Sigma SD9Sigma's digital SLR uses Foveon's "X3" sensor technology to deliver more detail per pixel!<<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 11/09/2002 |
Shutter Lag and Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time or delay before the shutter actually fires. This corresponds to the time the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms take 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, I now routinely measure it with a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled timing, accurate to 0.001 seconds.)
|
|
||
|
|
(secs) |
|
| Power On -> First shot |
|
Fast.
|
| Shutdown |
|
Fast. |
| Play to Record, first shot |
|
Time until first shot is captured. Quite fast.
|
| Record to play |
|
Time to display a large/fine file after capture. Pretty fast.
|
| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
|
Time is for a standard 50mm lens. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
|
Time to capture, after half-pressing Shutter button. Faster than average. (Average is 0.3 seconds.)
|
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
0.44 |
First numbers are for large/fine files, bottom number is time for small/basic images. In large/fine, the SD9 captures about six files fairly quickly, but times slow down to anywhere from 7.8 to 11.5 seconds between shots after that, depending on the speed of the card you're using. After shooting six large/fine shots, the buffer took anywhere from 45 to 65 seconds to clear. (This is a *very* long time for buffer clearing.) |
| Cycle Time, continuous mode, max/min resolution |
0.37 |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for small/basic images. You get six shots before having to wait for the buffer to clear in large/fine mode, then need to wait from 45-65 seconds to clear the buffer before you can capture the next series. With the small/basic quality setting though, you get about 30 images in a series, at the 0.37 interval, with buffer-clearing times of 114 to 124 seconds. |
I measured the SD9's cycle time using three different memory cards: A Lexar "12x" 256MB, a SimpleTech 512MB, and a Mr. Flash 256MB. Cycle times were fastest with the SimpleTech card, which seems to be the fastest CompactFlash card in my collection. As expected, times were slower with the Mr. Flash card, although there wasn't nearly as large a spread between the fastest and slowest cards as I've found with some cameras. - The SD9 doesn't appear to take maximum advantage of faster CF cards. Shutter lag times were much faster than typical consumer cameras, but slower than those of the best pro SLRs. Shot to shot speeds were pretty good, but the buffer took a long time to clear, most likely a consequence of the large files (4-10 MB, depending on subject matter) that the SD9 has to write due to its RAW-only file format.
Reader Comments! --> Visit our discussion forum for the Sigma SD9!
Follow Imaging Resource: