Sony DSC-HX5V Performance

Camera Reviews / Sony Cameras / Sony Cybershot i Review

Navigate Review Jump to review page...

Sony HX5V Performance

Timing and Performance

Fast performance overall for a compact long-zoom digicam.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on to first shot	2.2 seconds	Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture.
Shutdown	1.8 seconds	How long it takes to retract lens.
Buffer clearing time	13 seconds * (after 10 frame burst of L/F JPEGs)	Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't retract their lenses and shut down until the buffer is cleared.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo Mark2 2GB memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly longer clearing times.

Good startup and shutdown times here for a long-zoom digicam. Pretty fast buffer clearing with a fast card, too.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Wide	0.30 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide-angle position.
Full Autofocus Tele	0.35 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.
Full Autofocus Flash enabled	0.51 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide-angle position, Auto flash enabled.
Prefocused	0.010 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Sony HX5V's full AF shutter response is faster than average at wide-angle for a long zoom, at 0.30 second. At full telephoto, it's not much slower than wide-angle at 0.35 second, which is much faster than average for its class. Enabling the flash increases lag time to 0.51s due to the preflash metering involved, but that's still pretty fast. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.010 second, which is incredibly fast.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large Fine JPEG	1.53 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 1 second to clear.
Early shutter penalty?	No	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous mode Large Fine JPEG	0.10 second (10.00 frames per second); 10 frames total; 13 second to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length or 20 shots, whichever came first.
Flash recycling	6.1 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo Mark2 2GB memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are on the faster side of average, at about 1.53 seconds for large/fine JPEGs. The Sony HX5V's continuous shooting mode is much faster than average, at 10 frames-per-second for 10 large/fine frames. Excellent performance here. The flash takes 6.1 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is a bit slow.

Download Speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	9,517 KBytes/sec	Typical Values: Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are excellent.

Bottom line, the Sony Cyber-shot HX5V's performance is generally quite fast for a digicam, especially one with a 10x zoom. It's even fast enough for shooting some sports. Only its flash recycle time is a bit slower than average.

Battery and Storage Capacity

Battery
Average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode	Battery Life
Still Image Capture, (CIPA standard)	310 shots
Playback	260 minutes

The Sony HX5V uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Although battery life is about average, 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 as appropriate), 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 HX5V accepts Memory Stick Duo or SD/SDHC memory cards, and includes 45MB of usable built-in memory. For HD movie capture, Sony recommends using Memory Stick PRO Duo MARK2 or Memory Stick PRO-HG cards; or SD/SDHC cards that are Class 4 or higher.

	Images (Avg Size)	9 5.0 MB
Image Capacity with 45MB Internal Memory		Fine
3,648 x 2,736	Images (Avg Size)	9 5.0 MB
	Approx. Comp.	6:1
2,592 x 1,944	Images (Avg Size)	14 3.2 MB
	Images (Avg Size)	14 3.2 MB
	Approx. Comp.	5:1
640 x 480	Images (Avg Size)	284 158 KB
	Images (Avg Size)	284 158 KB
	Approx. Comp.	6:1

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity Memory Stick Pro DUO or SD/SDHC memory card at least a 2GB card, preferably a 4 or 8GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings or video. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)