Olympus EVOLT E-300By: Shawn Barnett and Dave Etchells8.0 megapixels, ZUIKO DIGITAL lens mount, digital SLR design, and loads of features! <<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 8:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 11/08/2004, Updated: 03/12/2005 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time or delay before the shutter actually fires. This corresponds to the time required for 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 on (and even more rarely reported accurately), and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I routinely measure both shutter delay and shot to shot cycle times for all cameras I test, 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 Olympus E-300:
|
|
||
|
|
(secs) |
|
| Power On -> First shot |
|
A little slower than average for a d-SLR, most likely a consequence of the camera running a SuperSonic Wave Filter cleaning cycle to shake dust off the sensor whenever it's powered up. A slow startup time, but probably worth it, in exchange for a clean sensor.
|
| Shutdown |
|
First time is simple shutdown, second time is worst-case buffer-clearing time. Worst-case time is on the long side, but does correspond to clearing four 8-megapixel TIFF files from its buffer, a lot of data by any measure. (Buffer clearing times before shutdown for sequences of six large/fine JPEGs are on the order of 10 seconds, a reasonable number.)
|
| Play to Record, first shot |
|
Almost immediate, very fast.
|
| Record to play |
|
First time is that required to display a large/fine file immediately after capture, second time is that needed to display a large/fine file that has already been processed and stored on the memory card. First time is on the slow side for a d-SLR, second time is very fast.
|
| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
|
First time is at full wide-angle, second is full telephoto, with the 14-45mm kit lens. Autofocus-related lag time will obviously vary greatly as a function of the lens in use, but these are good numbers for an entry-level SLR. |
|
Shutter lag, continuous autofocus |
|
As usual, continuous AF doesn't help much with static subjects. It very likely helps with moving ones, but we have no way of testing that.
|
| Shutter lag, manual focus |
0.37
|
What?? This is a very odd result, the lag time in manual focus mode is almost exactly the same as with full autofocus. Hard to figure, and this time is longer than that for most competing d-SLRs. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
0.10
|
Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button. Pretty fast, if not blazingly so. |
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
0.90 / |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images. Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 6 frames this fast, then slows to about 2 seconds per shot, and clears the buffer in 10 seconds with a Lexar 80x CF card. In TV mode, shoots at this rate indefinitely, and clears the buffer in less than a second. Even for single-shot mode, this isn't terribly fast for a d-SLR. (Note to users, the cycle time slows to 0.95 second if you have the post-capture review function enabled.) |
| Cycle Time, RAW | 0.90/1.08 | Times are averages. Buffer holds four shots, takes 21 seconds to clear with a Lexar 80x CF card. First time is with Review function disabled, second is with it turned on. |
| Cycle Time, TIFF | 0.91 | Times are averages. Shoots 4 frames this fast, then slows to about 5.1 seconds per shot. Buffer clears in 21 seconds with a Lexar 80x CF card. |
|
Cycle Time, continuous, max/min resolution |
0.39 (2.58 fps) |
Shoots this fast regardless of resolution. Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 4 frames this fast and stops, and clears the buffer in 7 seconds. In TV mode, shoots at this rate indefinitely, and clears the buffer in about 2 seconds. All times measured with a Lexar 80x CF card. |
The Olympus E-300 EVOLT is average to a bit slower than average, relative to other d-SLRs in its class. Full-autofocus shutter lag isn't too bad at about 0.36 second with the kit lens, and prefocus lag is good at 0.10 second, but the shutter response in manual focus mode is surprisingly slow, with a delay of 0.36 second (almost exactly the same as for full-AF mode). Cycle times are modest by SLR standards, at just under a second, for JPEG, RAW, or TIFF images. (Slow for JPEG and RAW images, fast for TIFFs.) Buffer capacity is modest but adequate for a prosumer d-SLR, at four RAW or TIFF images, or six large/fine JPEGs.
Follow Imaging Resource: