Nikon CoolPix 885

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 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 using a proprietary Imaging Resource test apparatus. We also test for routine timings, such as startup/shutdown times, and the "cycle time", or minimum interval between successive pictures. The results are listed in the following chart.

Overall, we found the Coolpix 885 to be a little slow relative to competing models. Startup is quite leisurely. - Despite the lens racking out fairly quickly, it seems to take the camera a while to get itself sorted out and ready to take a picture. The total time from power on to first picture is thus a fairly long 8.2 seconds. Once operating, shutter delays are fairly lengthy, 1.43 seconds with the lens at its wide angle setting, 1.77 seconds at its telephoto position. These are quite long, given that most digicams we test come in at one second or less. On a positive note though, the 885 captures images quite quickly if you prefocus the lens by half-pressing and holding the shutter button prior to the exposure itself. Shot to shot cycle times are also a little slow (although not terribly so), at 3.3 seconds for either large or small image sizes. On a positive note, the 885's continuous mode frame rate is quite good at 0.95 seconds between shots for full-sized files.