"Picky Details" for the Sony Cyber-shotDSC-P5 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)
Timing
We measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, using a proprietary Imaging
Resource test system. Here are the numbers we collected for the DSC-P5:
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
| Power On -> First shot |
|
Time from power-up to first shot. About average.
|
| Shutdown |
|
Time to retract lens and be ready to be put away. About
average.
|
| Play to Record, first shot |
|
Time until first shot is captured. Very fast.
|
| Record to play |
|
First time is for immediate switch after pressing shutter,
to first low-res display, second is time is for high res image to fill-in
on LCD screen Third time is for switch to play when camera is in quiescent
state (not having just taken a picture).
|
| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
|
Longer time is for telephoto, shorter for wide angle. Both figures are slower than average. |
| Shutter lag, manual focus |
|
Very fast. (Average for manual focus on most cameras is about 0.5 seconds.) |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
|
Blazingly fast! (Average on other cameras is about
0.3 seconds.)
|
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
3.3 - 4.6 33.1 |
First pair of numbers is for large/fine files, second for small/economy. Last time is for full res TIFF files. Highly variable times, overall a bit slower than average. |
| Cycle time, continuous mode ("Burst 2" mode) |
|
Quite fast. Captures two images, then needs to wait 6 (low res) or 10 (high res) seconds for buffer to clear before capturing the next burst of 3 shots. |
Overall, the DSC-P5 is about an average performer. We'd like to see the autofocus delay quite a bit shorter, and the cycle time is a bit sluggish also. (Why not use the two frames of buffer memory the camera evidently has to speed up shot to shot times?) Burst 3 mode is quite fast though, and the manual focus and prefocus shutter lag times are amazingly fast.
Power
The DSC-P5 uses Sony's InfoLITHIUM battery technology, which is nice in
that it reports the remaining operating time continuously on the camera's LCD.
Normally, we measure power drain directly and back into the battery life based
on that. With the Sony cameras, we can't get at the power signal, but the times
reported by the battery seems very accurate.
|
|
|
| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
|
| Capture Mode, no LCD |
|
| Image Playback |
|
Battery life is a common bugaboo with ultra-compact cameras. Their tiny case sizes don't leave much room for a battery! The DSC-P5 somewhat falls prey to this, but the Lithium battery still gives a respectable run time. We strongly recommend buying a second battery though, and always bringing along a fully-charged spare.
Storage Capacity
The DSC-P5 uses Sony's Memory Stick memory cards, and an 8 megabyte unit is included with the camera. The table below shows the card capacity as a function of image size and quality settings, and the approximate compression ratios for the various options.
| Resolution/Quality vs Image Capacity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
480 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jump to Comparometer(tm) to compare with other cameras
Or, up to Imaging Resource Cameras Page.
Follow Imaging Resource: