | Time to capture, after half-pressing Shutter button. Very fast. |
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution | | First numbers are for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. In large/fine mode, buffer holds about seven images, then takes longer between shots to clear (six to seven seconds). Likewise for small/basic mode, although the cycle time after the buffer memory is full is between five and six seconds. |
| Cycle Time, continuous mode, max/min resolution | 2.9fps | First pair of numbers is for large/fine, second set for small/basic files. Numbers beneath are corresponding frames per second. The camera captures six shots in a series, regardless of resolution or quality, and takes about eight seconds to clear the buffer. |
For all its other stellar qualities, the DX6490 isn't a speed demon. Its shutter lag ranges from a moderate 0.88 seconds at wide angle to a downright leisurely 1.43 seconds at maximum telephoto. Most consumer-grade digicams come in between 0.8 and 1.0 seconds (still grossly too slow, IMHO), and long-zoom models are often slower, but 1.43 seconds is really longer than anyone should have to wait for their camera to focus itself and snap the shot. The good news though, is that prefocus shutter lag (the delay after you've prefocused the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button) is a very zippy 0.126 seconds.
Power
The DX6490 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for its power source. The table below shows the DX6490's power consumption in various modes, and approximate run times for each, based a 3.7v lithium-ion cell with a (true, not advertised) 1700 mAh capacity:
| | (@5 volts on the external power terminal) | (1 1700 mAh Li-Ion cell) |
| Capture Mode, w/LCD | | |
| Capture Mode, no LCD | | |
| Half-pressed shutter w/LCD | | |
| Half-pressed w/o LCD | | |
| Memory Write (transient) | | |
| Flash Recharge (transient) | | |
| Image Playback | | |
Thanks to the beefy rechargeable LiIon battery that's included in the box with the camera, the DX6490 has excellent battery life. With a worst-case run time of 2 hours and 42 minutes, it's easily in the top ranks of cameras I've tested. I still suggest purchasing a second battery along with the camera, but it's perhaps less of an urgent issue with the DX6490 than some competing models.
Storage Capacity
The DX6490 stores its photos on SD/MMC memory cards, and has 16MB of internal memory. The camera does not come with a memory card, so I strongly recommend buying at least a 64MB capacity card to give you plenty of space for the camera's highest resolution option. The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the 16MB internal memory at each size/quality setting.
| Resolution/Quality 16MB internal memory | | |
| Full Resolution 2,304 x 1,728 | Images (Avg size) | 11 1,391 KB |
| Approx. Compression | 9:1 | |
| 1,656 x 1,242 | Images (Avg size) | 780 KB |
| Approx. Compression | | |
| | Images (Avg size) | 471 KB |
| Approx. Compression | | |
Download Speed
The DX6490 connects to a host computer via a USB interface, or through the EasyShare camera dock. Downloading files to my Sony VAIO desktop, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV, running Windows XP ("VAIO"), I clocked it at 633 KBytes/second. This is a pretty fast performance relative to other USB 1.1 camera models. (Cameras with slow USB version 1.1 interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast ones run as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB 2.0 interfaces start at a little over 600 KB/s, and run as high as several MB/second.)
DX6490 Test Images
DX6490 Specifications
DX6490 "Picky Details"
Up to Imaging Resource digital cameras area
Follow Imaging Resource: