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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 Performance


Timing and Performance

Above average performance overall.

Startup/Shutdown

Power on
to first shot

 2.3 seconds

Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture.

Shutdown

 2.5 seconds

How long it takes to retract lens.

Faster than average times here for a long-zoom.

 

Shutter Response (Lag Time)

Full Autofocus Wide

 0.308 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position.

Full Autofocus Tele

 0.231 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.

Full Autofocus Wide
Flash enabled

 0.675 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position, auto flash enabled.

Prefocused

 0.008 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Shutter response is very good at both wide-angle and telephoto, at 0.31s and 0.23s respectively. Enabling the flash raised lag to 0.68s, but that's still pretty good. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of a mere 0.008 second, which is extremely fast.

 

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
 1.55 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.

Early shutter
penalty?

 NO

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
Large Fine JPEG

 0.10 second (10 frames per second);
10 frames total;
12 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over buffer length or 20 shots, whichever came first.

Flash recycling

 6 seconds

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme III Memory Stick Pro DUO 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.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are good at about 1.55 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and the camera captures frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.) Where the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 really performs is in its Continuous Shooting mode, which captures a burst of 10 frames per second for a total of 10 frames. The flash takes about 6 seconds to recycle, which is about average.

 

Download Speed

Windows Computer, USB 2.0

 12,759 KBytes/sec

Typical Values:
Less than 600=USB 1.1;
600-769=USB 2.0 Low;
Above 770=USB 2.0 High

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


Overall, the Sony Cyber-shot HX1 performs very well, with zippy continuous shooting, lag times and shot-to-shot speeds. Startup and shutdown times are also pretty good for a long-zoom. Definitely suitable for high-speed action as well as normal shooting opportunities.

Battery and Storage Capacity

Battery
Average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
LCD On
390

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Although battery life is pretty good, we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on Sony's standard test conditions.

Storage
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 accepts Memory Stick Duo and PRO Duo memory cards, and includes only 11MB of internal memory.

Image Capacity with
1GB Memory Card		 Fine
3,456 x 2,736
Images
231
File Size
4.4 MB
2,592 x 1,944
Images
306
File Size
3.3 MB
2,048 x 1,536
Images
645
File Size
1.5 MB
640 x 480
Images
5,986
File Size
171 KB

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity Memory Stick PRO Duo card. Memory Stick PRO versions can handle high-res movie data and give faster download times. They should be used for all current Sony cameras. These days, 4GB is a good trade-off between cost and capacity, but if you plan to capture many movie clips, 8GB should be a minimum.

 

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