Canon PowerShot G1Canon combines dead-easy auto shooting, full manual control, and excellent image quality in a killer3 megapixel!<<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 10/28/2000 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the
shutter release on a digital camera, there's usually a lag time before the
shutter actually fires. This time allows the autofocus and autoexposure
mechanisms to do their work and can amount to a significant delay in some
situations. Since this number is rarely reported by manufacturers or reviewers,
and can significantly affect the picture-taking experience, Imaging
Resource now measures shutter lag and cycle times using a prorietory
electronic test setup.
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| Power On -> First shot |
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Time to first shot (A bit slow, lens
extension takes a little while.) |
| Shutdown |
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Time until lens retracts and camera shuts
down. (No processing pending.) |
| Play to Record, first shot |
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Pretty fast |
| Record to play (max/min res) |
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Average to a bit faster than
average |
| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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A bit faster than average |
| Shutter lag, manual focus |
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Average |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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Very fast (Not as fast as the Canon spec though.) |
| Cycle time, max/min res |
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Very fast (for four shots in high-res mode, 64 in lowest res), then about 5 seconds to next shot |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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Very fast (Not as fast as Canon claims
though.) |
In our testing of the G1, it proved to be a a little slow "getting out of bed", but then very fast once it was operating. The full autofocus shutter lag is a little faster than average, at 0.75 seconds in our measurements, but this number drops to a mere 0.12 seconds when the camera is prefocused by half-pressing the shutter button before the exposure itself. Canon's data sheet claimed a prefocus shutter lag of only 0.075 seconds, but our testing didn't support that (extremely fast) number. Still, at 0.12 seconds, the G1 is twice as fast in this parameter as the average camera we've tested. - Good for action photography, if you're in a situation that would permit prefocusing. The shot to shot cycle time is also very fast, at just 1.12 seconds between frames in large/fine resolution mode, for the first four frames shot in series, and then only 5 seconds until the next shot can be taken. In small/coarse mode, this time drops to only 0.7 seconds between frames, and the camera captured 64 (!) frames without a pause.
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