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"Picky Details" for the Olympus Stylus 400 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 400 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 400 Digital Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	3.16	Startup screen appears and lens moves into position. About average.
Shutdown	1.13	Lens retracts. Faster than average.
Play to Record, first shot	0.92	Time until first shot is captured. Fairly fast.
Record to play	2.23	Time to display a large/fine file after capture. About average.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	1.00/0.86	First number is wide angle, second is full telephoto.About average. (Interesting that it focuses faster with the lens zoomed to telephoto than in the wide angle position.)
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.17	Delay after shutter button is half-pressed and held. Faster than average.
Cycle Time, max/min resolution	2.43/1.97	First numbers are for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. About average. (While I didn't find evidence of a buffer memory on the Stylus 300, the 400 seems to have one, as the cycle time stretches to about 3 seconds after the first 7 shots are captured.)
Cycle Time, continuous mode, max/min resolution	0.97/0.91 (1.03/1.10)	First pair of numbers is for large/fine, second set for small/basic files. Run length is 3 frames in large/fine mode, 60+ frames in small/basic. Numbers beneath are corresponding frames per second. Not terribly fast, but not bad for a compact model.

The table below shows the Stylus 400 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	491 mA	103
Capture Mode, no LCD	101 mA	499 (!) (8.3 hours)
Half-pressed shutter w/LCD	480 mA	105
Half-pressed w/o LCD	298 mA	169
Memory Write (transient)	511 mA	n/a
Flash Recharge (transient)	856 mA	n/a
Image Playback	251 mA	201

 

Storage Capacity
The Stylus 400 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 2,272 x 1,704	Images (Avg size)	5 2,909 KB	16 970 KB
	Approx. Compression	4:1	12:1
2,048 x 1,536	Images (Avg size)	-	20 800 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	12:1
1,600 x 1,200	Images (Avg size)	-	38 653 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	9:1
1,280 x 960	Images (Avg size)	-	38 421 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	9:1
1,024 x 768	Images (Avg size)	-	58 274 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	9:1
640 x 480	Images (Avg size)	-	99 161 KB
	Approx. Compression	-	6:1

 

Stylus 400 Review
Stylus 400 Test Images
Stylus 400 Specifications
Stylus 400 "Picky Details"
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