Olympus D-490 ZoomOlympus updates a popular 1.3 megapixel model to 2 megapixels, with improved features.<<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 10/28/2000 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the
shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time before the shutter
actually fires. This time allows 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 by the manufacturer or by other
reviewers, and because it can significantly affect the picture-taking
experience, Imaging Resource routinely measures it using a proprietary
electronic test setup. The table below shows the times we measured for various
camera operations. Startup, shutdown, and record-to-play times were quite fast,
and shutter lag was very much on a par with other cameras, even some more
expensive ones. Cycle time was slower, but comparable to other cameras in the
D-490 Zoom's price range.
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| Power On -> First shot |
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Start with lens retracted. Delay time until first shot is captured. |
| Shutdown |
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Delay time from when the lens is retracted, to the camera powering down. (No pending image processing.) |
| Play to Record, first shot |
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Delay time until first shot is captured. Quite fast, thanks to "quick review" mode, no need to switch to playback mode. |
| Record to play (max/min res) |
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Lag time slower for maximum resolution images. Again, quite fast due to quick review mode. |
| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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Slightly slower than average |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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(Prefocus means half-pressed shutter before shot.) About average |
| Cycle Time, low/high/TIFF res |
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Faster than average |
| Cycle time, continuous mode |
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(Sequence mode automatically switches to SQ resolution.) |
Overall, the D-490 is a reasonably fast camera: It has a slightly longer than average shutter delay, but at the same time is noticeably faster than average from shot to shot. The camera also tested faster than its 1.3 megapixel predecessory (the D-460) in switching from record to playback modes and back again. Thanks to the ability to enter playback mode directly from record mode, and then return simply by pressing the shutter button, the chances of missing shots while reviewing pictures are greatly reduced. This plus its very good shot to shot speed would lead us to give it a better than average "speed" rating relative to competing models.
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