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"Picky Details" for the Olympus Stylus 300 Digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)

Timing
I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, using a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 01 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Stylus 300 Digital:

NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras, rather than my purely qualitative comments.

Olympus Stylus 300 Digital Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	2.91	Startup screen appears and lens moves into position. About average.
Shutdown	2.38	Lens retracts. A bit faster than average.
Play to Record, first shot	0.84	Time until first shot is captured. Fairly fast.
Record to play	1.96	Time to display a large/fine file after capture. About average.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	0.82/0.85	First number is wide angle, second is full telephoto. On the fast side of average.
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.15	Delay after shutter button is half-pressed and held. Faster than average.
Cycle Time, max/min resolution	2.59/1.96	First numbers are for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. About average. (No buffer memory, all shots take the same amount of time.)
Cycle Time, continuous mode, max/min resolution	1.25/0.91 (0.8/1.11)	First pair of numbers is for large/fine, second set for small/basic files. Numbers beneath are corresponding frames per second. Not terribly fast, but not bad for a compact model.

Overall, the Stylus 300 is a fairly fast camera. It starts up and shuts down quickly, and its shutter lag is better than most. Cycle time is only average, but no worse than that. All in all, a good performance, particularly for a compact model.

The table below shows the Stylus 300 Digital's power consumption in various modes, and approximate run times for each, based on a lithium-ion battery with a 1090 mAh capacity:

 

Operating Mode	Power (@4.8 volts on the external power terminal)	Est. Minutes (One 1090 mAh Li-ion cell)
Capture Mode, w/LCD	474 mA	106
Capture Mode, no LCD	102 mA	496 (!)
Half-pressed shutter w/LCD	509 mA	99
Half-pressed w/o LCD	312 mA	161
Memory Write (transient)	521 mA	n/a
Flash Recharge (transient)	1251 mA	n/a
Image Playback	803 mA	197

 

Storage Capacity
The Stylus 300 Digital stores its photos on xD-Picture Cards, and a 16MB card is included with the camera. (I strongly recommend buying at least a 32MB card, preferably a 64MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 16MB card at each size/quality setting, along with the average images sizes and approximate compression ratios..

 

Image Capacity vs Resolution/Quality 16MB Memory Card		Fine	Normal
Full Resolution 2,048 x 1,536	Images (Avg size)	13 1,231 KB	40 400 KB
	Approx. Compression	8:1	24:1
1,600 x 1,200	Images (Avg size)	-	49 327 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	18:1
1,280 x 960	Images (Avg size)	-	76 211 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	18:1
1,024 x 768	Images (Avg size)	-	117 137 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	17:1
640 x 480	Images (Avg size)	-	199 80 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	12:1

 

Stylus 300 Review
Stylus 300 Test Images
Stylus 300 Specifications
Stylus 300 "Picky Details"
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