Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5By: Dave Etchells & Mike TomkinsKonica Minolta existing Z3 model gets an updated sensor, larger LCD and slightly updated control layout. <<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 8:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 03/28/2005 |
When you press the shutter release on a digital camera, there's usually a delay or lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time allows the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms to do their work and can amount to a significant delay in some situations. Likewise, the delay from shot to shot can vary greatly, and is also important to the picture-taking experience. Since these numbers are rarely reported by manufacturers or reviewers (and even more rarely, reported with accuracy), I routinely measure both shutter lag and cycle times using an electronic test setup I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled timing, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5:
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(secs) |
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| Power On -> First shot |
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LCD turns on and lens extends forward. On the slow side of average.
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| Shutdown |
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First time is time to retract lens, second time is worst-case buffer-clearing time. A little slower than average.
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| Play to Record, first shot |
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Time until first shot is captured. Pretty fast.
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| Record to play |
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First time is that required to display a large/fine file immediately after capture, second time is that needed to display a large/fine file that has already been processed and stored on the memory card. About average for its class.
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| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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First time is at full wide-angle, second is full telephoto. Very fast, particularly for a long-zoom model. |
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Shutter lag, continuous autofocus |
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Very slow. Unknown impact with a moving subject, but avoid continuous AF for stationary subjects at all costs.
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| Shutter lag, manual focus |
0.320
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About average. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
0.158
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Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button. Fairly fast. |
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
1.51 / |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images. Times are averages. In both modes, shoots at a very irregular pace, with no more than two shots in the buffer at any given time. The buffer clears within 2 seconds in either mode. Decent speed, but a larger buffer memory would be nice. |
| Cycle Time, continuous mode, max/min resolution | 0.54 / 0.53 (1.88 fps) |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" size images. Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 3 frames this fast, then slows to about 1.5 seconds per shot. In TV mode, maintains this pace indefinitely. Buffer clears in 5 seconds for large/fine images, 2 seconds for lowest resolution. Pretty fast, but limited buffer capacity. |
| Cycle Time, Ultra High Speed mode | 0.10 (10 fps) |
Times are averages. Resolution is set to 1024x768 and frame rate is set to 10 fps. Shoots a maximum of 20 shots and clears the buffer in 6 seconds. Extremely fast, with an impressive buffer depth for the roughly 0.8 megapixel resolution. |
Mixed results, but generally fast for its price point and zoom ratio. The Konica Minolta Z5 is a bit of a mixed bag in the speed category, but the news is generally good. Startup and shutdown are on the leisurely side, but shot to shot speed is fairly good, and full-autofocus shutter response is very good indeed. (Particularly impressive for a long-zoom model, as long zooms tend to focus rather slowly.) Continuous-mode cycle time is good, but buffer capacity is low both there and in single shot mode. A lower-resolution Ultra High Speed mode delivers up to 20 shots at 1024x768, at ten frames/second, an impressive accomplishment. There are faster cameras on the market, but the Z5 does well for a long-zoom model.
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