Sony DSC-T700 Performance

Slow startup and mode switching times, but very good shutter lag times for a consumer digital camera.

Somewhat slow timings here, particularly in startup and shut-down.

A mixed bag: switching from play to record mode is quite zippy, while the reverse action can be quite slow, especially if you've just snapped the shutter.

Overall, shutter response is notably better than average at both wide angle and telephoto, at 0.31s and 0.41s respectively, and "prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.008 second. (That's 8 thousandths of a second, just amazingly fast.) Even when waiting on the flash, the lag time only stretches to 0.69 second. Great results here.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are about average–at about 1.87 seconds for the largest and 2.07 seconds for the smallest JPEGs, and the camera can capture frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.) The DSC-T700's Continuous modes captured at a rate of 1.62 frames per second. This is fairly average for consumer cameras these days. The flash takes 4.4 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is also better than average, but then the flash is pretty weak.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are exceptionally fast. (Here again, though, note that we used a SanDisk Extreme III Pro Duo memory card for this test. This is a very fast card, slower cards could result in slower downloads.)

Overall, the Cyber-shot DSC-T700 is a pretty responsive little camera, with the exception of the time required to switch from record to playback mode after snapping a shot. You'll tap your fingers between record and play modes, but shutter lag times are quite good. Continuous mode speeds aren't quick enough for fast-paced action, but should be fine for most consumers' needs.

Battery
Average battery life for a compact camera model.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. The camera's huge internal memory suits it to portable photo-album usage, so it'd be reasonable to expect to spend a fair bit of time with the LCD on, looking at your images or sharing them with friends. In playback mode, Sony says you'll get about 210 minutes of run time on a fully charged battery. That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that viewing time also trades off against the number of shots you can take. Pass it around at a party (say, 60 minutes of viewing time), and the shots you can take on a battery will drop from 200 to about 140. So, although battery life is pretty good, we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of on a fully-charged rechargeable battery, based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 accepts Memory Stick Pro Duo cards, and includes an impressive 4 GB of internal memory.

While the T700 sports an impressive 4GB of internal memory, we still recommend buying a large capacity Memory Stick PRO Duo. at least a 1GB card, preferably a 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings and video. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)