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Minolta DiMAGE S414 DiMAGE technology and optics in a compact, stylish four megapixel design. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet S414 Photo Gallery! S414 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 on S414 Review --------------------------------- 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: 07/31/2003

Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a delay or lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time is required for 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 rarely reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I now routinely measure it with a custom test system of my own design, crystal-controlled, and accurate to 0.001 second.

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.

DiMAGE S414 Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	4.5	Time for lens to extend and snap the first picture. Average to a bit slower than average.
Shutdown	4.2	Lens retracts. Average to a bit slower than average.
Play to Record, first shot	1.1	Time between switching from play to record mode and capture of first image. Fairly fast.
Record to play	1.45	Time to display maximum res/quality image when switching from record to play mode. About average.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	0.83/1.67	Faster than average at wide-angle, very slow at telephoto.
Shutter lag, continuous autofocus	1.5	Quite slow. (This mode might help with moving objects, but I have no way of testing that. Obviously, it's no help at all with stationary subjects.)
Shutter lag, manual focus	0.160	Quite fast.
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.100	Very fast.
Cycle Time, normal mode	~1.33/1.44	Quite fast. Buffer memory holds ~9 large/fine shots, then cycle time stretches to ~8-9 seconds between shots. Buffer holds large number of small/economy shots. (I didn't fully test, but it's more than 15.) Oddly, the camera is faster shooting full-res images than smaller ones. Also, the interval between the first two large/fine shots is 2.05 seconds, 1.48 for the next two, then the following 7 shots occur at intervals of 1.33 seconds.
Cycle Time, continuous mode	0.63 / 0.77 (1.6 / 1.3 fps)	Quite fast. The buffer is quite large, holding 7 large/fine images, then cycle time stretches to ~6-7 seconds. Buffer takes 43 seconds to clear completely. Buffer holds 100+ small/economy shots, takes 17 seconds to clear. As in single-shot mode, camera is faster shooting full-res images than small/economy ones. All shots are at the same interval in large/fine mode, first shot in small/basic mode has interval of 0.63 seconds, then is very consistent at 0.77 thereafter.

The S414 is a bit of mixed bag in terms of speed. It starts up and shuts down a little slowly, and its manual focusing and zoom lens operation are a little on the slow side. It's shot to shot cycle times are very good for a four megapixel camera though, and continuous mode cycle times are very good as well, with a deep buffer than can hold 7 large/fine shots in continuos mode or 8-9 frames in single-shot mode. Shutter response in manual focus and autofocus modes is very fast too. Autofocus delay with the lens at the wide-angle position is on the fast side of average as well. Its Achilles' heel is full-autofocus performance with the lens at the telephoto end of its range though, where shutter delays stretch to 1.6 seconds, very slow by any standard.