Digital Camera Home > Digital Camera Reviews > FujiFilm Digital Cameras > Fuji FinePix S1 Pro

Fuji FinePix S1 Pro A 3.5 megapixel "SuperCCD" gives superb color and amazing low-light capability in an under-$4,000 SLR digicam! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet FinePix S1 Pro Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests Review First Posted: 8/1/2000

Shutter Lag / Cycle Times

When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time is to allow the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is almost never reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, we now routinely measure it.

 

FinePix S1 Pro SLR Zoom Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	0.85 sec	Start with lens retracted. Time is delay until first shot captured. VERY fast.
Shutdown	0 sec	Time until camera is powered down. (No pending image processing though.)
Play to Record, first shot	0 sec	Time is delay until first shot captured. EXCELLENT! Camera is *always* ready to shoot, just press the shutter button!
Record to play (max/min res)	1.91/14.00 sec	Slower for max res images
Shutter lag, full autofocus	0.5-0.8 sec	Very dependent on lens used. 0.7 seconds is probably about average.
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.100	Very fast
Shot-to-shot cycle time (any res)	0.605 sec	Very fast
"Sports" Mode motor drive speed	1.67 fps	Burst of 5 frames. Slow by pro SLR standards, faster than most consumer digicams.

 

In our testing, the S1 was a good deal faster than the consumer-level cameras we usually have our hands on. With five frames of buffer memory, and a fast memory device in it (an aftermarket IBM MicroDrive), the feeling was very much that we could pretty well take a picture whenever we wanted. Shutter response felt very quick, and we really liked that the camera is a "shooting priority" design, meaning that you can pretty well just press the shutter in any mode (even playback or setup) and it'll take a picture. VERY nice! Professional photojournalists and sports photographers we know tend to pooh-pooh cameras with motor drive speeds much under 5 frames per second, so the 1.7 frames per second we clocked the S1 at won't impress them. From our perspective though, if you're doing much of anything other than professional sports photography, the S1 will feel like a very quick, responsive camera to use. This feeling is also helped by the exceptionally clean, fast user interface. While this doesn't affect shooting speed directly, it sure eliminated a lot of fumbling we've otherwise found ourselves doing with complex digicams.