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Olympus E-20

Olympus updates their bargain-priced Pro SLR with a 5 megapixel sensor and improved electronics

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Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests
Review First Posted: 11/28/2001

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 allows 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, I routinely measure it using a custom-built electronic test system. Here's what I found when I tested the E-20's timing:

Olympus E-20N Timings

Operation Time (secs) Notes

Power On -> First shot 6.0 Rather slow - seems to spend a fair time checking the card.

Shutdown 0/2.7 No lens to retract, so zero time to put away. 2.7 seconds is time to finish saving one large/fine file after capture.

Play to Record, first shot 1.2 Camera is always "live" for shooting. This time is time to capture when shutter release is pressed while an image is being displayed on the LCD monitor. (Quite fast.)

Record to play (max res) 1.93 Time to display a large/fine image after pressing the "monitor" button.

Shutter lag, full autofocus 0.675/0.764 AF time varies for wide vs tele lens setting. First number at left is for wide, second is for tele.

Shutter lag, manual focus 0.490 About average, actually a bit on the slow side for a pro camera.

Shutter lag, prefocus 0.058 Very fast. - That's 58 milliseconds, about as fast as any camera I've tested.

Cycle time, large/fine files 0.67/12.7 Quite fast for first four shots (while writing only to buffer), then slows dramatically. - I'd like to see the buffer clear a good bit quicker than it does, too.

Cycle time, small/basic files 0.67/6.4 Same behavior as above, but doesn't slow quite as much, and buffer clears faster.

Cycle time, TIFF files 0.67/34.9 Same speed as above, while writing to buffer, but takes ~35 seconds for each image to clear the buffer.

Continuous mode, JPEG files 0.398
(2.51 fps) Continuous-mode timing for JPEG files is very consistent, at 0.398 seconds per frame (2.51 frames/second). Bursts of four frames, then must wait for buffer to empty (20-30 seconds, depending on card speed), then another 4, and so on.

Overall, the E-20N is a pretty fast-operating camera, with very decent shot to shot and shutter lag times, and in fact has about the fastest shutter response when used in prefocus mode of any camera I've tested. Speed while working off the 4-frame buffer is quite good, but once you overshoot the buffer, things slow dramatically. A faster memory card does make some difference, chopping buffer-clear times by about a third, but the write speed to the memory cards is really a good bit slower than I'd like to see in a high-end camera. Most annoying though, is that many of the camera's settings are locked-out while the buffer is emptying. You can change the exposure compensation between rapid shots, but white balance, image quality, and any of the rear-panel LCD menu settings remain off-limits until the camera finishes flushing its buffer memory to the card. In an otherwise excellent camera, with good speed and great controls, this was perhaps my biggest gripe. - If Olympus could only get the camera to multi-task to the extent that the menus would remain "live" during memory writing, the E-20's perceived speed would jump dramatically. Not a crucial flaw, but professional sports shooters and others needing long buffer runs and quick cycling will need to look elsewhere.

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Olympus E-20N Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	6.0	Rather slow - seems to spend a fair time checking the card.
Shutdown	0/2.7	No lens to retract, so zero time to put away. 2.7 seconds is time to finish saving one large/fine file after capture.
Play to Record, first shot	1.2	Camera is always "live" for shooting. This time is time to capture when shutter release is pressed while an image is being displayed on the LCD monitor. (Quite fast.)
Record to play (max res)	1.93	Time to display a large/fine image after pressing the "monitor" button.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	0.675/0.764	AF time varies for wide vs tele lens setting. First number at left is for wide, second is for tele.
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.490	About average, actually a bit on the slow side for a pro camera.
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.058	Very fast. - That's 58 milliseconds, about as fast as any camera I've tested.
Cycle time, large/fine files	0.67/12.7	Quite fast for first four shots (while writing only to buffer), then slows dramatically. - I'd like to see the buffer clear a good bit quicker than it does, too.
Cycle time, small/basic files	0.67/6.4	Same behavior as above, but doesn't slow quite as much, and buffer clears faster.
Cycle time, TIFF files	0.67/34.9	Same speed as above, while writing to buffer, but takes ~35 seconds for each image to clear the buffer.
Continuous mode, JPEG files	0.398 (2.51 fps)	Continuous-mode timing for JPEG files is very consistent, at 0.398 seconds per frame (2.51 frames/second). Bursts of four frames, then must wait for buffer to empty (20-30 seconds, depending on card speed), then another 4, and so on.