Very good to average speed for a consumer camera.

The Sony N2's performance ranges from quite good to a little slow, depending on what it is you're trying to do. Startup time is fast enough at 1.8 second, and shutter lag is very good at both wide angle and telephoto lens settings. "Prefocusing" times (half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure) are blazingly fast, with a shutter delay of only 0.012 second. Shot-to-shot cycle times are a little better than average, at about 1.67 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and the camera captures frames continuously at this rate. Continuous-mode speed is on the slower side, at less than one frame/second, for up to three shots in succession. For small JPEGs (640 x 480 pixels), the rate speeds up only a little to 1.02 frames per second, though the camera captures frames continuously at this rate. That said, the Sony N2 does offer a Multi-Burst mode as well, which captures at a much faster frame rate, though at a smaller resolution. Flash recycling time is pretty fast, at only four seconds. Connected to a computer, download speeds are exceptionally fast, so you won't feel a need for a separate card reader. Bottom line, the Sony N2 is responsive enough for most family photo opportunities, but its standard continuous shooting mode is a bit slow for sporting events or catching children.

Battery
Excellent battery life.

The Sony N2 uses a single rechargeable LiIon battery pack for power, and a battery and a charger are included with the camera. I strongly recommend picking up a spare battery and keeping it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or 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 N2 accepts Memory Stick Duo cards, though no card is included; 25MB RAM is built into the camera.

We strongly recommend buying at least a 512MB card for the Sony N2, preferably a 1GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.