Casio EX-FH20 Review - Performance

Excellent performance here.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on to first shot	2.8 seconds	Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture. A little slow, but not unusual for cameras with long-ratio zoom lenses.
Shutdown	2.8 seconds	How long it takes to retract lens.
Buffer clearing time	6 seconds* (6 seconds buffer clearing in high-speed capture LF JPEG)	Worst case buffer clearing time, after 40 high-speed max-resolution (7 megapixel) shots. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't retract their lenses and shut down until the buffer is cleared.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme III 30 MB/sec SD memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Slightly long times here, though the EX-FH20 does have a long zoom lens to extend and retract.

Mode Switching
Play to Record, first shot	1.2 seconds	Time until first shot is captured.
Record to play	0.6 second	Time to display a large/fine file immediately after capture.
Display recorded image	0.6 second	Time to display a large/fine file already on the memory card.

Mode switching times are pretty good, though play to record is just slightly slow.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Wide	0.13 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position.
Full Autofocus Tele	0.78 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.
Prefocused	0.010 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button. (Somewhat variable, times ranged from 0.008 to 0.014 second.)
Continuous AF	0.48 second	This mode usually shows no speed increase with our static subject; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.
Manual Focus	0.12 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused."
Full Autofocus Flash	0.24 second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, with the lens at its widest-angle focal length. (Pre-flashes for metering sometimes delay exposure/increase shutter lag slightly.)

Shutter response is outstanding at wide angle, but only average at telephoto, with blazing times throughout the rest of the chart as well. Excellent performance here, even when the flash fired.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large Fine JPEG	0.98 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode 640 x 480 JPEG	0.87 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode RAW & Large Fine JPEG	6.13 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode RAW only	(not supported)	-
Early shutter penalty?	No, except when shooting RAW	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous mode RAW & Large Fine JPEG	(not supported)	-
High-Speed Continuous mode Large Fine JPEG Only at 7MP	0.02 second (40.43 frames per second); 40 frames total; 6 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 40 shots.
High Speed Continuous mode 640 x 480 JPEG	0.03 second (40.00 frames per second); 40 frames total; 2 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 40 shots.
Flash recycling	3.8 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme III 30 MB/sec SD memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Very impressive results here, particularly with the Continuous modes, which capture high-resolution images at 40+ frames per second (!!!). Resolution in High Speed Continuous mode drops from 9 megapixels to 7 megapixels, but that's a tiny price to pay for such exceptional shooting speed. Normal shot-to-shot cycle times are also good, at 0.98 seconds for large/fine JPEGs. The time drops dramatically with RAW + JPEG mode, but this isn't a surprise, considering the very large amount of data to save there. (RAW + JPEG shooting is apparently essentially unbuffered.) Really excellent performance!

(We don't test movie mode frame rates, but can confirm that the 1,000 frames/second Casio claims for the FH20's highest-speed video mode is in fact valid: When we pointed the camera at our shutter-lag timer running at its fastest 1,000 counts/second rate, the FH20 did indeed capture one count in each video frame. We didn't test them, but assume that the 210 and 420 frame/second rates are also accurate.)

Download speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	10,197 KBytes/sec	Typical Values: Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High
*Note: Download times measured with a SanDisk Extreme III 30 MB/sec SD memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower download times.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are blazingly fast.

The big story with the EXILIM EX-FH20 is its extremely fast Continuous shooting modes. At about 40 frames per second, the EX-FH20 can take on very fast-paced action with no problems. The rest of the camera's timings are also very good, with the sole exception of shutter lag at telephoto focal lengths. Overall, excellent results for a consumer digital camera!

Battery
Pretty good battery life for rechargeable AA cells.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
AA alkaline batteries, (CIPA standard)	230
AA NiMH rechargeable batteries, (CIPA standard)	440

The Casio High Speed EXILIM EX-FH20 uses four AA-type batteries for power. Battery life isn't too bad with normal alkaline cells, but performance is much improved with NiMH rechargeables. As always, we strongly recommend you pick up a couple of sets of good-quality NiMH rechargeable batteries and a good-quality charger, as they'll save you many times their cost over the life of the camera.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fresh set of disposable or freshly-charged rechargeable batteries), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Casio EXILIM EX-FH20 accepts SDHC/SD/MMC memory cards, and includes about 26MB of internal memory (really rather pointless, only useful for demonstrating the camera in the store).

Image Capacity with 1 GB memory card		Fine	Normal	Basic	RAW+JPEG
3,456 x 2,592	Images	170	322	478	49
3,456 x 2,592	File Size	5.7 MB	3.0 MB	2.0 MB	19.4 MB
3,264 x 2,448	Images	210	393	579	-
3,264 x 2,448	File Size	4.6 MB	2.5 MB	1.7 MB	-
3,072 x 2,304 (Max for HS Cont. Mode)	Images	224	418	616	-
3,072 x 2,304 (Max for HS Cont. Mode)	File Size	4.3 MB	2.3 MB	1.6 MB	-
2,560 x 1,920	Images	323	597	863	-
2,560 x 1,920	File Size	3.0 MB	1.6 MB	1.1 MB	-
1,600 x 1,200	Images	767	1,224	2,057	-
1,600 x 1,200	File Size	1.3 MB	790 KB	470 KB	-
640 x 480	Images	2,930	5,090	6,908	-
640 x 480	File Size	330 KB	190 KB	140 KB	-

Given the Casio FH20's extraordinary shooting capabilities, we strongly recommend buying a large capacity SDHC memory card preferably at least 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, multiple high-speed sequences and high-speed videos -- Consider that the 224 7-megapixel shots a 1GB card can hold would only be about five 40-shot sequences plus another 20 still images! (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)